FL Homeschool Evaluations

A little read about homeschoolers in another part of the world that someone might find interesting

The Big Read: Not for the faint-hearted - inside the world of homeschooling and how to tell if it works for your family SINGAPORE: For a young Sukesy Mattar, studying at an international school in Kuwait, where she lived with her family till she was 11, provided her with a vibrant, holistic experience. “We studied lots of different things, like handwriting and poetry. PE (physical education) wasn’t just PE, it wa...

Want to start a home education portfolio review evaluation with us?

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Where and how to begin?

Most people begin on our website by filling out one of our online forms. We have two main options for the evaluation: Our popular online/email option and the video call evaluation option. You can view details about the options, including costs, on our website at https://www.flhomeschoolevaluations.com/general-information.html
There you will find links to the forms associated with each option.

The online/email evaluation option in particular is meant to be filled out when you have materials ready to share with us. The materials can be uploaded to the form and/or emailed after the form has been completed. One form is filled out per child.

The video call form is meant to be filled out if you are ready to schedule an appointment within the next two months.
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When?

Note that the student does NOT have to have finished curriculum in order to have an evaluation done. Florida law does NOT require the use of published curriculum for home educated students and certainly does NOT require that the materials or courses be finished. (Most schools almost never finish their curriculum and Florida law doesn't require more of homeschoolers than schools manage.)

If the student has completed enough to see that educational progress commensurate with ability has been made, the evaluation can be done.

Though no "too early date" is stated in Florida law, the Florida Dept. of Education states on its Home Education FAQ that evaluations should be submitted close to the anniversary of the Letter of Intent (unless ending home education and then it should be submitted with a Letter of Termination within 30 days of ending home education). We've found districts accept evaluations up to 8 weeks in advance of the anniversary of the Letter of Intent--though a few will accept earlier than that.
It is okay to do the evaluation earlier than the planned submission date. Parents are the ones to submit the paperwork to the district, per Florida law--we'll help you know how to do that.

Missed your deadline?
There's nothing in Florida law that allows a district to reject an evaluation for being past due, but they can send trouble. We recommend that if you are past due, email your district's home education contact and let them know that you are aware of the deadline and are in contact with an evaluator and will get the paperwork to them as soon as you can.
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Appointments?

1. Online/email Option

Appointments are not typically made in advance for online/email evaluations. Instead, we typically work on forms as received. By filling out the form you are entering our queue. During the busy summer months, the time from form submission to us reviewing the form is typically 2-3 weeks, though we have options to pay extra to move ahead in line. Typically, when we review the materials, we will finish the evaluation that day with a brief phone chat with the student unless we need to see more information and then we'll contact the parent for more information. If you need to schedule the call, you can mention that on the evaluation form and we will schedule it after reviewing your materials, so the call would then come a few days later.

2. Video Call Option

Usually within a few days of receiving the form, we'll email a link to a calendar app to set an appointment. The appointment can be set up to 60 days in advance. There is an option to pay extra to move to the head of the line for faster service using our RUSH video service.

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Last year, when it looked like we might have to turn away some evaluation requests, we brought on a veteran evaluator to help us. She is already helping us again this year. And we have lined up a new teacher who was homeschooled from start to finish and has watched us do evaluations for years, to help out as well.

Questions?
The fastest way to get questions answered during the busiest of the summer months is to email us with the word "Question" and a few key words about the question in the subject line. Email us at
[email protected]

Cheryl Trzasko, homeschool mom and evaluator since 2003
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

Questions about FL homeschool evaluations?

You've come to the right place to ask. My husband and I run FL Homeschool Evaluations which offers low stress portfolio review evaluations. I've been doing evaluations for 21 years now and can answer most any question you might have. We do portfolio review evaluations virtually for students of all levels and abilities all across Florida--these evaluations are not tests but involve showing us some of the records kept to verify that the student has been learning over the course of the year.

The parent can choose from 5 evaluation options. 3 of them are testing options. One is the portfolio review. Another is anything else that the district and parent agree on--under this option, many (but not all) Florida districts accept grade reports from FLVS Flex or dual enrollment college programs as the evaluation--though the details vary from one district to another and some don't accept these grade reports at all--so ask your district's Home Education Contact if you are interested in an alternative evaluation option.

We do direct pay for those on the Unique Abilities scholarship through Step Up for Students' legacy system. And those in their new EMA system can initiate payment through the EMA system. Or we can send receipts that specifically meet the scholarship's requirements for reimbursement.

