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About
I am a homeschooling mother and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) combining my experience and knowledge to help homeschool organizations such as co-ops, support groups, music and sports programs. HomeschoolCPA answers questions from homeschool leaders on many topics such as nonprofit status, liability, paying teachers, tax exempt status and taxes.
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8:21 AM, Sep. 30, 2008
Tips for newbies to Homeschool Co-ops
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Missouri Homeschool Daily Log sure knows what she is talking about. She has some excellent advice on co-op participation. I highlighted some of my favorite tips in blue.
In the beginning I was all for homeschool co-ops and still am now. Over the years I have gathered experience about what works and what doesn’t in a co-op and for my schedule. As far as your schedule is concerned I would caution you to not jump in with both feet and offer to teach more than one class. As a matter of fact I would suggest that you attend the first year/semester to get a feel for it before volunteering. I can not stress this enough especially if you are a new home schooling parent. Remember you’ll be preparing all your children's material and then the material for your co-op class once a week or so. The first year of home schooling is like riding a bike with training wheels. One class can dominate your home school week placing a lot of strain on you.
Teaching others is a wonderful gift for all involved if the class is well behaved. I enjoyed teaching the classes tremendously and in the process discovered that I have natural born teaching tendencies. In a group of people, however, discipline is always an issue. When you look for a co-op make sure that they have good policies in place. A co-op with good policies will run smoothly and be a joy to all. What are some good policies? Policies that I would look for in a co-op would be a clear statement of what their goal is as a group, fair discipline issues established for students and teachers alike, a statement of faith if you are looking for one to be in agreement with your faith, and attendance requirements. Even loose establishments that just meet for play time need to have some simple policies to prevent hurt feelings and misunderstandings.
If you are homeschooling for religious reasons one of the biggest assumptions that I made was that everyone was homeschooling for the same reasons. Do not assume that everyone feels the same way as you. Be a careful guardian, fully ascertaining the atmosphere of your co-op. Attending a few times before deciding to join may be wise and most co-ops will have no problem with you doing so.
Co-op groups can certainly be a blessing to all involved, yet we need to remember that as home schoolers we are not without faults. This article is intended to be wise advice and not at all a discouragement from finding a co-op. When I started I wasn’t ready for issues that cropped up and it side-lined me for a while. Now that the dust has cleared I know what to expect and also more of what I’m looking for when it comes to a homeschool co-op.
See what I mean? She is so right! I give the same advice in my book, Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them, Run Them and Not Burn Out. Read a sample chapter here: Homeschool Co-ops
Carol Topp, CPA
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9:20 AM, Sep. 21, 2008
Homeschool group avoids IRS tax notices
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A homeschool group in Georgia asked for my help because they had been getting letters from the IRS about back taxes.
We are in dire need of your help. Our homeschool group has received notices from the IRS saying that we need to contact them regarding our overdue taxes. Our group was incorporated (in 2003) but we have not filed any paper work (tax returns or corporate updates) since. Please advise, as soon as possible.
TD, Georgia
I e-mailed and spoke to this homeschool leader several times, so I'll summarize the resolution:
The treasurer e-mailed me because she had been getting letters from the IRS stating that the homeschool group was late in filing their corporate income tax return. The group ignored these letters for a few years until they found my website. It seems that the original founder had mistakenly thought that the group owed corporate income tax on their surplus. She had filed a Form 1120 (Corporate Income Tax Return ) with the IRS and paid them $71 several years ago. The IRS expected to see corporate tax returns every year thereafter and was mailing the letters when the returns were not filed. Fortunately, the group had filed for nonprofit incorporation status with the State of Georgia several years before. This was solid documentation that the group was a nonprofit organization (even they did not have 501 tax exempt status with the IRS). I called the IRS on behalf of the group and the IRS employee told me to mail a cover letter and a copy of the nonprofit incorporation certificate from the State of Georgia. I did so and when I called the IRS two weeks later, the IRS employee told me that the situation was taken care of, the case was closed and the group wouldn't be getting any more letters! (We didn't ask for a refund of the $71 previously paid, though!)
