There are a couple of new bills in the works that have local homeschoolers a bit upset. House Bill 9 and House Bill 19 propose to change mandatory school age from ages 6-16 to ages 5-17, unless of course, the child has received their high school diploma. Furthermore, it will repeal all laws that conflict with this law, which would include the laws that set age requirements for homeschoolers at ages 6-16.
These bills aren't necessaryily written to affect homeschooling, but to prevent parents from holding their younger kids out of school for an extra year for maturity reasons, and to remove the "easy-out" for kids who don't want to be in school past the age of 16.
Still a change in compulsory school laws means a change in homeschooling laws. This means that homeschooling parents will be forced to report that they are homeschooling children as early as 5 years old and to begin taking school records. They are also forced to continue teaching homeschooled teens who have decided that they no longer want to learn. (Yes, there are homeschool drop outs, just as surely as there are public school drop-outs. There are just some kids who don't want to learn.)
There is the additional problem of homeschooled teens who have finished their education early, but have no official diploma, being forced to continue their education, even when they have decided to not go to college. My own homeschooled daughter is 16 and in her senior year of homeschooling. She plans to go to college next year, but considered taking a gap year. Without an accredited diploma, I gather that such a gap year would have been problematic. This is unfair to young people who have worked hard to get ahead only to be lumped with drop-out and told to keep schooling.
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