Our website has a lot of information about evaluations (as well as other aspects of homeschooling).
https://www.flhomeschoolevaluations.com/general-information.html is a good page to start on if you have evaluations questions. Or feel free to ask as a comment below.

I also run a support group for evaluators where I help mentor over 500 people. FL teachers and/or FL licensed psychologists or school psychologists can go there for information about actually doing evaluations.
FL Homeschool Evaluators (Association of FL Evaluators)

Those who want to use someone else that's vetted as a homeschool evaluator can look on https://www.afevaluators.com/ for a list.

We made an appearance in Practical Homeschooling Magazine's "A Day in Our House" column.

FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

What is our children's sense of wonder and why is it so important to protect and nurture it? 🐛🌿
New blog post: http://rainorshinemamma.com/why-we-must-protect-and-nurture-our-childrens-sense-of-wonder/

FL Homeschool Evaluations Note:

We have recommended for years that parents contact us at least 4-6 weeks in advance for evaluations during the busy season. This year, many have not done that. Therefore, our evaluation process has slowed down; regular evaluations are currently taking around 3 weeks; for those who contacted us 4-6 weeks in advance, this is not a problem.
https://www.flhomeschoolevaluations.com/form-onlineemail-evaluation.html

We have a massive number of RUSH requests for an additional $10. RUSH requests are currently taking perhaps 9 days. To use our RUSH service, be sure to fill out our RUSH form OR send an email with RUSH in the subject line.
https://www.flhomeschoolevaluations.com/form-rush-onlineemail-evaluation1.html
Paying a RUSH fee without using a RUSH form or sending an email with RUSH in the subject line will not be enough for us to find you in our overload of forms.

SPEEDY RUSH RUSH requests (additional $30) are our fastest option but are currently taking several business days. Be sure to email us with SPEEDY RUSH RUSH in the subject line to help us find those.

TIPS:
To speed up the process, please complete our online forms if at all possible.
Writing titles in the space for titles makes our process faster (and only titles--adding authors or notes or telling us to search for them elsewhere slows us down).
Giving us at least a couple of samples per subject area--one from early in the year and another from later in the year--helps. (The upload spaces on the forms can be filled with several photos or scans that have first been saved as a single file. Or you can take a photo with 2 to 4 pages in the photo.)
Sending files as pdf or jpg files speeds up the process.

If you have questions, you can email us with QUESTION in the subject line, but we are focusing on evaluations first. We have brought in another experienced vetted evaluator to help us with this.

If your deadline is here (or has passed or you've received a message from the district that says you've been removed from their roster), send an email to the district telling them that you are working with an evaluator and will get the evaluation to them as soon as you can. That will buy you extra time. We don't encourage lateness but there is nothing in the law that allows them to reject an evaluation for being late.

If you are terminating a home education program to sign up for the PEP or to enroll a child in school, you can send a Letter of Termination to the district's Home Education Contact and tell them an evaluation will be coming. You have 30 days to get it in.
https://www.flhomeschoolevaluations.com/finishedhomeschooling.html

If you decide to cancel, please notify us first so that we don't spend time on that evaluation.

Thank you for your understanding,
Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

Form: Online/Email Evaluation Use the online/email evaluation form below to begin an online/email evaluation. Read beyond the form for detailed directions and more information.

The Florida Dept of Education is looking for input from parents, teachers, and more, including home education parents, on how to lessen regulation in the public schools. The article below includes a letter published by the Palm Beach County School District on this.

Or go directly to
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FloridaHB1 to access the survey where they are collecting input.

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

Have Any Ideas on How to Lessen Regulation of Public Schools? The Florida Dept of Education is looking for input from parents and others, including homeschooling parents, on how to reduce regulation of public schools. See the notice below:

In July of 2020, I rallied other homeschool organizations to help me fight my own Florida school district which tried to stop anyone from pulling students out of public schools at a time when homeschooling made sense for much of the population.

After a long discussion with a lawyer from HSLDA who expressed concerns about the lack of reliable information for those who were suddenly homeschooling and the dearth of knowledgeable evaluators to help them, I began two new groups on Facebook.

One of these groups, Homeschooling Florida Style, is for parents looking for reliable information on homeschooling in Florida. I have worked hard to eliminate or correct any incorrect information put there and to offer information in accordance with Florida law to help newcomers to homeschooling. Today, just about 3 weeks shy of its third anniversary, the group welcomed its 19,000th member.

The other group, FL Homeschool Evaluators, was set up for Florida homeschool evaluators. It began on Facebook as a support group for evaluators, to help educate them about Florida law and give them a place to network, share ideas and resources, familiarize themselves with Florida law, help new evaluators learn their trade, exchange tips, and more. This group has grown to over 400 people and has launched themselves as a nonprofit registered on SunBiz under the name Association of Florida Evaluators.

