How to Start Homeschool Mid-Year in Missouri
“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things by breakfast.”
- Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Are you thinking about starting your homeschool adventure mid-year? Perhaps you’ve thought this leap from public or private school to home school is an “impossible thing” and are nervously excited to start in January. Even if you made this decision to unenroll during Christmas break, you can do this!
Missouri Homeschool Alliance is here to help you navigate your next steps.
If you are wanting to start homeschool mid-year and you:
Just moved from out of state,
Have never enrolled your child in a public, private, or parochial school in Missouri, or
Your child just reached the compulsory attendance age of seven years old, you do not have to register your student or let anyone know your intent to homeschool. You can just get started when you’re ready!
Be sure and familiarize yourself with Missouri’s homeschool law before you get started.
As a general rule, if your child is starting homeschool in MO half way through the year and is 15 years old or younger, you can focus on getting 500 hours of instruction before June 30th (the end of the home school year).
At least 300 of those hours would need to be in the “core subjects” of Math, Reading, Language Arts, Social Studies, or Science, and 200 of those hours need to be completed at the “regular homeschool location”. Generally this is your home address.
The remaining 200 hours should be in “non-core” hours such as sports, church, arts, or any other instructional elective your child is involved in or you can add more of the “core” subjects to complete the hours requirement.
We have a FREE video series called Homeschool Bootcamp you can watch to learn all about how to get started in record keeping as well as choosing curriculum for your homeschool.
What If My Child is Currently Enrolled in a Missouri Public School?
The first step to take if your child is currently enrolled in a school in Missouri is you need to notify the school of your intent to withdraw. This needs to be done in writing. A simple letter will suffice. MHA recommends that all correspondence be done in writing and mailed certified, return receipt requested. Here’s the link to our sample form.
If your child currently has an IEP you need to make the decision to keep or stop services. Children in Missouri can access services even if they do not attend the local public school. Once you’ve made your decision to KEEP the IEP plan, follow the steps below:
Have a meeting with the director of the Special Needs department. Let he or she know of your intent to homeschool but that you’d like to still have your child receive services. Ask for an Individual Service Plan (ISP). The SpEd director will let you know if and how they can accommodate your child. Once a plan has been established, get that in writing.
Create a withdrawal letter for your child. Include a copy of the ISP plan.
Mail both your withdrawal and the ISP plan to both the school principal and to the SpEd department director.
If you choose to STOP services, after your meeting with the Special Needs Department Director, you’ll want to inform them that you wish to stop receiving services for your child. They will ask you to sign an IEP revocation form. You must revoke the IEP in writing, this form is the easiest way to do so.
If the school asks you for anything further, such as signing their withdrawal form, ask for their request to be made in writing. Then contact MHA or HSLDA for further instructions. Missouri law, RSMO 167.042 states that it is OPTIONAL for a parent to sign a Written Declaration of Enrollment. If the school asks you to sign one, know that you do not have to.
After you’ve made the decision to homeschool and have followed these steps, be sure to become a member of Missouri Homeschool Alliance.
MHA is happy to be an affiliate partner with Portals. Portals can show you how to simplify your home education journey by helping you manage your school schedule, access lessons on an easy, intuitive dashboard, all while offering a Christ-centered approach to learning.
You can learn more about Portals here.
*If you sign up for their services, we may receive something in return. Missouri Homeschool Alliance members get a $50 discount off of a one year subscription to Portals Home Education, or if you are not already a member of MHA, you will receive a free membership with your subscription to Portals Home Education. Your subscription gets you access to ready-to-use lesson plans which can save you hours of planning time every week. You’ll have core lesson ideas, links, supplemental resources, conversation question prompts and engaging projects to go with every reading. With resources for K-12, you have access to all of the lesson plans that you need for each of your children for $250 or less per year!
