They're just a pair of four-letter words, but adding them to a state school regulation has sparked a major feud between Maryland parents who teach at home and the State Department of Education.

About 100 homeschooling parents, some with children in tow, packed a meeting of the state Board of Education yesterday to protest the department's proposal to add "each year" to a requirement that children educated at home be listed with their local public school district.

State officials said they are simply putting into code what has been practice for years. But eight speakers representing various homeschool groups said they feared regulatory intrusion and bitterly protested being left out of discussion of the revision.

"It's a violation of parental rights and religious freedom," said Fred Gleockler, of the Maryland Association of Christian Home Educators and parent of three homeschooled children.

"This change is consistent with the state's compulsory attendance laws," said Lynn E. Linde, the state education department's chief of student services and alternative programs. "In no way does it interfere with parents' rights to homeschool. It doesn't say, 'Yes, you can,' or 'No, you can't.' It just puts into the official regulations what most homeschoolers do anyway."

But several parents testified yesterday that their local districts require notification only when parents begin homeschooling, not every year. Annual submissions, they said, are needless and will only increase paperwork for district officials already hard-pressed in tight economic times.

Notification is required so that public school officials can enforce the state's attendance law, which requires education of all children from ages 5 to 16.

"It's a solution without a problem," said Billy Greer, co-founder of the Family Unschoolers Network, who helps teach two high school students at home. Greer was one of several speakers who noted that relations between those who choose to educate in the home and state bureaucrats have been peaceful for nearly a decade.

Gary L. Cox of Walkersville Christian Family Schools said his organization has gone out of its way to cooperate with local officials. "They fax us and ask if so-and-so is in our schools," he said. "That's a courteous question that requires a courteous response."

The homeschooling regulations are rarely challenged, although in the mid-1990s Cheryl Anne Battles of Arnold was prosecuted for refusing to submit paperwork to Anne Arundel school officials or to meet with them. She was acquitted in 1996.

If the two-word addition is approved by the state Board of Education this morning, "you could have a hundred Battles cases," warned Scott Somerville, a lawyer for the Home School Legal Defense Association.

Linde said she has received between 200 and 300 letters and e-mails protesting the change. Most, she said, have come from the homes of Christian homeschoolers, who make up a little more than half of the estimated 19,400 home-educated children in Maryland.

"These are vocal and very committed people," said Linde, "but I've still heard [only] from between 2 and 3 percent of the homeschooling parents in Maryland. Most, I suspect, don't have a problem."

Maryland is more liberal than most states in its oversight of homeschools. It does not regulate teachers' credentials in such schools, nor does it require children taught at home to take part in statewide testing.

"All we're asking here is that parents take five minutes to fill out a form, stick it in an envelope and mail it in," Linde said.