Me too. I just like good 'ol regular paper and dealing with REAL people!!!!! Electronic stuff just seems to overwhelm me!

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I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

Sigh. This is the response I got to my email inquiring about proof of attendence for my ds's.

"I am no longer responsible for managing the Homeschool Program so I forwarded your email to Patrick Blenke who is now responsible for managing the Homeschool Program. The new contact information for the Homeschool Program is listed below.

Homeschool Program Contact Information

Patrick Blenke
Program Manager
Curriculum and Instruction
Phone: 404-463-1765
Fax:404-656-5744
Email: ablenke@doe.k12.ga.us

Judy Serritella
Program Specialist
Phone: 404-657-9800
Fax:404-651-5744
Email: jserrite@doe.k12.ga.us (end quote)

Ok.. I got her email directly from their own website... and also.. I guess this is how it'll be now? We won't get any answers to anything but a pass-the-buck kind of treatment??
I will call HSLDA if I do not get an answer very soon!!! grrrr.

UGH!!!!!

_________________
I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

So after all of this time I still have no reply from Mr. Blenke. I sent him another email explaining the situation and that my first email was forwarded to him on Sept. 5th.
Guess what? Another automatic replly!! He's out of his office for this week.
SO.. I forwarded everything to the next name on the list... and now I wait.
I am going to check my Hslda card and see if I'm still a member (I should be but am not 100% sure.)
If I get no answer by tomorrow I'm calling them. This is beyond rediculous. The last time I just drove 10 miles to our local BOE and had the papers filled out in a few minutes. Now it's taking me nearly 3 weeks and still not help!

OK.. interesting reply"

"You are the school official and you may sign the Social Security papers. GaDOE only collects attendance at the end of the school year.

Thanks.
Judy Serritella, Ed.S.
Coordinator of Library Media Services and Literacy Support
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Georgia Department of Education
1770 Twin Towers East
205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive, SE
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Voice: 404-657-9800
Fax: 404-656-5744
www.gadoe.org"

In other words they are going to be absolutely NO HELP!!!! What do I do when dd goes for her license??? I mean really?? They really think the SS office and the DOT will accept a paperwork from me? If they did I would have been doing that all along instead of going through the BOE. This is a fiasco.

Laurajean, on the months we have no days to report, I just don't send in a form for that month. I've never had any problem with it. We start in Aug...and then it runs to the next Aug. But those months with no school, I don't send them anything, I never have.

Also.. update on my problem. I finally got smart. I went to the SS website and printed off 2 attendance forms. I will get my ds's to fill them out and we'll take them up the SS office this week. We'll see how it goes from there. I'm kind of at the breaking point right now. I'm SO SICK of paperwork!!!! I also don't understand why someone in Atlanta could not have just emailed me back with the info I got today??? It's been nearly 3 weeks for someone to finally tell me to just do it myself??? I'm not happy. All I can do now is pray that the SS office accepts MY signature on these same exact documents that I HAD to have a BOE signature on just 6 months ago! I am sure SS hasnt' changed their policy to fit my problem with our no-longer-local home school "representative". In quotes because I do not feel very represented at all right now. I don't blame the people in Atlanta at the BOE there. I'm sure they are all overwhelmed by this new law that just dumped all of this into their laps. I'm sure they are as frustrated as I am.. Dear Gov, give us back our local BOE home school representation!

You might want to print out their email & take it to SS with you - just in case they ask.

But, good chance they won't even notice that it's your signature on it. (I've been undewhelmed with the brilliance of SSA)

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http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/

Tory, it appears to me that these people are overwhelmed and don't have a clue about the procedures and laws. It is frustrating. They are supposed to be "experts" but I don't know....

I am thinking about contacting HSLDA, too. The doe website says one thing, and these "experts"....IF you ever actually hear from them...say a completely different thing.

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I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

Yes, because they said we would have the option of month attendance so we'd have access to them for needed forms. Now that it's actually needed, we get nothing but automatic reply emails and no help at all with anything.
THEN to be told "Do it yourself" is so stressful.

I don't want to throw a wrench in the works, but I *heard* that your letter of intent might count like the attendance form used to (in some areas). It's worth a shot. I've also heard that no, the licensing and SS offices were not given new procedures from the state as to what was now acceptable. I don't know what the impetus was for the law, but my homeschool group and HSLDA both seem to deem this a positive change. I certainly like annual attendance reporting, but were some local boards really that difficult to work with? My oldest went compulsory this year, so I don't know the difference. Keep us posted!

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DD 2006, DS 2007, DS 2010