As I write this, there has been an interesting discussion going on in our Indian Homeschool email group Swashikshan. As some of you may be aware, Homeschoolers from all over India have formed an association called Swashikshan a few years back. You can find more details on our website is http://homeschoolers.in/
‘Swa’ means self and ‘Shikshan’ means learning, in many Indian languages.
The topic for the email discussion this time was on some form of identity document that we can give our kids who are being homeschooled [including homeschooling, unschooling and the various shades in between] to enable them to participate in activities or competitions which are usually open to school going children of their age.
To give an example, there is this Young Authors Hunt conducted by Igenius. http://www.igenius.org/YoungAuthorsHunt/About-YAH.aspx in India.
My oldest daughter, who is 14, took part and submitted a story, and now she has been selected for the second round. To participate, the child needs a few documents.
This is what they wrote to me:
We take immense pleasure in announcing that you have been shortlisted for the Round 2 of Max Life Insurance igenius Young Authors’ Hunt 2013. You are now among the select few who will participate in the ‘On-the-spot’ creative writing, where in you will be given a topic on the spot and will be asked to write a story/essay on it.
Please note that you will need to carry the below mentioned documents to the On-the-spot creative writing venue. You will be required to carry the original as well as one photocopy of each document.
The original shall be returned immediately after verification.
Also, a parent or guardian must accompany the participant to the venue.
- Printout of this email
- Previous year mark-sheet/report card of the participant
- Certificates of extra-curricular achievements (if any)
- ID proof of igenius Young Authors’ Hunt participant with class details
We have had many parents in our group giving us suggestions on how to go about it. I thank HSLDA http://www.hslda.org/ because it has been always a great support to our homeschooling movement ever since we have been in touch. Thank you so much Mike and Brittany J.
I would like to know from the international community how you would have gone about with this issue of identity documents for homeschooled or unschooled kids.
Love, power and a sound mind 
So what are you taking with you as proof?
We took our daughter’s UID card as Identity proof, and her Checkpoint Exam [IGCSE] results.
Perhaps each family could print off a homeschool ID card. There’s some free here: http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/homeschool-id/ Though I’m in the US, this is what I use when I need such a thing.
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It’s nice that home schooling is getting recognised but as a parent of special need child I would like to see more info about home schooling ideas for the parents of such kids.