FAQ’s

The compulsory age in Maine is 6-17, therefore you don’t need to send in a letter of intent until it is right before their 6th birthday. For example if your child turns 6 years old on April 1st then you would send the intent letter to homeschool before April 1st. No home instruction is required before they are 6 years old. 

You don’t send in your notice of intent until you are actually a resident of Maine. Once you have moved to your Maine residence and have a mailing address. Once you are in Maine you have 10 days of that date to send in your notice of intent. The 9/1 deadline is for people who were homeschooling in Maine during the previous year or who decided during the summer they wanted to homeschool for the first time.

You might try to research the possibilities of homeschooling a bit more before deciding that you can’t homeschool! Are there other ways to make things work that can accommodate it? Are there family members and friends who might help out? Can you live on less and simplify your life? Change jobs? Please read Carolyne and Lou’s story HERE to see what they did to make homeschooling work for them. If you truly feel like you can not make homeschooling work, there are a few options to consider that might work for your family. We are not experts in these other options, but here is a quick run-down of what we know is available. 

Private schools: 

Public Charter Schools: 

There are three distance-type public charter school programs in Maine that many people confuse as homeschooling. These are not homeschooling, they are public school at home (mostly). They may be a very good option for students who would be better off working in the home environment but whose family situations do not accommodate home education. 

You can decide to homeschool at anytime! By law, you must notify the local school district within 10 days of the start of the homeschool program. What this means is that if for example, you decide to pull your child out of school on September 20th, you would need to submit your official Notice of Intent by September 30th. Legally, you are within the law if you do that. To avoid confusion and multiple calls from the school for absences and possible issues with truancy, we highly recommend submitting the Notice of Intent as soon as you decide to homeschool. This way, you can move on with your decision, hopefully without a whole lot of back and forth with the public school. You do not need to explain your decision, or justify it. This is your choice as the parent. We do recommend keeping things cordial, as sometimes circumstances change. 

No, Maine does not provide public funding or vouchers for homeschooling.   In general, most of the homeschooling community does not WANT state government involvement in their home education program. As nice as it might be to have some extra cash to buy all of the beautiful new books and curriculum packages, the benefits are not worth what it can mean for the future of homeschooling in our state. This article by Representative Heidi Sampson says it better than we ever could.

That is the million dollar question! With so many styles of home education and curriculum choices, wouldn’t it be nice to have it all laid out in a nice little package? Each educational path can be as unique as your children are. It’s really important to first determine what your educational philosophy is, and what sort of style fits you and your kids. Our board member Heather has a wonderful video on this subject: How to Choose Homeschool Curriculum || Where to Start – YouTube

No. Home educating parents are fully responsible for educating their child and providing the diploma and transcript when they graduate. A home education diploma should be considered valid in the vast majority of post graduate settings such as: colleges and universities, trade schools, employers and the military. Most places will not ask for a diploma per se, just the date of graduation. Others, like colleges, will ask for a transcript; which you will need to create and provide. In some instances, an employer will ask for an equivalency exam, such as the HiSET or GED.

No, a homeschool diploma is considered valid in the majority of circumstances. The military or a college may ask for an equivalency exam, usually the HiSET or GED. Colleges sometimes state that they may request that a student take the GED or HiSET. In our experiences, the schools don’t seem to ask for this once the student illustrates their capacity and desire to learn in a well prepared application.  Regardless of the setting, we encourage challenging this before just accepting the request. Many times it is due to a perception by the individual that a homeschool diploma is only valid with an exam. Sometimes it is policy. Ask for the policy and encourage them to consider changing it. Your voice and advocacy for your young adult can help change the culture of the greater community around the normalcy of home education as a valid educational choice.

Yes! It is important to note that under Maine law, a student MUST have a Notice of Intent or Subsequent Year Notice on file for the year they intend to take early college courses, even if they are 17 or older and not bound by compulsory age laws. Students who homeschool through Option 2, which are essentially private umbrella schools, may not participate in Early College classes since students enrolled in private schools are not eligible for the program. Go HERE for full details on how to access EC in Maine.

YES! Every college has different requirements and types of students that they are looking for. It can be a confusing and stressful process for all college applicants, from all types of schooling backgrounds. Taking Early College classes, CLEP or AP tests can also be helpful to verify a student is capable of college level work. Our best advice is to work alongside your teen to research the colleges and programs they are interested in, and use that information to help guide their high school program. There are lots of great books on the subject. One favorite is College Without High School by Blake Boles.

Yes, you can absolutely home educate a child with an IEP. The parent can choose to close out the IEP altogether, discontinuing any relationship with the school. You may also ask the school to continue the IEP and the services such as speech, PT and OT that they were providing. Most schools in Maine tell homeschool parents that the district will not continue an IEP, but will switch the child to a 504 plan which does not guarantee FAPE (Free and Appropriate Education). There is disagreement as to whether this is in accordance with federal law, but until a parent challenges this by legal suit, it won’t change.  Most parents find that accessing services for their child on a choppy school schedule of 15-30 minute therapy sessions a few times a week is not worth the disruption and effort.

It can feel overwhelming and hard to make those connections early on. Many of us find lifelong friends for our child and ourselves through community resources such as local playgrounds, the library, rec department programs and social media. For the introverts among us, that can be hard! Sometimes social media can be a nice safe “bridge” to in-person connections. Our best advice is to just get out there, be a little vulnerable, and find a friend. Go to a local meet-up or field trip that was posted online. Attend a homeschool informational session. The home education community is usually a pretty friendly bunch!

A homeschool co-op is traditionally a semi-structured gathering of homeschool families, in which the parent is part of the program. It is generally a collaborative process with all families having a say in how the co-op is run. Some have structured schedules with classes, and parents serving as the teachers. There are sometimes minimal fees involved to help cover materials and facilities rental. Co-ops are becoming more and more popular in Maine as home education numbers have grown the past few years. Your best bet is to ask other homeschoolers in your community, or on social media in local homeschool groups. Many only take new families before the school year has started and prefer to keep their groups small and close knit. So it’s important to reach out early to try to find one. If you can’t find one, find a few other families and build the community you need! Most co-ops were started by other families who did just that.

A drop off program is different from a co-op in that usually the program is run by a few people who may or may not be parents, and is usually centered around a specific type of activity such as art or nature-based. Parents are not usually part of the planning, and there are usually fees for the services provided. They tend to be located in the more populated parts of the state. At this point we do not have a comprehensive list of programs. Your best bet to find one is to ask around in your community, and in homeschooling groups on social media.

Option 2 homeschooling is essentially homeschooling under an umbrella private school. This sort of private school is not approved by the state of Maine for tuition purposes, meaning that the school does not have the ability to access public funding. As such, the Maine DOE provides limited oversight of the school. These are not “brick and mortar” schools, they do not meet in person as a school community.  There are several of these schools throughout Maine, including the ones we are aware of below. You might ask around for others.

In addition, the Maine DOE provides guidance on the laws that these private schools must follow here: