FAQ for Veritas Homeschoolers

Yes! Your membership card is available in the Members Only section of our website. (Click here to be taken to the page.) This card is updated each year when members renew. If you right-click anywhere on the membership card page, you can print the whole page. Some members cut the card out and laminate it to keep in their wallet, others keep the entire page and bring it with them when applying for a teacher discount. For a list of stores that offer teacher discounts to homeschooling parents, check out our Discounts page located under the Useful Info tab or click here.

Yes!  Current Veritas members may continue their membership at no cost after they graduate their last child. We appreciate the wisdom, experience, and encouragement that our Veteran Members provide to support the Veritas members who are still on the journey. Special instructions for Veteran Members are provided on the application page which is completed during the renewal period.

No.  Membership fees are not prorated or refunded when a member joins or leaves in the middle of the membership year.  (We do offer a 50% discount if you join after February 28th.) If you move mid year, you may keep your access to Veri-talk until the end of the membership year.

Yes.  You can access the Member Directory on our website under the Members Only tab or by clicking here.  Please note that the Veritas Member Directory is for Veritas Members only and should not be shared with anyone outside of Veritas.  Additionally, the directory must not be used for advertising, solicitation, or any purpose other than contact of individual members for personal reasons.

Annual membership fees are used to pay for a number of administration costs such as our webhosting service, website maintenance and upgrades, bank fees, postage, and our PO box.  Additionally, funds are used to purchase items for some of our activities like park day sports equipment, microphone, etc.   Veritas also maintains a limited number of curriculum items for rental to our members which need to be updated occasionally. As we are a not-for-profit organization, any funds remaining at the end of the membership year above the minimum operating budget amount are donated to one or both of the following charities: The Homeschool Foundation (HSF) which is the charitable arm of the HSLDA, and the Arizona Homeschool Scholarship Fund (AHSF).

Our membership year is July 1st through July 31st of the following year. (Yes, that’s 13 months)  The reason for the overlap of one month is that July is our renewal period.  Current members will be notified in June when the application for the new year is available and will be asked to complete a new application online and send in the waiver and payment before July 31st.  Any members for whom we have not received a new online application and mailed in waiver/payment will be removed from the website and Veri-talk until their application, waiver and payment are received.

While we prefer that members honor the commitment they make during the application process, we understand that personal circumstances might arise that require a member to serve in a different area.  If you would like to change your volunteer selection, email the Volunteer Coordinator and submit your request.  You may find the name of our current Volunteer Coordinator on the left-hand column of the Veritas Newsletter under Activity Leaders and contact information in the Veritas Member Directory.

Veritas Homeschoolers is a volunteer-led organization.  Since it’s creation in 1993, members have contributed to the planning, administration, and organization of different activities.  While all members contribute, there is a Planning Committee of 3-7 members who are responsible for the behind-the-scenes duties such as managing the finances, processing new and renewing members, Veri-talk administration, as well as ensuring that Veritas remains a peaceful and positive environment through policy establishment and implementation.  While there is no “President”, our Planning Committee Coordinator leads the semi-annual Planning Committee meetings, initiates voting on different issues, and generally looks at the organization from a high-level view to ensure we remain relevant and supportive of all our members as they continue on their homeschool journey.

Veritas Homeschoolers is a volunteer-led organization which depends on its members’ time and talent to provide a variety of opportunities for fellowship and support throughout the school year for our Veritas community. Most of the jobs are small, short, and easy. If needed, Veritas activity leaders will happily walk you through the duties of any job for which you volunteer. Many hands make light work!  We also understand that if no one volunteers for an activity, it will not take place. If you are not able to serve at this time there is an option to pay a higher fee and be exempt from serving.

Yes. While our Planning Committee continuously monitors the messages posted to Veri-talk, and will address any messages they feel are not in line with the positive and encouraging mission of Veri-talk, occasionally, a message may fall within a gray area that might be concerning to one or more members but not immediately noticed by our leadership team. If this is the case and you would like to bring it to their attention, please contact our Veri-talk Coordinator.  Contact information may be found in our current newsletter on the left sidebar under “Veritas Activity Leaders”.

All Veri-talk emails are sent to the entire group.  So, even if appears that the message is coming directly from a member, clicking “reply” will send your reply to all Veri-talk subscribers.  In order to reply privately to the member you have two options.  One is to choose to “Forward” the message, then find their email located in the message header that now appears in the body of your message and enter it into the “To:” field.  Forwarding ensures that the message will not go to the Veri-talk list unless you type the Veri-talk address into the “To:” field.

