Some misunderstanding seems to have arisen because in our explanation of the methodology behind “Best Places to Live For Homeschoolers” we mentioned that we wouldn’t completely ignore the HSLDA. A few people are objecting that their states aren’t in the top ten at this point, and they are complaining that it’s because we use the HSLDA’s info. But at this point, we haven’t used the HSLDA’s info at all.
Repeat — just to clarify — so far we haven’t drawn anything from the HSLDA. The factors in the rankings so far are economic, cultural, civic, etc. They’re clearly enumerated on the graph and detailed in the spreadsheets. These factors affect everyone, but some of them affect homeschoolers more than most. For example, because so many homeschoolers are entrepreneurial, we weigh a state’s entrepreneurship climate somewhat more heavily than other “Best Places to Live” rankings in the popular press. See the spreadsheets for info on all of the factors used and how the states rank on each factor.
We are calculating the homeschool-specific rankings and will begin to post them with the methodology shortly. It would be wrong to ignore the HSLDA completely, so we’ll certainly include it somehow, but it isn’t there yet, and we aren’t yet sure how to factor it in. So your suggestions are welcome.
What do you consider the most important criteria and how does your state stack up against those? Statistics can only do so much, and we’re counting on folks on the ground to help us complete the picture. Thanks!
3 responses so far ↓
1 Robert Martin // May 11, 2010 at 2:27 pm
We admire what the effort you have put into this project and our family appreciates it. In response to your questions above, we rely heavily on HSLDA for information and guidance, and since it sounds like you are working on a forth category for ranking - Homeschool specific - we definitely encourage you to give some weight in that category to the way the HSLDA ranks state’s homeschool friendliness. I will be back in touch.
Robert (The Martin Family)
San Diego, CA
2 Fatcat // Oct 21, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Kentucky is a good place as far as the regulations go, low cost of living and a lot of wonderful homeschool support group. One of the email support groups in Louisville has over 1000 families and is a great resource.
I enjoyed your book very much.
3 tammie // Sep 29, 2011 at 11:03 pm
Honestly number one of importance to me would have to be gov. regulations. I don’t want to live in a state where I have to follow their plan and worry about my kids being checked out by someone they deem as a “professional.” Homeschooling is about freedom, and I want a state that gives me that freedom. Number 2 would be cost of living, and number 3 would be the amount of homeschoolers in the state. Some of the states listed in your top 10 are the states that are most heavily regulated by the gov. and if anyone else feels the same way I do about gov. interference, those states would be in their bottom 10 for sure.
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