That is an excellent example of how nonprofit incorporation status helped one group avoid paying federal corporate income tax. I'm not sure that I could have convinced the IRS of their nonprofit status without the nonprofit incorporation certificate from the State of Georgia.
This is NOT to say that state nonprofit incorporation is the same as tax exempt status with the IRS. Tax exempt status with the IRS (granted by applying to the IRS using Form 1023 and paying the IRS fee) is the only way to guarantee that your group's financial surplus will truly be classified as tax exempt.
You can read more about the benefits of nonprofit incorporation and tax exempt status in my ebook Tax Exempt 510c3 Status for Homeschool Organizations at my website www.HomeschoolCPA.com
Carol Topp, CPA
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10:47 AM, Sep. 9, 2008
Starting a homeschool conference
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One leader in New England runs a small homeschool support group with big plans to host a homeschool conference.
Our small support group has been up and running for over 14 years. The past few we have been looking into running a homeschool conference and have decided to go ahead. But we are starting from scratch. We have never had Non Profit status or even a separate checking account. I’m looking to verify that we should take the steps for non profit first, then start our account.
Any thoughts?
Mary B
Mary,
I think your group will benefit many other homeschool families by offering a conference. Good for you!
I looked at your organization's website to better understand your group. You have a nonprofit mission, that of promoting your faith and homeschooling. I gather that you have a team of people running the group and not one "owner". I assume that any extra money leftover at the end of a year, stays with the organization and is not pocketed by the leader(s). Those three criteria: a nonprofit mission, team leadership and proper use of the financial surplus means your group is already a nonprofit organization. You may not be recognized by your state or the IRS as an "official nonprofit", but your support group is certainly not a for-profit business. You can only be one or the other: for-profit or nonprofit.
You should definitely get a separate checking account for your support group. You bank may require an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS to open a checking account. You can read about EIN's in my ebook Money Management for Homeschool Organizations on page 7.
You might also consider creating bylaws (you can find sample bylaws on my website under Resources), just so everyone knows how things will be run. You already have a mission statement. You've probably completed a lot of the steps on my Checklist for New Homeschool Organizations
I think you're well on your way to running a successful support group and convention. A little more structure (EIN, checking account, maybe bylaws) will serve you well in the future!
Best of success to you!
Carol Topp, CPA
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2:48 PM, Sep. 2, 2008
Carnival of Homeschooling: Labor Day!
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LABOR DAY: LABORS WE PERFORM AS HOMESCHOOLERS
Welcome to the Carnival of Homeschooling!

This week's theme is Labor Day and a celebration of the different types of labor we perform as homeschoolers.

I really enjoyed all these posts and want to remind everyone that your labors are not in vain. Our fellow homeschool blogger, Marsha Drews of DrewsFamilyTX blog lost her dear son, Christian, last week in a horrible accident. Hugs your kids a little closer this week and be grateful that you have the chance to labor for them and love them a little longer.
General Education
Keeping a preschooler busy from
A Familiar Path: What's a Boy to Do?
Lapbooks, reading lists, printables and organization from
The Happy Housewife: Tackle School Planning
Computer-based homeschool curriculum worked for this family
Parenting Squad: Computer based curriculum
Tiffany struggles with unschooling or more structured curriculum
Natural Family Living Blog: The Great Homeschool Decision
Homeschooling a 12th grader looks a lot more like real life than school.
Barbara Frank: Homeschooling a 12th Grader....Again
A photo peek inside a homeschool in its first week
Learning at His Feet: Beware: Learning is Happening Here!
A book review on preparing for college from
Homeschoolbuzz.com Reviews: College-Prep Homeschooling
Kris sets up a rice center for her kids at
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers : Rice Center
Miss Amanda invites us to take a look at her homeschool college classes
The Daily Planet:Homeschool Memoirs: Homeschool Agendas
A homeschool curriculum review contest over at
Successful Homeschooling: Tell me about your favorite curriculum and win free books!
The Arts
A classic art medium-play dough! from
HowToMe: How To Make Our Favorite Play Dough
Create a family flag for your homeschool Happy to be at Home: : Homeschool Flag
Reading & Writing
A book review from
Adventures in Daily Living on Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense by David Guterson
A book review from
Melissa’s Idea Garden on Life Prep for Homeschooled Teenagers by Barbara Frank
Siouxsie's son tackles an essay in an unusual manner.
Siouxsie's Musings: Partly Sunny with a Chance of School Starting
A writing lesson using well-constructed persuasive arguments
Janice Campbell: Taking Time for Things That Matter: Persuasive Writing: Teach It With Models
How is poetry created? Through the senses
Works in Progress: Writing Through The Senses
Punctuation is like breathing
The Expanding Life: In Which an Ordinary Woman Punctuates Her Life
If you fall asleep while teaching, you may wake up on a different planet from Life Nurturing Education: Sleep Teaching Doesn't Work
Math

Make your own play cash register
Play Activities: DIY Toy Money
Try your fractions on this proposed tax bill
The Informed Parent: Push to change IRS code for homeschoolers continues
Christine makes math a fun labor!
The Thinking Mother: Younger Son Loves Code Breakers
Who needs an expensive curriculum when there's curiosity and interest? from
Roots, Shoots & Fruits: This Is Our Math Curriculum
Denise may not care for the title, but she liked the math book in her review on
Let's Play Math!: Review: Math Doesn't Suck
Science

Spider hunting video from
Kid Lit Kit: Nic Bishop and Spiders
Shelley turns a mouse in the house into a unit study!
Homemade Homeschoolers: They DO Build a Better Mousetrap!
"It's Labor Day Weekend. There's not a school supply in sight. And I saw 4 shooting stars tonight."
The Life Without School Blog: 4 Shooting Stars and No School Supplies
Lance and his kids have been growing a banana plant and look at what they've learned!
Home Educate in the Sunshine State: Going Bananas
Health

Keep your sense of humor about everything. Laughter helps to stay sane from
Home Spun Juggling: Still Fighting the School Blues
Dana presents a thought provoking discussion on vaccinations on
Principled Discovery: Homeschoolers and vaccinations
Homemaking
Nominate your favorite homeschool blogger on
Alasandra's Homeschool Blog Awards: The Homeschool Blog Awards
A family's recent quest to bring order to the chaotic books overtaking their home on
Choosy Homeschooler Blog: How We're Conquerering Chaos in Our Home Library
Henry writes about getting back into the grove at
Why Homeschool: Reentry has been a bit bumpy
Labors of Love
A homeschool mom parents teenagers from
The Eclectic Telegraph: A Dancer With Many Hats in a Thankless and Undervalued Job
Progress made on summer learning goals
No fighting, no biting!: The Start of School Approaches
Living life abundantly from
Lessons from Loon Loop: The Sacred and the Mundane
Why pick a career when you can do it all as a homeschool mom?
Homeschool Nations - Arizona: The Many Hats of a Homeschool Mom
This mom is a laborer for her family
Notes From A Homeschooling Mom: The Labors of Homeschool
Starting homeschooling with a life long, eternal perspective
The Life Schoolers: Officially Homeschooling
Christy is thankful for the opportunity -the gift- to teach her children.
Mercy Every Morning: God's Grace in Our Labor of Love
Please take a moment to post a link to the carnival on your blog— help spread the word about homeschooling and the carnival, and to send some traffic to all these terrific bloggers who took the time to share their lives with us.
Don’t forget to send in your post for next week’s carnival, as well, hosted by Why Homeschool Just click on over to the easy submission form at Blog Carnival anytime before Monday at 6pm Pacific time.
Carol Topp
Thanks to www.designedtoat.com Free Original Clipart at Designed to a T
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7:42 AM, Aug. 26, 2008
I'm Hosting the Carnival of Homechooling Next Week
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I volunteered to host the Carnival of Homeschooling next week. on September 2, 2008 The theme is
LABOR DAY: LABORS WE PERFORM AS HOMESCHOOLERS

If you have a post on the labors of general education, reading, math, the arts, health, home making or labors of love, share your blog post on the carnival.