On our website at AFEvaluators.com, we share information for evaluators and parents (or other members of the public). Our members have proven their credentials and knowledge of Florida home education law in order to join the group. We share an Evaluators' List with contact information for member evaluators who are taking on new clients. We also share information there about legal requirements for homeschoolers, evaluation options and requirements, resources, and more. We plan to reach out to Florida school districts and more to share our list with those who need help finding evaluators, or professionals who can provide consultations/choice navigation services to help parents figure out how to homeschool either as home education or personalized education program services.

We are honored to display the emblems of our new group AFEvaluators.com on our official website at FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com to show that we are proud to be part of a professional organization of homeschool evaluators.

Cheryl Trzasko
President of the Association of Florida Evaluators
June 5, 2023

The Association of Florida Evaluators In July of 2020, I rallied other homeschool organizations to help me fight my own Florida school district which tried to stop anyone from pulling out of public schools at a time when homeschooling...

Re: The newly-expanded Family Empowerment Scholarship: Educational Options and the PEP and Student Learning Plan has raised a lot of questions.

I have some inside knowledge in regard to this which was created by the School Choice law passed a few weeks ago and comes effective July 1st, 2023.

Note: This scholarship is NOT the same as the Family Empowerment Scholarship: Unique Abilities which is for students with special needs. The changes discussed here were NOT made to that scholarship.

The law expanded the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship to add 20,000 more students with priority given based on income. Those families with an income under 185% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines have first priority and second priority goes to those with an income under 400% of the FPG. This scholarship money can be used to pay for private school tuition or homeschooling, but those using it for homeschooling will have to use a new Florida homeschool program called a Personalized Education Program or PEP.

There are two scholarship funding organizations that you can apply for the newly-expanded FES:EO scholarship and the PEP through:Step Up for Students is one; AAA Scholarships is the other. They will each have a different process for setting up the required Student Learning Plan.

I run a group of evaluators and we were asked to put together the SLP process for AAA Scholarships and tried to make it as similar to home education as we could, though by law, it does require testing either through a public school or through a test from an approved list that the Florida Department of Education. The Student Learning Plan can be revised throughout the year.

SUFS has a different SLP process planned. Theirs will require setting educational and/or Social Emotional Learning goals and then they’ll suggest all sorts of products that their system thinks will fit.

(I’ve communicated directly with top officials in both organizations to get this information. The FTC scholarship application can be completed now, but the PEP process will likely not be up and fully running until July 1st or shortly thereafter. My evaluators’ group has been asked to help those who want to homeschool through the scholarship to figure it out. We’ve provided information on our website to help with this and are vetting evaluators who are familiar with home education requirements and processes to serve as Choice Navigators that parents can hire with scholarship funds once the scholarship funding is granted in order to help families new to homeschooling (or just new to homeschooling through a PEP) to figure out what they are doing.

There are details here that might help interested families including links to the scholarship funding organizations and their application processes.
https://www.afevaluators.com/florida-homeschool-information

Cheryl Trzasko
President, Association of Florida Evaluators

AFE is transitioning members over from our page where we have over 400 members

Homeschool Info | AFE Information on options for homeschooling in Florida. Details on how to start home educating, required records, home education evaluations, and more are included to help home education parents successfully teach their children.

Homeschooling Story

Our youngest is so full of energy. Our best days are often the ones like the one shown. If you zoom in, you may be able to spot his face in the top level of the tower that we hiked about 50 minutes to reach. He climbed up and down the steps in the tower multiple times before hiking back out and then he still wanted to run or bike the neighborhood.

I had made sure we covered some math and Bible before heading out for the morning hike and he was reading a library book in the car.

I had wanted him to do a bit more in lessons before the day was done but knew that the exercise had helped him regulate his emotions, especially as we went with a homeschooling friend from our local homeschool support group and so was willing to let it go.

But later that day, I found an all-subjects-in-one workbook from a year or two ago—one we hadn’t used that much as it hadn’t been a good fit—in the bathroom.
“Why is this here?” I asked.
“Oh, I found it and I’ve been reading it,” he answered. And I didn’t worry any more about most of the day involving hiking and climbing. He was getting what he needed. And if he’d been in a school sitting at a desk most of the day, he wouldn’t have paid attention to most of the lessons as he ached to run and climb.

CherylTrzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

Homeschooling story: So, my youngest, age 9, has said a couple of times this year that he thinks he’d like to be a teacher when he grows up. He’s listed some other career choices, too, but it looks like this one may have some traction.

