Let's see if I can get this written out well enough so I can actually ask my question.

My TBM ex-fiancee's sister removed her middle child from public school late during the last school year after two months of him refusing to go on his own and with no actual efforts on the parents part to fix the problem.

She then claimed to be homeschooling the boy. In the state of Washington there is a Sept 15 deadline to file a "Declaration of Intent" with the superintendent to remove a child ages 8-18 from the public/private school system into homeschooling. There are also various other requirements to actually qualify to "legally" homeschool a child.

I know that the mother did not file any such paperwork to remove her son from public school, and certainly not by the deadline. I know that she does not meet the state requirements to be homeschooling the boy.

I don't know if I should be calling the police, child services, homeschooling association, or somebody else. Does anybody have any experience in this area? My intent is to start making the calls this week, and I want to try to go through as few hoops as possible.


Just a note: I'm not against homeschooling; I'm just against an illiterate egomaniac with no motivation to be a parent attempting to do it and destroying this child's potential.

I don't know if this falls under the domain of the child's school (which handles truancy cases,) or of CPS (child services, which handles neglect.) You can try both.

I have to wonder why the child in question refused to go to school. Perhaps he was being bullied?

You might also want to give the state agency in charge of home schooling a call.

As a former Washington State homes schooler, I would have highly resented someone turning me in to the 'authorities'. Some parents do a 'top notch job', others don't. Our children had public and private school teachers that were excellent, as well as ones who were horrible.

Let things play out, and take care of your own business. It's disturbing to see the trend toward neighbors turning each other in for infractions.

I think ensuring the child receives a decent education trumps the feelings of the parent.

I would call a school in your area and ask the staff there if there are any agencies you could report your concerns to. I can't find anything online about who would handle what.

Topper, I pulled my son out in the 8th grade because of bullying. My son's education from that point on was very self directed. However, he ended up with good self esteem and had no problem at all passing his GED (with excellent scores, if I might brag). But when I pulled him out he already had an excellent foundation in all of the basics and all that was left was to build on them. I knew that and took it into account in my homeschooling plans.


I understand the feeling that "reporting" someone might be unpleasant but I strongly feel that when it comes to children and preparing them for life it is better to be safe than sorry. Of course, that's just my opinion.