"(Lots of maladapts- "blue tarped garagers" and such.)"

Hmmm. I better go out and see what the color du jour of the tarp over my garage is. Usually whatever is on sale at Kmart. ;-)

Actually, ours is a tasteful forest green one, and it's over the side of the barn (a little extra wind protection)! Although I'm sure there are those who'd argue I'm maladapted.

Actually, some parts of some cities you see a lot of tarps hanging over otherwise open garages because there are people up working all night- and day- and night-

and naturally these types are suspicious and don't like to be watched.

Something about not getting enough sleep. The ads for the all night car parts stores in these areas are a HOOT.

UPALLNIGHTWORKINGONYOURCAR??!!!???!!!?NEEDAPARTANDJUSTCAN'TWAITUNTILMORNINGTOBUYIT???!!!???!?COMETOALLNIGHTAUTOPARTSBESTPRICESANDWE'REOPENALLNIGHT!!!!!!!!

We have tarps too.
That's not what I meant. ;)

Rebecca,

We've never gone the private school route, so I'm fuzzy on the details, but here's my thinking about your question.

Because you are a private school, you keep your own attendance and grades and report them to yourself (or not, if you unschool). All you are required to do is re-register each year with the state. As far as I know, private schools have the same 180-days requirement as public schools, so I'm assuming you have to keep some kind of attendance records. Yes?

But, because we register with a cover school, which actually is just another private school as far as the state is concerned, they need to keep the records. It's a once-a-month, or a once-a-semester thing. I'm not sure, my wife does it. ;-)

However, all the cover school reports to the state is how many students in which grades are registered with the school. We appreciate being once-removed from the system, and anonymous.

Dave

I see your point about the anonymity. I'll mention that to dh. You're right; I think we'll have to keep attendance records, which don't have to be reported but can be checked with a couple of weeks notice. I'm not sure about grades. I don't have to start until next year since dd is only five now. What if you don't want to grade your children? Are you required by law to give grades or to have grade levels? And can you just say your child is present every day of the year?

Again, I can't speak for the requirements in the private school option, but our cover school requires attendance and grades. These are their records only, and are not part of what they report to the state. Grades come in handy, especially in high school if your child wants to go on to college. I suspect many colleges would have no reason to look twice at an official transcript coming from such and such private school, but might question something scratched out hastily on the back of a napkin. Grades, however, are very arbitrary, and you are welcome to give your children whatever grades you want. (Not much different from the public school system, heh?) And yes, you can count as a "school" day any day that your child is conscious and breathing.

in KY they say "scholarship reports" rather than "grades". This way you can do portfolio or descriptive assessments. For a hs transcript to apply to private college I decided to use the state testing system adjectives instead of letter grades, and the college had no problem with that. The adjectives are novice, apprentice, proficient, distinguished, and they have definitions for these. College really was concerned with the ACT score more than anything else, I don't think they really cared much about the transcript. She got lots of scholarship money based on other things--ACT, Leadership (based on activities), Talent (she had been to KY Governor's School for the Arts 3 week summer program).

Funny thing about "novice". Two schooled kids who are studying Latin and Greek word roots with me told me that they thought novice meant "bad" or "the lowest" when we had a set of words with this root.

I think it is much easier to get into college now without traditional grades than was true in the past. And many colleges like to get homeschooled young people.
Leslie in KY

Off topic: How did you make the post so wide?