The evidence? He has a few neighborhood friends and convinced them to join a club he set up in which he teaches them drawing skills he learned from the Cat Kid Comic Club series and a few other topics.

Further evidence:
He asked me to dig out the book I used to teach him early reading skills because he’d noticed two of his friends couldn’t read yet and he had plans to help them learn to read. He mapped out plans and made some flash cards and went prepared to do some reading lessons.

This is the boy who wasn’t reading on his own until he was almost 8 years old. :)

Cheryl Trzasko
Homeschool mom and evaluator since 2003
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

A link to the update Brenda Dickinson sent out last week about the School Choice Bill (previously called HB1) is posted below. This bill has been approved by Florida's House and Senate and awaits the Governor's signature to become law. If it becomes law, it will take effect this summer for the 2023-2024 school year. Apparently Step Up for Students has already sent out an email to families that is raising questions.

This bill, if it becomes law, will NOT require testing for Gardiner (aka FES:UA) students. They can still be home education students and will still have all 5 evaluation options available to them. None of the requirements for home education are changed for them.

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This bill, if it becomes law, expands the FES:EO scholarship and opens up a new category of homeschooled student. Previously, this scholarship could not be used with homeschooling but was available to those using private schools that agreed to certain requirements. Under the new rules, this scholarship will be opened up to homeschoolers, with income under a certain amount, who sign up as Personalized Education Program students or PEP students.

The PEP will be similar to home education but not exactly the same.

The PEP will require the parent to set an educational plan for the year when signing up for the scholarship. This plan will apparently include information about the type of testing that will be done at the end of the year, because testing is the only option for an evaluation for PEP students. Testing can be public school testing or it can be testing with a nationally-norm referenced test. It will be done at the end of the public school's school year and will likely require PEP students to follow the public school's school year overall.

When this bill was working its way through Tallahassee, there were many concerns about testing and what would be done with the results and would scores and student information be shared, etc. So the test results--or perhaps just proof from the test administrator that testing was done--are not being shared anywhere other than with Step Up for Students for the first few years. That will likely change eventually, as they wanted the scores shared with a university that would have a grant to analyze the results, but that's on hold for now.

As far as I see, no test scores for passing were set by the current legislation EXCEPT that it gives many of the same guarantees as those applied to home education students and the Craig Dickinson Act refers to scores over the 35th percentile as being required for academic eligibility. So likely scores over the 35th percentile will be considered passing, but I've seen no consequences posted yet for not passing--I think they are waiting to figure that out.

Those accepting PEP funds will have to pay if they want to use dual enrollment classes or FLVS Flex classes or other public school resources.

Those who choose to use the PEP program can use some of the funds to pay for a Choice Navigator to help them figure out how to navigate through this system. I have been setting up a nonprofit for homeschool evaluators that should be completely up and running in April--so very soon. The last stage is to get our membership list up for the public to view--those members who will be available as Choice Navigators and/or will offer testing sessions will be listed as such so that parents can find someone reputable to help them through this.

The details of how this PEP option will work will still have to be worked out. I and another of the Board of our new group Association of Florida Evaluators have talked to someone in the leadership of Step Up for Students and will hopefully get direction on details as soon as they are up and running. I'll be announcing the grand opening of the Association of Florida Evaluators here and in other places as soon as we have our list up and running.

Cheryl Trzasko--homeschool mom and evaluator since 2003

https://www.flhef.org/legislative-update-week-of-march-202023/?fbclid=IwAR3Tw4hycDB6mG3vPFn7_W0L1HL5CEBnPTPFwVlu5Y9-6FNm4mfO08F0SyY

Legislative Update: Week of March 20,2023 - The Home Education Foundation HB 1, the School Choice bill, passed today in the Senate Today, the Senate took up House Bill 1 and passed it on the Senate Floor. The bill will now go to the Governor for his signature. HB 1 creates a new option for parents to educate their children at home: the “Personalized Education Program”...

For those with children who haven't learned to read by about age 8 or so...

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

Teaching Reading Q: I feel like a failure. My child is almost 8 years old and still hasn't learned to read. What tips or tricks can you suggest? Do I need a tutor? Should I put him in school?

Quick paperwork tip:
Use the library? Does it offer receipts? Consider saving them as a record of titles of reading materials.

Here are some of my little guy’s. We keep them in a clear plastic page protector in his portfolio. We definitely have more than two titles, so we’re well-covered for titles of reading materials.

