Last week Granite State Home Educators held a public online discussion with NH Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut to discuss home-based learning communities, including homeschool pods and microschools.
It is a growing variation of homeschooling for many families, particularly for those seeking in-person educational and social opportunities. It also has wide appeal for many families who are unsatisfied with their local school’s reopening plans.
We published some background information about homeschool pods and how it fits into existing home education law and statutes in our What’s Old is New Again article.
There are several good articles about homeschool pods available here, here, and here.
We recorded the entire discussion with Commissioner Edelblut and it is available on our YouTube channel here.
We covered a lot of information with the Commissioner; here are a few of the highlighted topics. Watch the video for details.
- Commissioner Edelblut explained home education law, RSA 193-A, and clarified the parents’ responsibility to “provide” for the child’s learning in a homeschool program, particularly as it applies to home-based learning communities.
- The Commissioner distinguish between the three types of education available to NH families: public (district and charters), private, and home education.
- He also explained that homeschoolers may participate in curricular and co-curricular programs available at their local public schools, if they are running this term, on the same terms and conditions as full-time students.
- We talked about homeschool co-ops that operate in the state currently.
We are very appreciative of Commissioner Edelblut’s time and support to homeschoolers across the state.
To help NH homeschool families connect to each other and educational providers, GSHE formed a new Facebook group called GSHE Homeschool Pod Connections. Please join us there to find like-minded people to self-organize a home-based learning community.
If you are looking for information about how to start homeschooling, please look at our Where to Begin page which explains the simple requirements. We also have some very informative videos available that also cover the wide range of resources available to customize a learning program.
Update 8/15/2020: We will have a follow-up discussion with Commissioner Edelblut on Wednesday, August 26 starting at 7:00pm. Use this link to join us. A (free) Zoom account is necessary to watch and participate in the chat Q&A. More information is on our Facebook event.
By Michelle Levell