Just use this easy submission form at Blog Carnival Blog Carnival Submission form
or go here for more information: Where to Send Your Blog Submission
Send your blog information starting Tuesday August 26 and before Monday September 1st at 6 p.m. The earlier, the better, so that I don't have to labor too long on Labor Day itself!
Thanks!
Carol Topp
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4:30 PM, Aug. 12, 2008
What is the benefit of non-profit incorporation?
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I received this question from a homeschool group treasurer about filing for nonprofit incorporation:
I am the treasurer of a large-ish homeschool group. Almost 40 families. I bought your book for our group. I read through it and passed it on to the president of our board. I am supposed to be filling out an application for non-profit corporation status through the Texas Sec. of State.
Because this is public record, we do not want our home addresses on the application. So we got a post office box. That's fine for the officers' addresses, but it is asking for a physical address for the registered office. We don't have an office, per se.
I forget, why do we want to do this? What is the benefit of non-profit status?
Thank you and we have found your book very helpful.
~C
Dear C,
I'm glad you found the book (Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them, Run Them and Not Burn Out) helpful.
Sorry you've run into some road blocks. The State needs a physical address, so it can send notices, letters, "service of process," etc to a physical location. As you could imagine it might be too easy to set up a sham organization if all that is needed is a PO Box.
Also, as a protection against consumer fraud, a business (even a nonprofit business), must be traceable to an individual (the registered agent). You can imagine the frustration of someone cheated by a small business only to find out they they cannot find the responsible individual or any physical address. So that's the reason why at least one physical address needs to be given.
You can use someone that is not a board member as the Registered Agent. They must be a resident of your state (Texas). For example, I am the Registered Agent of a homeschool nonprofit here in Ohio. They figured their board members will change, but I'll be around longer. I will always know how to reach the organization, even if their leaders change.
The advantages of nonprofit incorporation include:
- limited liability for your leaders
- continued existence
- avoid taxation on any surplus
- enter into leases or employment contracts
You can read more in the articles Seven Great Reasons to Incorporate and Do We Need to Incorporate? on my website.
I hope that helps!
Carol
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12:48 PM, Aug. 3, 2008
A Homeschool Building
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A homeschool leader in KY recently e-mailed me about her group's plan to buy a building.
Carol,
I attended your workshop at the Cincy convention and found it very useful. Do you know of any home school group that has their own building? That is our next step and I need help in knowing how to get started. We are already tax exempt and have about 200 students. Our web site is www.christianconsortium.org , located in Louisville.
Thank you for any help you can give!
Beverly C
The Christian Educational Consortium
Bev,
I'm glad my workshop was helpful.
Most of the homeschool groups I know rent space and do not own a building. I remember reading about a homeschool building in an issue of Homeschooling Today magazine (I think), but that was years ago. The group bought the building with the help of a generous donor and hired a manager/maintenance man. His salary was paid for our of fees for building use. I think a church even rented space on Sunday morning.
I did an internet search and found this homeschool building in Michigan. I can't tell if this is the one from the magazine article. Could be...
http://www.homeschoolbuilding.org/HSBuilding/home_school_building.shtml
Maybe if you send an e-mail, someone can answer your questions.
I hope that helps!
Carol Topp, CPA
Can you help Bev? Do you know of any homeschool organization that has purchased a building? Please leave a comment with a website or contact information or drop me an e-mail at Carol@HomeschoolCPA.com and I'll forward it to Bev. Thanks.
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9:50 AM, Aug. 3, 2008
Insurance for a homeschool sports program
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Does your homeschool sports group need insurance? A homeschool leader in Indiana shares information on her insurance company.
Dear Carol,
I heard you speak at the Cincinnati HS Convention and it was VERY helpful. At the end, I mentioned that we had sports insurance and you mentioned that you wanted that info. So, in keeping with my promise, I am responding to that request now.
