Homeschool World Forum

(OHIO) I homeschool our boys however this question is concerning a friend of mine who is very new to homeschooling. She has 3 children, one homeschooled, one in public school, and one still at home. Her homeschooled child enrolled in our local school districts online school program and most recently paid a fee to participate in the after school drama club at the school. The h/s student was not excelling with the school districts online program so just this week her parents took her out of that program and started her with different curriculum. The student has now been informed by the Elementary school principal that the student may no longer participate in the drama club program. Is this legal?

Probably.

The "homeschooled" child was actually not legally homeschooled; he was legally a public school student, even though his "classroom" was at home. The after-school drama club was for public school students enrolled in the district, not for homeschooled or (private school) students. As a public school student he was eligible to participate; as a homeschooled student, he is not.

According to HSLDA, school districts are free to set their own policies about whether homeschooled children can participate in school activities or not. Your friend can try talking to folks at the district office to see if they'll change their minds. Or she can see if any homeschool support groups or co-ops have any sort of similar activities (which would be my choice). She should ask for a refund, though.

I think it depends on a few things. The first is whether the after school program is a community program hosted by the school or if it is actually an extracurricular program that is paid for with school funds. Second, it depends on if the principal is saying the student cant participate in the nest session or saying the child can no longer participate in a session that has already been paid for in which case she should get a refund at the least.

The other angle is try the "honey" method. Get the teacher on your side to tell the principal what a good student the child is and how much she loves the drama club and it would just break her heart to leave and maybe offer to pay extra because she is not in the district.

Each school having there own rule and regulation that they have to follow. If somebody is having complain then they need to talk to the authority. So if they are not allowing home school student it mean there is some issue. Try to find it out.