Welcome to Green Bay Area Christian Homeschoolers!

GBACH exists to provide Christ-centered support and encouragement and to offer academic, social, and service opportunities to private homeschools in Green Bay and surrounding areas. 

GBACH maintains a clear delineation between virtual school, charter schools, and private homeschools and accepts only private homeschools for membership.  A private homeschool is a family that has registered with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) using Form PI-1206. Please note that the State of Wisconsin defines virtual and charter schools as public schools, and all children enrolled in them are considered public school students even though they receive instruction at home. Students enrolled in any virtual charter school are not included on PI-1206 forms and are not considered to be homeschooled according to Wisconsin law. Therefore, they are not eligible for GBACH membership, nor can they participate in GBACH only events and activities unless granted explicit permission by the coordinator or board. 

According to the current board’s interpretation of the GBACH bylaws, GBACH members are persons registered with GBACH and include only: 1) the parents of homeschooled child(ren); 2) the child(ren) for whom a PI-1206 is filed; and 3) parents and any children younger than six years of age who are not enrolled in any public school or virtual charter school, and who intend to home school in the future.

Please note that this delineation is in no way meant to be a “judgment” on families who utilize brick-and-mortar or virtual charter public schools for some of their children. In fact, GBACH respects the right of the parents in each family unit to choose whatever they deem to be an appropriate educational program for each child. Rather, GBACH’s policy is in keeping with the advice of the Wisconsin Parents Association (WHPA) and the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), both of whom strongly recommend that homeschool associations insure that public/taxpayer funds are not used within private homeschool groups.  The policy is simply meant to protect private homeschoolers from possible government intrusion that may occur when taxpayer funds are used for private homeschool activities. 

Considering educating your children at home? Making the decision to do so can be the beginning of a wonderful journey in education for the entire family. There are as many reasons to homeschool as there are homeschooling families. A fellow homeschooler, the library, and the internet are great resources.  Also, check out the " Links"  page for many resources such as curriculum companies, philosophies of homeschooling, etc.  Another good place to start is to go to the library and check out books on homeschooling.  There are many at Brown County Library. 

For those considering homeschooling, reading the book, Home with Learning, published by the Wisconsin Homeschooling Parents Association (www.homeschooling-wpa.com) is an excellent place to start. This book and many others on homeschooling are available at the Brown County Public Library.  The internet is also an excellent source of information. We hope you will find the information on this website useful in answering your questions and in directing you to resources and support available to you.

If you need more information about homeschooling and/or homeschooling in Wisconsin, check out the organizations below.

Wisconsin Homeschooling Parents Association - is a grass-roots organization that helps protect the right to homeschool in Wisconsin.

Homeschool Legal Defense - is an organization dedicated to legally defending the constitutional right of parents to home educate. Do you want information pertaining to homeschool laws throughout the country? or just in Wisconsin?

Once you make the decision to homeschool, you will need to contact Wisconsin Dept of Instruction and advise them of your intent to homeschool.   It is mandantory that you submit to DPI form PI-1206 before October 15th of each year.  You can get information on how to do that here.

If you have any questions regarding GBACH or homeschooling in general, you may also contact current GBACH Board Members by emailing Board@gbach.org.

See FAQ's for more answers to your homeschooling questions.

GBACH maintains a clear delineation between virtual charter schools and private home schools and accepts only private homeschools for membership. 

GBACH does not accept membership applications from families with students enrolled in charter schools, which is a public school at home program.