#I've had many headaches and difficult conversations with parents and too many mad/upset/disappointed children because of this.

[welaughjustalittletooloud]

My 9-5 is helping people get their GED in NY.

NY is a rare state where taking the HSE GED exam is free to the examinee, it's provided by the state. And as such it has firmer rules that must be met in order to take the HSE GED.

NY requires examinees to provide proof of NY residency for at least 30 days prior to the exam date cause they aren't going to allow anyone who doesn't live in NY to take it on their dime.

But they also require proof of age eligibility for any examinee who is younger than 19 to even schedule themselves for exam dates. The GED website doesn't allow them to until the state has processed the paperwork that proves they are age eligible. There are a few ways for 16-18 year olds to be eligible.

One of the ways is to have at least reached maximum compulsory school attendance (age 16 by July 1) and be homeschooled, with a written sign off from the school district that the child resides in that they have met the NY homeschooling requirements.

And the amount of times I've had to handle cases where a minor who is under 19 moved to NY with their family at some point after they started homeschooling elsewhere and then can't meet the homeschooling requirements is staggering.

Most often what has happened is that the parents/guardians never registered or alerted the new school district about their homeschooling plans, which means the school district doesn't even know the child exists. If they moved from a previous state where the regulations were less strict and the child just kept being homeschooled as they had been before the move, often the parents/guardians don't know that NY homeschooling procedure is so different and strict.

It's only when the child gets to be 16-18 and wants to take the GED does this mistake get discovered. Which means that in order to meet requirements the child now has to get years worth of assessments done to meet the expectations of the NY homeschooling curriculum or they don't bother and they are forced to wait till they turn 19 to take the GED.

This is a problem.

If a parent or guardian is going to homeschool a child they should be aware of the policies involved in the process where they reside, especially because the system is so different from state to state. That isn't the responsibility of anyone else and it certainly shouldn't be the responsibility of the child. And if the district doesn't know the child exists they can't get involved at all.

homeschooling in the US needs to be regulated but this is one of those conversations that immediately gets crushed by extremist conservatives and even well-meaning liberals will pipe up to be like "well some homeschooling is good!" when that's absolutely not relevant. regulation will not change anything for the homeschooling families who are serious about their children's education. the people who need to be regulated are the fringe extremists