The other option is to click “Reply” and then remove the Veri-talk email address and replace it with the member’s email address.  If there is no header in the body of your message, you can look to see if a member has provided their email address in the content of their original message, or use the Veritas Directory to locate their email address.  The Directory may be found here.

Yes!  While many members enjoy communicating in “real time”, we understand that some may still want the information but without multiple emails.  For those members, we offer a “Digest” option.  Members using our Digest subscription receive one email at the end of the day containing all the Veri-talk messages from that day.  If there is an exceptionally large amount of emails in one day, you may receive two digest emails but this is very rare.

To set your Veri-talk subscription to Digest, please go to our Veri-talk Info page and scroll down to the “Update your Veri-talk Subscription” section.  There will be instructions on how to complete that process.  Additionally, if you need to retrieve your Veri-talk password (separate from your website password) in order to make the change, instructions for retrieving or changing your password are on that page as well.

If you are not receiving Veri-talk emails, you may request to be subscribed through the contact form.

Please make sure that veri-talk@veritashomeschoolers is added to your email address book to avoid Veri-talk messages ending up in your SPAM folder.  If you were not already subscribed, you will receive an email inviting you to subscribe.  Please click the link in the email to confirm your subscription.  If you do not click this link, you will not receive messages.

If you have already subscribed and are still not receiving Veri-talk emails, please contact our Veri-talk Coordinator. Contact information for our current Coordinator may be found in the current Newsletter on the left sidebar.

While subscription to Veri-talk is not mandatory, it is encouraged.  There are events, educational opportunities, and inpromptu meetups that are shared by members on Veri-talk only.  Newsflash is used only by Veritas leadership to announce things such as the renewal period, monthly release of the newsletter, and other occasional administrative messages.  If you do not want to receive Veri-talk messages throughout the day, you may put your subscription on “Digest” which will combine all the messages for each day into one daily email.  Directions for changing your Veri-talk subscription to Digest may be found on our Veri-talk Info page located here.

Yes.  Your Veri-talk password is separate from your website password.  If you need to retrieve your Veri-talk password, please follow the directions on our Veri-talk Info page.  Once you retrieve your password, you may log in to your Veri-talk profile, make changes to your Veri-talk subscription options, and change the password so that it matches your Website password to make it easier to remember.

Veri-talk messages for the current membership year are archived and can be accessed through our website.  Under the Members Only tab, click on the Veri-talk Info page, and scroll to the last section, “View Archives – Past Posts from Veri-talk”.

You will need your Veri-talk password to log in.  If you do not remember your Veri-talk password (separate from your website password), you may also find instructions on retrieving it on the Veri-talk Info page.  It is recommended that once you retrieve your Veri-talk password, you log in to your Veri-talk profile and change the password to match your website password or something else which is easier to remember.

Veri-talk archives are deleted every year at the end of our membership year (July).

Yes!  Each year, our February newsletter is opened up to advertisements for members’ businesses.  If you would like to advertise your business or service in the February newsletter, please send your announcement before January 18th.  Contact information for sending your announcement may be found in our current newsletter on the left sidebar.  Advertising should be for businesses and services provided by members’ immediate family only.  Unfortunately due to limited space, business advertising is limited to just our February newsletter.

Yes!  Newsletter submissions are due by the 18th of the month prior to the month you would like your announcement to appear.   Please see our current Newsletter for contact information for sending announcements (found on the left sidebar).  Information for our newsletter may only be submitted by current Veritas members.

The current newsletter is always available on our website.  Once you login, you will see a link on the right side of the heading bar.  Each month an email is sent to the membership through Newsflash announcing that the newsletter has been updated for the next month.  If you are not receiving newsflash announcements, you may request to be subscribed through the contact form.  You will receive an email inviting you to subscribe, please make sure to click the link contained in the email to confirm your subscription.

Yes!  Our Field Trip Planning Guide page has resources and tips for planning field trips including a form that you may use to help you plan and a sign up sheet that may be used for your records or to collect signups at Park Day.  Additionally, our Field Trip Ideas page has a list of suggestions for field trips.  Both pages can be found anytime on our website under the Useful Info tab.

Field trips for the current month may be found in our Newsletter located on our website.  Log in and look for the Newsletter link on the right side of the heading bar.  If you are interested in finding out what field trips are planned for future months, you may contact our Preschool & Elementary Field Trip Coordinator or our Teen Educational Field Trip Coordinator.  Names of our current Coordinators may be found on the left sidebar of our Newsletter and contact information is in our Member Directory.

