Private or County or PEP

Private or County or PEP.

Those are the options for home educators in Florida. Choose one of these as the system where you want to enroll/register your child for attendance compliance purposes. Just one. Not two or more. Just one. 

Florida Unschoolers is private school enrollment. The enrollment information is here: Florida Unschoolers - Enrollment 

Your county school board’s homeschool office has a form letter on their website called a Letter of Intent. Submitting that form to your county school board establishes you as a county homeschooler. 

The PEP program is a separate, stand-alone program. Register your child with that voucher program and that is where your child is enrolled for attendance compliance purposes. See the SUFS and AAA websites linked here: Florida Unschoolers - FES--UA (Special Needs) 

If you do one, do not do the others. If your child is enrolled with Florida Unschoolers, for example, and you want to use the PEP program, you must withdraw your child from Florida Unschoolers. (Withdrawal form is here: Florida Unschoolers - Withdrawal or Graduation . No, I do not run the PEP program and do not know what they require.)

Same answer for the county option. If you register with your county as a homeschooler (Letter of Intent), do not enroll your child with Florida Unschoolers and withdraw them if you already have. 

One or the other or the other – not two out of three. 

There is a lot of confusion about the different options.

The voucher part of the PEP program, for instance, is sometimes used to pay for “homeschool programs” or other tutoring options. Some are even brick & mortar drop off options far removed from independent home education. But that does not change where your child is legally registered/enrolled for attendance compliance purposes – the PEP program.

Just as you may hire a tutor for your child if you are registered with your county as a homeschooler or your child is enrolled with Florida Unschoolers, using different providers does not change where your child is legally registered/enrolled and it does not change your reporting responsibilities: Florida Unschoolers – submit the withdrawal/graduation form when you want to withdraw or graduate your child; county homeschool – portfolio, daily journal/log and annual evaluation; PEP – that program's requirements. All of that still applies to you no matter what sort of outside services/providers/curriculum you use or groups you join. 

Three separate options – a lot for parents to sort out.

A chart comparing the private/umbrella option with the county option is here: Florida Unschoolers - FU-County Comparison Chart 

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Note that this page is about the separate legal categories for enrollment/registration for attendance compliance purposes. This step has little or nothing to do with the content of your child's home education or the approach you take. That is a separate decision. Yes, more decisions. :) See the Deschooling page for help sorting through those options: Deschooling