Pennsylvania: Am I Allowed to Keep My Kids Out of School for 3-4 Months?

You'll have to ask the state this question. Look up the law on Pennsylvania's web site.

I, personally, would hesitate keeping the 8yo out of school without formally home schooling him. By doing so you are putting him behind his peers. It would mean starting him in the next lower grade.

If you know someone who lives in the prospective district I suggest you enroll him using that person's home address. I've seen that done several times in my neighborhood.

In Oregon this sort of thing is handled by lottery. So, getting accepted is a matter of luck of the draw. You could still try that if Penn. also does it that way. You need to talk more with the school district to find out what criteria are used for making such decisions.

You mentioned a home that you own that currently has tenants. If that house is in the school district you want your kids in, then use that address. Just make sure you have all the proper documents for registering.

When my brother, sister & I were little, my parents used a friend's address in order to keep us out of a crappy school. They live outside of the city limits, but the school we were technically supposed to go to only had ONE school K-12. They didn't offer near as much as the city schools. So we cheated :P And that was for long-term, not short term like you are needing.

I would think the house you own would be the easiest. You do OWN it anyways :)

You won't have a problem with your 5yo, in PA you don't have to register them for school until they are 8yo. But then, I assume, they wouldn't notice until 8yo turns 9. Look into the PA Online Charter school. I bet you could enroll them in that and teach them at home using it until they can be registered in the district where they will attend.

Homeschooling is O. thing but "keeping then home for 3-4 months" sounds illegal and I would not mess with that....K for the 4 yo is no big deal, but the 2nd grader....you can't even take them OUT for a weeks vacation without filling our paperwork, etc.
Why not rent something in your desired district for sake of address, even if you live w/parents? You'd just have to get them there & back every day.

Well in Pa your children do not need to start formal schooling until they are 8. This usually means third grade. And I believe this is in effect as soon as you officially move here. Now if you are just visiting your parents and not living here that is one thing, but if you are permanently moving here, then you would need to start them. I wish I knew the legal terms for you. I don't know if the state would consider it visiting since you are not living in a residence that you own. But anyway if they do consider you legal residence once you get her, your 4 year old you don't have to worry about. I am homeschooling my 5 yo and don't do anything official. I won't need to do anything official until she is 8. And I can also start her in public school at anytime if i decide to. She will be 6 next summer and I could send her to first grade next fall, or wait another year and start her in second grade, or even wait until 3rd grade to start her, or at that time officially homeschool her. It is the 8 year old you will have to do something with. You could enroll the 8 year old in charter school/cyber school, which is a public school where you teach at home, but they supply everything you need. It is free since it is a public school. You could also officially enroll in homeschool, for the 8 yo but it sounds like you didn't want to do that. The other options I believe are all illegal. Which would be to just keep the 8yo home and teach at home without officially homeschooling, or send them to the desired school using your address on the house you own. I don't believe legally you can do that, I believe you need to actually reside at the address and not just own the house. But you could check that with the school district, letting them know you own the house and will be moving there once the tenants vacate. It is worth a shot if you really want to start the 8 yo to start right away, otherwise i would recommend just enrolling the 8 yo in a cyber school, you could do at home wherever you live and then once you are settled in your permanent home, enroll one or both at the desired school.

Edited to add: I just did a bit of research and what i found so far is that in PA you need to be a legal resident in order to send your child to school and you need to show proof of that, things such as household bills qualify. If you do not yet have a permanent address, you are not considered a legal resident, so you may be able to avoid sending the 8 yo to school with that. However I would call the call the school district you want them to go to, and say we will be moving here can we start the child/ren while visiting relatives while we find housing, and if they say no, ask what you should do as far as schooling goes since you will not be residents in your parents house either, they should know the legal answer.

The compulsory age in PA is 8 years old (except in the Philadelphia School District). Therefore you would be circumventing the law and could get yourself in some hot water. Registering to homeschool is really no big deal - you would need to notarize an affidavit stating your intent to homeschool and attach an summary of educational goals/objectives that you intend to teach upon. Look at AskPauline.com She's got a great website that has templates for these documents. I'm sure that you could even explain in you paperwork that this would be a temporary situation. The school district cannot deny you, it is your right as a parent to homeschool.

