If you’ve attended CHEWV’s Homeschooling 101 classes, you’ve heard us emphasize something: WV homeschool law 18-8-1(c)(2) is an exemption to WV’s compulsory attendance law.
WV children who turn 6 before July 1st of any calendar year are required to attend public school the following school year UNLESS they satisfy one of a few exemptions found in the law. 18-8-1 (c)(2) is one of those exemptions.
Why bring this up? Several bills currently in the legislature provide for new exemptions. In their present form, they do not affect 18-8-1(c), but rather are intended to add other exemption options.
CHEWV’s primary legislative purpose is to defend the freedoms we have worked so hard to gain back. (Homeschooling was totally legal before 1897.) If you are inclined to read bills carefully, the section of the law that is affected matters.
If you refer to the annotated law that CHEWV provides, you will see that we homeschool under Article 8 Compulsory Attendance, Chapter 18 Education, Section 1 Compulsory school attendance; exemptions. The exemptions follow and homeschooling options currently fall under (c). CHEWV defends 18-8-1 (c), while we closely monitor other parts of the law that affect homeschooling.
Of course, additional exemptions have the potential to change homeschooling as we know it, but those waters can be muddy. That’s one of the reasons we call you to prayer during the legislative session.
By God’s grace, WV parents already have the legal option to homeschool. Thousands have taken advantage of that freedom – with great success! May thousands more find the beauty of the individualized approach that homeschooling makes possible!
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