Who Do You Know?
Do you personally know or have connections with a Florida Senator, Florida House Representative, etc? Let us know!
12025 Legislative Updates
The place to follow for updates and special alerts regarding the 2025 Legislative session!
2Questions and Answers
Have a question about home education in Florida? Post it here, and one of our HEF Admins will answer!
45Connect with Evaluators
Interact with qualified Florida homeschool evaluators
10Scholarships
Info on available scholarships for home educated students in Florida
121PEP - FAQ
All of these questions are regarding the Personalized Education Program, introduced in HB1 known commonly as PEP.
84FES-UA Q&A
Questions about the FES-UA scholarship? Post them here and an HEF Admin will answer!
17New to Home Education
Connect with home educators with years or even decades of experience. No fear - dive in and get help!
1Co-Op Leaders
Interact with co-op leaders in your area
4Laws + Q&A
Info about Florida's home education laws, and a place to ask questions about them!
2Urgent Issues
Find info on urgent issues affecting home educating families
0Resources Made by Parents
This section is for helpful, parent-created resources that you wish to share with other home educating or PEP parents.
2Special Needs
For parents of children with special needs to connect & share experience, resources, and more.
4HEF Ambassadors
A place for communicating with our Ambassadors! (If you'd like to become an official HEF Ambassador, let us know!)
2Testing
Info about any related to standardized tests for home ed and/or PEP students. Feel free to ask questions here, too!
5Review Committee Volunteers
Find out more about the Home Education Review Committee required by statute, and comment if you're willing to volunteer!
12024 Legislative Updates
Updates on what's happening in 2024 Legislative sessions.
27Social Media Contests
A Place to house contests or ideas from social media.
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- Questions and AnswersI wanted to share this with everybody because so far it's cost me $500 which I thought was covered under the scholarship. My boys are passionate about basketball and I saw that the Orlando Magic had a basketball program after Thanksgiving. While reading the information of the program, it looked like it would totally qualify under a sports training program. Basketball is their primary physical education. So I signed them up them it was a 2-day program where I take them at 9:00 a.m. and pick them up at 4:00. In the meantime, they had Orlando Magic trainers working with them on their basketball skills. They liked it so much that I signed them up for the clinic after Christmas. Same thing took him in the morning. Picked him up at the end of the day. When I submitted the invoice and proof of payment they declined because on the invoice it said Orlando Magic basketball camp. I can totally understand why a camp would not be included and I did a search of what is the legal definition of a camp. To me it's a place where you stay and eat there. This was not a camp. It was a clinic so because of one word they denied me the refund for their physical education training. Whoever administers this scholarship needs to understand the essence of the program and not a word. Does anybody know if there's a way to appeal or if there's a way to go above the people you talk to on the phone who tell you is not refunded because it says camp on the invoice.
- Social Media ContestsI look for pictures all the time for our documents, website, materials, etc. It never fails that most of the pictures of "homeschooling" look like...well..."school" at home. Possibly, nothing could be further from the truth. It's difficult for people to truly SEE and UNDERSTAND the home education directions parents want to take for their children. And some truth to that old Disney movie song from Beauty and the Beast, "we don't like what we don't understand, in fact is scares us..." So, let's have a fun contest. Post a picture in the comments below of YOUR version of home education (aka "homeschooling"). Try to capture the ESSENCE of the freedoms and choices you make. "What Homeschooling means to you." ...aaaaaand GO.
- 2025 Legislative Updates*** IMPORTANT UPDATE AS OF 10:30PM on February 10th, 2025: The February 12th meeting has been canceled due to a special session being called. We will keep everyone updated if they reschedule this! *** Further update as of February 11th, 2025: Please email your testimonies to us in written form! Jason can share them directly with the Subcommittee chair since the opportunity for parents to speak at the February 12th meeting was cancelled. Email them to info@flhef.org! (NOTE: We also intend to use these testimonies as part of a blog post on our website. Submitting them to us will be considered permission to use these stories on our blog, so that others beyond this session can benefit. Having the testimonies as shareable blog posts vastly expands the impact, as it enables other legislators to see them, and also gives us the ability to share these stories as a way of impacting the narrative surrounding home education and school choice in Florida.) *** We just heard that the Student Academic Success Subcommittee is planning to meet this coming Wednesday (February 12, 2025) from 9AM-11AM to discuss the school choice landscape and how families are using it. THE NEED: It is VERY IMPORTANT that we have families show up to this meeting in the Florida Capitol. We want to FILL THE ROOM with home education families and PEP families to show the legislature how important school choice is to us! (Home education and PEP both fall under "school choice"... home education was one of the earliest school choice options in Florida, even before "school choice" became the buzzword it is today!) We want not just parents, but STUDENTS to attend this meeting... We want to pack the room with families! Parents (and students, if they wish to speak!) should come to the Student Academic Success Subcommittee prepared to share a brief (1-2 minute) testimony, if the subcommittee allows it. (Testimony about how YOUR family has utilized school choice, and why it matters to you.) But even if you don't want to speak, please come! [IMPORTANT NOTE! There is some word that the Governor may schedule a Special Session for next week. If he does, then the planned subcommittees (including this one) may get rescheduled. So we are asking for families to plan to be there Wednesday, but please be willing to be flexible in case the time/date gets moved! We will send out word as soon as we can if that happens.] Even if they do not allow a chance for parents and students to speak at this subcommittee, just having a huge room FULL of home education and PEP students would make a massive impact. We need them to know how many parents and students care about school choice freedoms! Bring your kids, too! Let's FILL THE ROOM! **If you're planning to attend, please let us know! We'd love to all meet up in the Capitol a little bit before the meeting to make sure everyone finds the correct room and that we show up in unity to represent home education and PEP well! We'll be coordinating the meetup details through THIS VERY FORUM POST. Just drop a comment on it to let us know if you plan to attend! (You can also email us at info@flhef.org if you have any questions!) (PS - In the future, we hope to send these notifications out in a private app to make it easier to coordinate. If you're interested in joining that when we have it ready, please email us at info@flhef.org and let us know so we can add you to the contact list!) Thank you, and I hope to see you in the Capitol! Sincerely, Crystal Crawford Community Manager Home Education Foundation UPDATE AS OF 2/10/25: The meeting is at the Florida Capitol in the House -- Reed Hall (102 HOB). Attached is a map of the Capitol to help you find the location. You should plan to arrive at least 30-45 minutes early, to allow time for parking and getting to the room. There is street parking available and also a parking garage. Brenda and/or Jason/Crystal will meet parents outside the room before time to start to help everyone get situated. Here is the official House calendar so you can see the time and details! https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/HouseSchedule/houseschedule.aspx?calendarListType=Interim&date=2-12-2025 IMPORTANT: If you are planning to speak at the committee, we need to submit your speaker paperwork TODAY (February 10) or tomorrow by noon at the latest. (The longer you wait, there's less guarantee there will be time for you to speak, as they are creating the docket now.) Email us your name, address, whether you're home ed/PEP and whether you use FES-UA, your phone number, and the bullet points of what you plan to speak about. Speakers should plan to keep their testimony short (1-2 minutes) to allow time for questions.