Well, I think you need to talk further with the officials of both school districts.
It may be different in PA, but in California, children who miss that much school when it isn't due to a medical problem of some kind, are considered truant.
It may be easier for you to keep them out of school, but it may not be the best thing for them. And, if you want to home school, you may have to jump through the hoops to avoid the truancy thing.
When I was going through my divorce, I had to move to a different town, but wanted my child kept in the same school district. I had to request a review of her records and write a letter as to why it would be best for her to stay where she was. She only had one year left before starting high school and she would be with ALL the kids from the large district anyway.
It was granted.
No problem.
I would make the formal request to the superintendant so that it's documented you are trying to make accommodations for the kids to be in school as opposed to just wanting to keep them out.
Truancy boards are not fun to deal with.
Ask the school districts to help you get through this in a way that's best for your kids. Four months of a school year is a lot to miss for children and they could find themselves behind which will add more pressure to them to catch up with the curriculum.

I hope you get some great responses.

Hi, A.D.

Get in touch with the Home School Association and home school your children for this length of time and get your records started and then when you move you will have documentation for your school where you will be living.

Just a thought.
D.

I am not sure of laws requiring your child to attend school, however, are you against paying tuition to the school district where you want your children to attend? Also I don't know that it is actually the Superintendent's decision, I believe it is the School Board's decision (I have the privilege of reading board minutes for my job). I live close to Johnstown, PA and I know of multiple children that attend neighboring school districts. The catch is that their parents are responsible for their transportation and paying tuition that is equivalent to want the district pays per child to educate the children who actually live in the district. I also know of others who borrow a friend's/relative's address who resides in the district in which they want their child to attend (not really the legal way, but I'm not judging anyone)

Well, technically your 4 year old does not need to attend school at all. But I am guessing that he will be 5 years old by September 1st? Some schools have a slightly later date.

Either way, you can hold your youngest back and have him start Kindergarten next year. But you still have to send your 8 year old to school or homeschool. You can decide to do that for both children if you don't want to hold your youngest back.

I would highly suggest a cyber school. That way you have all of the information right there. They won't be behind when they get sent back to school. Your 8 year old should be able to work independently pretty much. You will have to teach your youngest everything but it is all right there for you online. They provide you with everything. They give you a computer and all equipment.

Then when you are settled in your district that you intend to stay in, you can transfer them.

Here are some links to the two most popular ones in PA.

http://www.pacyber.org/

http://www.pavcsk12.org/

In PA all children ages 8-16 are required to attend school (except in Philadelphia where the starting required age is 6). You may with to contact the district where you will be living to see what their requirements are regarding school attendance. It's possible your 8 year old will be considered truant if not attending school.

You could look into an online charter school and work it that way for your 8 year old. That way you don't have to worry about the adjustment to 2 different schools in the course of 1 year and you don't have to go through the process of registering as a homeschooler with the state. I have a friend who works for Agora Cyber Charter (http://www.k12.com/agora/) It's worth looking into.

I would use your own houses mailing address or get a PO box.

Theres no way I would keep my 8yr old out of school for 3-4 months. They would miss out on to much. Even though you and your husband might be very smart, it doesn't mean you will teach him what he needs to be taught on an 8yr old level.

If you don't want to register as legal homeschoolers then I would check Pennsylvania's compulsory attendance laws (the 4 yr old is probably not a concern). I would not want to run afoul of those . . . (we homeschool legally here in FL).

It might also be helpful to check your school district's web site and read the page for families new to the district. Perhaps they will provide a timeframe or a contact number.

I also like the virtual school idea another mom mentioned. We have that here in FL but it is not available in every state.

Good luck.

Home schooling is allowed all over America. Just home school them. There may be some requirements in the district where your parents live. Meet those and your kids won't have to adjust to a new school twice.
When I home schooled my Jr. High School age child I had to bring her to the school she would have attended every two weeks to show her work to the vice principal. She always had a lesson or two of her own choosing available.
For instance as a science project she documented and dried mushroom.