Most field trips will be listed in the Newsletter with contact information for the person organizing the field trip as well as instructions on how to sign up.  Additionally, sign up sheets are often available at Park Day if the organizer is still accepting signups.  If you are unsure who the contact is for a field trip, you may send a message to the whole group through Veri-talk (veri-talk@veritashomeschoolers.org) or contact the Field Trip Coordinator for either Preschool & Elementary Field trips or Teen Educational Field Trips.  Check the Newsletter for a list of our current Activity Leaders (listed on the left side of the Newsletter).

There are a number of ways teens (12+) can meet and get to know other teens within Veritas.  We have social events and activities, educational field trips, service opportunities, and a youth group Bible study all geared specifically to our teens.  Kids who are 12 years old may also join the teen activities to begin forming friendships.  Of course all these activities require volunteers to make them happen so if you have a teen and are interested in helping provide an opportunity for him/her to make some new friends and deepen existing friendships, please contact one of our Teen Activity Coordinators.  Their names are listed in the Newsletter on the left sidebar.

Yes!  We always encourage members to initiate activities when they have an interest.  You may want to first check with our Field Trip Coordinators (either Preschool & Elementary or Teen Educational) to see if the idea you have is already being organized for later in the year.  Otherwise, go ahead and announce your field trip on Veri-talk (veri-talk@veritashomeschoolers.org).  You should also submit it to the Newsletter if it will take place the following month or later.  Please make it clear in your announcement(s) whether your field trip is a Veritas event for members only or if you will be inviting non-members as well.  Tips on organizing Field Trips can be found on our Field Trip Reference Guide page.

Each month during the school year, Moms Night Out (MNO) provides an opportunity for moms to get together without the kids to chat, laugh, snack, and have fun.  Different members volunteer to organize MNO each month and may host it at their home, a restaurant, or another venue.  Some MNO nights have a theme, such as discussing a certain topic or sharing recipes.  Others are more casual and members just chat, share snacks or dessert and get to know each other better. If you would like to host a Moms Night Out, please contact our MNO Coordinator who organizes our volunteers to make sure we have one each month.  Our current Coordinator is listed with the Activity Leaders in our current newsletter on the left sidebar.

A list of all the Park Days for the current membership year may always be found in our Veritas Newsletter on the left sidebar.  In general, Park Days are scheduled for the first Friday of the month unless that day falls on or near a holiday.

Yes!  We have a list of Free or Inexpensive Activities on our website under the Useful Info tab (or click here).  Also, our Discounts page provides a list of stores that offer discounts to homeschoolers.

If you have a suggestion for an additional resource to be added to this page, we’d love to know. Please use the Contact Form  and put “Attention: Member Suggestions” in the subject line.  Thank you!

Yes! We have a few pages under the About Homeschooling tab of our website with resources to help you in your homeschooling:

The About Homeschooling page summarizes the homeschooling laws in Arizona as well as provides links to forms needed to be in compliance with the state including the Intent to Homeschool form, Information Change form, and Homeschool Withdrawl form.

Our Homeschool Curriculum page provides a list of popular curriculum suppliers and materials.

On the Resources page, you’ll find helpful organizations, magazines and a list of books to help you on your journey.

Our High School & Beyond page gives some basic high school information as well as links to Arizona Universities.

Additionally, under our Useful Info tab, our Links to Educational Websites page has a long list of educational support websites.

If you have a suggestion for an additional resource to be added to this page, we’d love to know. Please use the Contact Form  and put “Attention: Member Suggestions” in the subject line.  Thank you!

Yes!  There are a number of sample transcripts located on our High School page in our Member’s only section of the website.

While Veritas does not have a specific S.T.E.M. club, a number of our members are involved in different S.T.E.M. activities.  Resources for getting your child involved in S.T.E.M. activities and competitions may be found on our S.T.E.M. Resources page.  Additionally, there is a Facebook group called STEM Opportunities for Arizona Homeschoolers which is organized by two Veritas members but open to all homeschoolers in Arizona.

Homeschoolers in Arizona are not subject to the high school graduation requirements that public school students must meet.  Homeschool parents have complete freedom to decide the requirements for their own children but should consider their children’s plans for after high school.  If your child plans on attending college, you will want to check out the admission requirements for the college(s) he/she is interested in.

If you would some examples of commonly required classes and credits, you can check out the following:

ASU’s Freshman Admission Requirements ***

UofA’s Freshman Admission Requirements ***

***Please note that some majors may have additional requirements found on the specific major or college pages on the university’s website.

High School Graduation Requirements for Public School students