Truant Officers, a common sense approach.

Truant Officers are police officers that try to find children who are supposed to be in school between normal public school hours.

The most obvious delinquent child (to a Truant Officer) is the one who can be seen walking around the neighborhood or in their yard during those hours.

As a young child, I was reported by one of my neighbors as being “truant” when I had snuck away from the school building just before school started.  I was too young to realize that my bright red umbrella, that I was merrily twirling around, was a dead give away!  My parents were of course contacted and I was sent right back to school.

So thank goodness for that neighbor, and the Truant officer, because God knows what might have happened to me if they hadn’t reported me and contacted my parents.

While we are not bound in my state by hours that a home schooled child must be in school during the day, we still have to consider what these trained police are looking for and in my opinion, try to use common sense and not complicate things for them or ourselves.

I know in my state, home schooled kids are completely within their legal rights to be outside during the day, but as a good rule of thumb, I have always kept my kids inside until at least 1 or 2pm to err on the side of caution.

You of course, do as you like, but please keep in mind that (most) Truant Officers are trying to do their jobs too.

Happy Homeschooling!

If you are in Alabama, check us out online www.freedomchurchschool.com