The Association of Florida Evaluators

In July of 2020, I rallied other homeschool organizations to help me fight my own Florida school district which tried to stop anyone from pulling out of public schools at a time when homeschooling made sense for much of the parade.

After a long discussion with a lawyer from HSLDA who expressed concerns

about the lack of reliable information for those who were suddenly homeschooling  and the dearth of knowledgeable evaluators to help them, I began two new groups on Facebook.

One of these groups, Homeschooling Florida Style, is for parents looking for reliable information on homeschooling in Florida. I have worked hard to eliminate or correct any incorrect information put there and to offer information in accordance with Florida law to help newcomers to homeschooling. Today, just about 3 weeks shy of its third anniversary, the group welcomed its 19,000th member.

The other group, FL Homeschool Evaluators, was set up for Florida homeschool evaluators. It began on Facebook as a support group for evaluators, to help educate them about Florida law and give them a place to network, share ideas and resources, familiarize themselves with Florida law, help new evaluators learn their trade, exchange tips, and more. This group has grown to over 400 people and has launched themselves as a nonprofit registered on SunBiz under the name Association of Florida Evaluators.

On our website at AFEvaluators.com, we share information for evaluators and parents (or other members of the public). Our members have proven their credentials and knowledge of Florida home education law in order to join the group. We share an Evaluators' List with contact information for member evaluators who are taking on new clients. We also share information there about legal requirements for homeschoolers, evaluation options and requirements, resources, and more. We plan to reach out to Florida school districts and more to share our list with those who need help finding evaluators, or professionals who can provide consultations/choice navigation services to help parents figure out how to homeschool either as home education or personalized education program services.

We are honored to display the emblems of our new group to show that we are part of a professional organization of homeschool evaluators.

Cheryl Trzasko
President of the Association of Florida Evaluators
June 5, 2023