East coast gal

[stayinhomewith4]

I am new to hs and currently live in PA.
I thougt this was a fairly easy state, but i'm not really sure. Kids don't need to be enrolled here until age 8. My oldest is only six. OUr house is for sale, because we want more land, we are in a town home with a TINY yard, and have 4 young kids.
The states we are considering are PA, MD, VA,& WVA. Our considerationds are laws surrounding homeschool, homebirth, medical, vaccines. I've heard bad stuff about MDs laws. Is it tough to homeschool there? Thats where my fam. is from, but we haven't lived there for about 5 yrs.
I recently read an article on NewsTarget (check it out!) about parents being put in jail because their kids shots weren't up to date in Prince Georges County, MD. Thats pretty scary to me. Regardless of anyones views on vac, this is a health choice freedom that should not be taken away.
okay so I would really appreciate any advice on my move to any of these states. I am feeling a little overwhelmed! There is a lot to consider I'm trusting that God will direct my family to the right place!
Thanks!

[Ramona]

I've been told HS'ing is harder in the counties around DC, but we HS'ed down in St. Mary's for several years and found it quite easy. (We aren't in MD any more.)

We also did a homebirth in MD and that was also not a problem.

[bennifer]

Im in VA and hslaws are pretty lax. You need to file a notice of intent, and there are other requirements. You can take a look at vahomeschoolers.com and find lots of info. I may not personally agree with the whole vac thing but I have a girlfriend who firmly disagrees with vaccinations and has not had any problems. She just went down to the health dept. and filled out some sort of form. As for homebirths, as a doula, Im all for them. Midwifes are wonderful and if youre a low risk pregnancy, what better place for mom to be than at home! Never heard of anyone having issues. Good luck

[elliemaejune]