We use USSFA which was established many years ago, as I understand it, to provide insurance for homeschool sports. There are only a few states in which they cannot insure, but you can contact Lew Owens for more information if needed.
email: ussfaoffice@comcast.net
USSFA Office
4150 Kildeer Drive, Ste 2-A
Indianapolis, IN 46237
Phome: 317-357-8908
Fax: 317-357-8791
We have used this for several years (our sports program is over 11 years old) and have been very happy with the program USSFA provides. With this insurance, we are able to show the schools and other rental locations that we have liability insurance and then we have the added benefit that our player/coach coverage picks up their existing medical coverage ends.
If you call Lew, please be sure to mention that you heard about him from me (Shawna Howell). Effective 3/15/08, I became the director the SEI Panthers Basketball (SE Indiana) program and he will know of me through that affiliation.
My prayer is that we can continue to network with one another for the benefit of the homeschool community across the country.
Thank you for all that you do to help our community and particularly for sharing your wisdom with us at the convention. I was truly blessed.
Blessings,
Shawna Howell
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9:32 AM, Jul. 28, 2008
Homeschool group part of church ministry. Any problems?
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HomeschoolCPA recently received this question via e-mail:
Hi Carol,
I am the leader of a 15 years old home education support group in Ohio. We are considered a ministry of our church and our under their tax-exempt status, however we currently have by-laws and our own checking account, we approve membership, and collect fees. We offer a lot of choices/activities for our families including Friday classes, field trips, concert & theater opportunities, history fair, science fair, geography bee, mom's nights, Stanford Achievement Tests, etc.
My questions/concerns: Since we are under our church's tax-exempt status, is it a conflict to have our own bylaws? Do we jeopardize our tax-exempt status or the church's by operating as a separate entity? Over the years, we have accumulated a fairly large balance in the checking account. Is there a maximum we should have? It's our desire to work hand in hand with the church and the protection of the church and it's authority has always been a blessing to the group.
I appreciate your help,
Sharon W
Dear Sharon,
You are indeed fortunate to have such a supportive relationship with your church! It is one of the best possible situations a homeschool group can find.
I read through your bylaws and although I am not a lawyer, I am quite familiar with nonprofit bylaws and homeschool bylaws in particular. I think your bylaws spell out your relationship with your church quite clearly. I do not think there is any conflict with the church in having your own bylaws. I believe that church women's groups have been existing for years with bylaws for their specific groups. You are in a similar situation to these women's groups. I do not see a threat to the church's tax exempt situation. You are clearly part of their ministry.
I also think it is very wise to have a separate checking account. Congratulations on the surplus! Normally I would recommend nonprofit incorporation if you carry a large surplus, but since you are a ministry of the church you do not need nonprofit incorporation. There really is no maximum amount that you can have as a surplus. Some small groups find $100 is a tremendous amount, but a nonprofit like the Red Cross needs millions in surplus to meet emergency needs. In general I'd recommend that if you have more than one year's operating expenses in surplus, you might consider making some donations and gifts, perhaps starting with your host church, but there are many other projects you might consider. If you have have a future need or a plan for the money (such as purchasing equipment or hosting a convention or a big event), you might consider reserving some money in a savings account. It's perfectly legitimate for a church or nonprofit to earn interest on their savings. You could also discuss your surplus with the church treasurer and see if he has any recommendations for your surplus.
I hope that helps. God Bless your efforts!
Carol Topp, CPA
HomeschoolCPA.com
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10:45 PM, Jul. 27, 2008
Pros and Cons of Homeschool Co-ops
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I really enjoyed talking to JoJo Tabares on her internet radio' show Grace Talk Soup this past week. We talked about
- the pros and cons of homeschool co-ops,
- how to get started,
- the mistakes leaders make and
- how to avoid burn out.
You can listen to an archive of the program here.Scroll down to Past episodes and look for 7/24/2008's show titled Homeschool Co-ops: Pros and Cons.
Carol
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