Home School Freedom

Ohio Home Education Coalition

The Ohio Home Education Coalition is an open, inclusive coalition of interested homeschoolers who come together to raise awareness of issues facing homeschoolers in Ohio.

For Ohio Homeschoolers.... Action Please!
Five-Year Review of Homeschooling Regulations and Public Comment
Revised, August 2008
Read the Alert here.

OHEC Alert December, 2004

Recently, the Akron Beacon Journal printed the series which many Ohio homeschoolers were aware was coming. What we didn't know was how misinformed and misleading the series would be on the subject of homeschooling.
Read the Alert here.

Letter to the Editor in response to the Akron Beacon Journal Series

The Akron Beacon Journal recently published a series of articles from November 14th-November 21, 2004
about home education titled "Homeschooling: Whose business is it?"
In response, Ohio Home Education Coalition co-coordinator, Peggy Daly-Masternak wrote a letter to the editor.

Informing Research on Homeschooling

The Ohio Home Education Coalition has taken the initiative to provide reporters from the Akron Beacon Journal and others with Selected Current Citations to Inform Research on the Subject of Homeschooling.

Read the Cover Letter sent via email by Ohio Home Education Coalition to the Reporters at the Akron Beacon Journal (also copied to all members of the Ohio General Assembly and others) on October 13, 2003.

Read the Selected Current Citations to Inform Research on the Subject of Homeschooling.

Reports on May 2003 Akron Beacon Journal Article

On May 2nd, 2003 the Akron Beacon Journal published an article "Legislator Sees Risk In Homeschooling" which raises concerns among Homeschooler and their privacy.

OHEC sent an alert to Ohio Home Educators, responding to the May 2^nd article.

OHEC responded to Senator Carey's concerns by sending him a letter.

OHEC also responded to the Akron Beacon Journal's article with a letter.

Homeschooling Notification: Why Minimal
Compliance is an Important Action to Protect Our Freedoms

August 2004
Revised from original dated July 2000

Summary: Over the last few years, we have seen a growing disregard for the administrative laws that govern homeschooling in Ohio by local school superintendents. These administrative laws are found in Ohio Administrative Code (OAC), Section 3301-34 entitled Rules for Excuses From Compulsory Attendance for Home Education. By their own Statement of Purpose, the administrative laws are meant to “safeguard the primary right of parents to provide the education for their child(ren).” Homeschoolers must be diligent in safeguarding each aspect of those regulations, in order to ensure the ground on which we stand remains firm. Any erosion of the regulations will impair the freedom of all homeschoolers to homeschool according to their own beliefs and principles. This fact sheet will:

Discuss the homeschooling climate before the administrative laws were enacted;

Provide examples of challenges to the administrative laws;

Suggest ways to minimally comply with all aspects of the administrative laws;

Describe what we can do when local superintendents exceed their authority regarding homeschooling administrative laws.

Trends in Homeschooling Numbers

It is a fairly constant theme in media reports that homeschooling is experiencing "explosive growth."
In fact, OHEC believes that homeschooling has peaked in growth
in several states and may be declining in some others.

Homeschoolers: Numbers and Yearly Percent Change
This spreadsheet was assembled by OHEC based on information provided by the Departments of Education in Florida, Georgia, Maine, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin, either in hard copy or at their websites.

Ohio Homeschool Numbers
Recently, an Ohio Homeschooler asked the Ohio Department of Education this question:
"How many homeschoolers are there in Ohio?"
The Ohio Department of Education replied: "we have no idea how many exist in Ohio" and
"districts have never been required to submit numbers to ODE."

OHEC Charter School Fact Sheets

The Ohio Home Education Coalition has been monitoring the blurring of homeschooling with public cyber schools for several years. OHEC has compiled several informative fact sheets concerning this blurring and has granted us permission to offer them here for your viewing.

New Arm of Public Education?
It is very important for Ohio homeschoolers to understand the need to continue to distance home education-as described in ORC 3301-34 since 1989-from the many programs looking to profit from the good reputation we have earned. OHEC continues warn of the dangers to homeschooling freedom by the confusion between home education and enrollment and accountability attached to public funding in it's September 2003 fact sheet, "Home-Education in Ohio: New Arm of Public Education?" Published September 2003.

OHEC's letter to Rep. Fessler
May 3, 2003, OHEC wrote a letter to Representative Diana Fessler asking why many of the publicly-funded cyber charters were not complying with the charter law that went into effect April 8th, 2003 that requires these schools to notify that students excused from compulsory attendance law for the purpose of home education as defined by the Administrative Code shall no longer be excused for that purpose on enrollment in a community school.

K12 Again
"K12 (Again!) and others who covet homeschoolers and why" Ohio homeschoolers were again bombarded with unsolicited mailings this week from K12. Homeschoolers should be aware of the dangerous trends toward homeschooling being integrated into government school in their homes. Originally published March 26, 2003

OHDELA
"Another Online Charter School Continues Threat to Homeschooling in Ohio" Report that White Hat Management, another for-profit charter school management company from Akron, received sponsorship from the University Toledo Charter Schools Council and begin another state-wide, on-line community (charter school) in Ohio called OHDELA continuing to "market" this type of school to homeschoolers in the state. Revised April 2002

Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow
"On-Line, Publicly-Funded School Being Marketed to Homeschoolers" Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow began marketing their online, publicly funded public school to homeschoolers in 2000. The publicly funded school opened in the fall of 2000 and this is the updated fact-sheet that OHEC distributed in May 2000.- Originally Published May 2000 and Updated April 2002.