Homeschool World Forum

My son will be turning 5 when we start homeschooling in September. We are in California, where the compulsory school age is 6. He will not turn 6 until fall 2008, our second year of homeschooling. Does anyone recommend joining HSLDA before the compulsory school age? I ask because technically he would be enrolled in kindergarten if he was in public school, and I wondered whether anyone has been contacted by a school district about a homeschooled child who is that age but not in school. Can anyone think of any other reason to join HSLDA early?

For us, in Missouri, we do not have to notify anyone. Personally I want to join, but $$ is tight at the moment. I have 1 child who will be compulsory age this fall and 2 who are still under age. My plan in between now and when my middle child (who is now 2) gets compulsory age we will join. I saw you can do life time membership for $1000 and that is what we would do since we know we have at least 17 more years of home school left to get through all 3 of our kids. Just have to wait till I have the $1000 to do it.

Be interesting to see what others say about this issue.