Well a new year of homeschooling begins, or maybe your first year is just beginning, in either case I hope this new school year dawns with excitement in your heart and mind!! This year has started for me with hope to be more organized, but also it holds excitement that I will do a better job teaching. It's rough being a single Mom in it's own right, plus homeschooling them, and working on top of it. I don't regret homeschooling for a second!!! Yet I see the mistakes I've made the last couple of years, and hope to do a better job as a teacher this year.

In any case, I thought I would do a review of Kansas laws for homeschooling, just to remind you Kansas homeschoolers, so you don't get caught unaware. There are links on the sidebar for you also, that hold this same information, and more.

First thing you must do, or have done is submit a form to the Kansas Education Department (form can be found on their website www.ksde.org ) stating that you wish to homeschool.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot to the rules. Every child between the ages of 7 and 18 must attend school.

Your homeschool must have 186 days of NOT less than 6 hours per day, OR 1116 hours per year for grades 1-11.

Homeschoolers provide their own books and curriculum, and of course must be taught by competent instructors.

Also make note that COLLEGES and UNIVERSITIES determine their own criteria for admission of students who graduate from a nonaccredited school (our homeschools)

Don't let these rules take the joy out of homeschooling!! I still believe that it is the best decision that I could have ever made for my girls and my family.