A Law that Lifts Red Tape? This Homeschool Mom and Tutor Says Yes, Please!

Now that she has graduated all four of her daughters, Kathleen Mueller wants to share her homeschooling knowledge with other families. HSLDA is helping her take advantage of a new law that should make it easier to turn her plans for a tutoring program into a reality.

As the nation grappled with massive disruptions to education resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Georgia legislature passed the Learning Pod Protection Act in 2021. The measure aims to empower parents who “voluntarily associate to advance the primary education of their children” by ensuring they are not “subject to additional restrictions or regulations.”

Home educating families who operate under this law must still comply with the homeschool statute, which mandates filing a notice of intent, writing annual progress reports, and testing in certain grades, among other things.

As HSLDA Senior Counsel Darren Jones explained, Georgia’s pod law shields homeschool groups from onerous requirements intended for institutional operations that aren’t parent-directed.

In some states, this isn’t the case. HSLDA frequently advises homeschool co-ops about the problems that can arise from zoning and land-use regulations. Much of the time this type of red tape emerges at the county or municipal level as officials debate whether a band of homeschooling families meeting informally a couple times a week should be classified as a school.

“Some localities can’t figure out what box to put homeschool co-ops in, so they don’t allow it. Or they might decide that the co-op is a daycare,” said Jones. “Georgia’s pod law gives officials a category to drop homeschool groups in and is clear about what regulations do and don’t apply.”

For example, groups operating under the learning pod law don’t have to undergo state-conducted fire safety inspections, meet minimum requirements for physical classroom space, or hire state-certified teachers.

HSLDA opposes these kinds of regulations for homeschools because they can conflict with constitutional guarantees of privacy. For instance, in 2018 we worked with Christian Home Educators of California and thousands of homeschool families to defeat a California bill that proposed fire inspections for all families that file a private school affidavit (the most common way to homeschool in the Golden State.) We pointed out that allowing a government agent to enter and search a family’s home every year would violate protections outlined in the Fourth Amendment. 

Greater Flexibility

In his capacity as HSLDA Group Services Director, Jones recently worked with Kathleen to help her fully understand Georgia’s learning pod law—and encourage her to comply with the laws that do apply to ventures like her new homeschool tutoring service.

Kathleen intends to operate Love of Learning Homeschool pod from her home. 

Due to the pod law, her program will not need to comply with the extensive regulatory requirements for child care centers and home daycare. Instead, she can focus on working with each family to develop customized programs specific to their child’s learning environment in her home.

Jones also explained that a tutoring program that includes preschoolers could very well classify as a daycare—which would entail complying with a much wider range of regulations.

“I was surprised,” Kathleen admitted after recalling the list of requirements for the private daycare she operated years ago in California. In addition to her obtaining a background check, she said, her home daycare underwent regular inspections.

“You had to have covers on light sockets and safety guards on cabinets,” she said. “You had to have three days’ worth of water and healthy snacks for each child.”

Focus on Personalized Education

Kathleen models her tutoring approach on the philosophy of Charlotte Mason, a 19th-century educator who taught that building positive character traits lays the foundation for students to blaze their own paths to learning. For this reason, Kathleen prefers in-person instruction, which allows her to observe not only what each student needs, but what their specific interests are. 

Her commitment to personalized instruction is what prompted her to homeschool.

Kathleen had considered enrolling her oldest daughter in the local public school. But when she explained to the principal that her kindergarten-age girl was already an avid reader and belonged in 1st grade, the official refused to advance the student.

As Kathleen recalled: “He told me, when you drop your child off at the front door, she becomes our responsibility. We will do what we decide is best.”

So, Kathleen and her husband chose to homeschool and provide a place where their children could feel safe, relax, and explore. They read classic literature together, but also spent time in the garden tending flowers and vegetables—not to mention rabbits and chickens. 

When the girls reached middle school age, they were invited to join a start-up homeschool basketball league eager for young athletes. To Kathleen’s surprise, they discovered they loved the sport and eventually developed into championship-caliber players.

All her daughters were advanced beyond their grade level in academics, and during high school, they took courses through the dual enrollment program at the local community college. Each of them had earned about 30 college credits by the time they were awarded their high school diplomas.

Where Learning Comes Naturally

Kathleen hopes to replicate in her tutoring service the same sort of nurturing atmosphere she enjoyed with her daughters.

“I don’t want it to look like a school,” she explained. “If kids want to read, I want them to sit on a couch with pillows. I want them to experience good food. I want them to be able to go outside and refresh themselves.”

In short, she wants to offer a learning adventure. And since her consultation with HSLDA, it’s a goal she believes Georgia’s learning pod regulation will help accommodate.

“It’s good to know there’s so much flexibility in the law,” Kathleen said.

Jones agreed.