Education Station Education Station is your station for news about K-12 and higher education in the state of Oklahoma. We’ll also tell you about trends in education, and occasionally post off-beat or just plain intriguing bits of news.
photo illustration by Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman
"It is a major decision, and it changes your lifestyle.” Marcus Hulings
Life after homeschooling
Homeschooled students are eligible for admission to all public colleges and universities in Oklahoma.
They must meet minimum scores on either the ACT or SAT to enroll in a four-year university. Community colleges have no admission requirements.
Homeschooled students also can apply for Oklahoma's Promise scholarships, which reward students from families earning $50,000 or less. They must apply between the ages of 13 and 15, and achieve at least a 22 ACT score.
Staff Writer Susan Simpson
Somewhere between $14 and $60,000 a year. Or more. That's what homeschooling can cost, depending on how you look at it.
But before you start paying for it, you've got to get started in your homeschooling career. That's easy, particularly in Oklahoma, says Marcus Hulings, treasurer and conventions director for the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators Consociation, one of the state's largest homeschooling organizations.
Oklahoma is friendly territory for homeschooling because of a phrase inserted in the original state constitution by a farmer/legislator, Hulings said. Section XIII-4 states that "The Legislature shall provide for the compulsory attendance at some public or other school, unless other means of education are provided...” (emphasis added.) For thousands of Oklahoma families, that other means is homeschooling.
On getting started
If you are parents with young children who have never been in public school, you just start teaching, Hulings said. "That's it. You don't have to do anything.”
However, if you pull your older child out of a public school to begin homeschooling, you must notify the school in writing that the child is withdrawing. "If there's no notification, the school can claim them as a truant student” and can send an officer to check on the child, he said.
There are no standards, organized testing or other government requirements for homeschooling in Oklahoma, he said, although most homeschool parents test their children to assure they meet achievement levels of their counterparts in public schools.<