Homeschooling 101

Basics for Non-Mainstreaming in Seattle

• This is the one, must-have link for all home-based learning families in our area: The “Pink Book.” The “Pink Book” is a collection of all of Washington State laws affecting home-based instruction.
• Washington Homeschool Organization (WHO) is an excellent resource for homeschoolers, including advocacy protecting your rights to choose the best education for your children, continuing education, and great resources on different options to meet education requirements.
• Washington State education statistics. Notice in this document the enrollment facts: there’s been an exponential growth of homeschool/unschooling in Washington State. While public school enrollment rose by 0.6%, and private school shrank by 1.8%, home-based instruction grew by 8% in 2014. Washington State now has over 16,582 registered (age 8 and up) homeschoolers!

Learning Standards

If you are a parent curious about the state standards and average milestones for learning expectations, these documents are helpful resources:

• This website is a good clearinghouse of all the Public School grade level expectations (GLEs) and essential academic learning requirements (EALRs) which are designed to prepare children for public school graduation. Please note that the English and math expectations are undergoing major upheaval due to retooling related to Common Core.
• Sample public school 1st grade social studies unit outline.
• Sample public school 2nd/3rd grade science standards.
• Public school superintendent’s arts standards.