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

Not sure when your evaluation deadline is? Deadlines for your Florida home education evaluation are based on your Florida Letter of Intent deadline unless you are stopping homeschooling. If you are stopping homeschooling, then the deadline is within 30 days of the Letter of Termination that Florida law requires home education parents to send once they've finished homeschooling--within 30 days of ending the home education program (whether that's to send a child to school, to move out of Florida, or to graduate your child).
https://www.flhomeschoolevaluations.com/general-information.html

Note that if you are moving to another Florida county and will continue homeschooling in that new county, you don't have to terminate your homeschooling in the original county and send in an evaluation. Instead, you can send in a Transfer Form and keep the same evaluation deadline. See our page on that at:
https://www.flhomeschoolevaluations.com/recordkeeping-transfer-form.html

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

I’ve had a lot of parents of 4- and 5-year-olds asking this week when they have to send in a Letter of Intent for their children. I put this together to help them figure it out.

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

Note: A new email address is listed online for Sandy Eggers, the Home Education Director for the Florida Dept. of Education, and her staff. Together their office is tasked with, among other things, providing information, evaluating any proposed policies to ensure they won't add regulations to homeschoolers, and serving the interests of home education students and parents. They can be valuable if districts try to overstep their bounds.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=1001.21&URL=1000-1099/1001/Sections/1001.21.html

The new email address has added the letters DOE at the beginning: [email protected]
Other contact information for them is listed at:
https://www.fldoe.org/schools/school-choice/other-school-choice-options/home-edu/contact-us.stml

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

Contact Us Home Education is a parent-directed educational option that satisfies the requirement for regular school attendance. Florida Laws protecting home education be.

Twenty years ago...
..my oldest children were preschoolers..I was was gathering resources for homeschooling my children..I was making plans to help homeschool a relative's child
(Yes, that's legal as long as the parent directs the education and keeps records as required by law. In fact, in those days, the Florida Dept. of Education's Home Education FAQ directly stated this.)..I had researched homeschooling laws in great detail for about 3 years, learning from a group full of lawyers, from reading and re-reading Florida laws and comparing them with FL DOE published policies and what the lawyers and homeschool groups said..I had spent a lot of time on online groups learning and eventually sharing what I'd learned
..when a stranger called. She was the friend of a friend and had heard that I was a certified teacher who was planning to homeschool my own and she asked if I could do a homeschool evaluation for her special needs child.

She'd had trouble finding someone who knew Florida law, someone who could recognize that her child was making academic progress even though she was working below the typical grade level of someone her age, and was willing to sign an evaluation for her.

That homeschool evaluation was my first. Soon thereafter, I set up an online group on the then-popular Yahoo! Groups called FL Homeschool Evaluations because I saw too much misinformation online about homeschool evaluations and couldn't find any source at that time devoted to helping homeschoolers understand what the law did and didn't require, their rights and responsibilities, and saw a need for a centralized source of information about evaluations.

Cheryl Trzasko--homeschool mom and evaluator since 2003

Curriculum--Tips on Choosing Florida law does NOT require any particular curriculum. Homeschool parents do not have to use public school materials. Parents may use any materials at any levels that work for their children ....

How do you show academic progress commensurate with ability as required to “pass” an evaluation?

There are a variety of ways to show that the child has been learning.

One is to cover a good portion of some books or other learning materials. (Note that while you could have your child finish them, that isn’t required. In fact, most schools never finish their materials.)

Or show a loong list of materials that have been used and/or lots of educational activities done as shown in your Log of Educational Activities.

Or you could show that the student has increased in skills or ability or has moved up levels.

Examples shown here include math problems that included basic addition facts to multi-digit addition with regrouping (aka carrying) to division with remainders—so the student is working on a higher level of math later in the year. Another photo shows that the student has worked through multiple levels of a math series going from Apples (aka book 1) to Edgewood (aka level 5). Another shows that the child’s reading speed has increased as the child read a page faster over time.

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com

What have you used recently at your library?
Tonight we went to a lovely concert by a professional recorder player. She had a soprano recorder similar to the kind elementary students sometimes learn to play in school but other versions too. She talked about different time periods in music—focusing particularly on the Baroque period, talked a little about various composers and the pieces she played, and the countries they came from. She included a few more modern South American pieces, too. Perfect for a homeschool music appreciation lesson.

We also picked up a few good books including some Spanish-English beginning readers to practice Spanish, and some science books including “The Awesome Book of Edible Experiments for Kids” and “Fairy Tale Science” which sound like fun.

Check it out and see what your library has available.

Cheryl Trzasko
FLHomeschoolEvaluations.com