Home School Requirements

Home School Requirements

Article by A J Adams

Home school requirements can be quite different depending on your location. Every State has its own set of regulations regarding homeschooling as does each County and school district. They can vary from States like Arizona where you just have notify the County that you’re going to homeschool and get on with it, to States like Missouri where they tell you what you have to teach, how many hours to teach it and the student must undergo regular testing to verify it was taught.

With this said, if you’re considering homeschooling, the first step in your research should be to find out the requirements in your State and school district. You can probably find out the State requirements over the Internet. Instead of contacting your local school district office, I would try and find a local support group or forum for homeschooling in your area. Some school districts aren’t very happy about the whole idea of homeschooling and might not be very forthcoming with good information. The forums and support groups will have the correct information you need. Once you have it, you can decide if you want to go further in the process.

A good source to know about is the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). They too have information on every State regarding homeschooling. They also have a page for used homeschool books and supplies.

After you have satisfied the local school board or County office regarding home school requirements, there’s a couple of other things to keep in mind before your start teaching. It’s a good idea to keep good records of the classes you teach and the performance of your student. You may be asked to present them at some point as proof of your teaching. In grades K-8, a portfolio of each subject would be a good idea. In grades 9-12, an actual transcript should be put together.

The grade school portfolios can be a somewhat informal record of your student’s work for each year. It could be in the form of a collection of his work bound into 3-ring binders with one for each subject and new ones being purchased for each new year of classes.

You can go onto the Internet to see what types of high school transcript forms are available and it might be good to check with your support group to see what they suggest. If you already know what college your child might attend, it would also be a good idea to check with their admissions department to understand what proof of education they need and in what form. Generally a high school transcript is a list of classes you have taught and the grade earned in each one.

You’ll need to know before you begin teaching high school what your local school board’s requirements are for graduation. It will normally be a list of subject areas with the minimum number of credits required for each. Traditionally 1 credit in high school equals 120 hours of class work. Typically 20 credits of various subjects are required for graduation. But if the student plans to attend college, others suggest additional study to the tune of 22-29 credits. The extra credits would be earned in subject areas relating to your student’s probable major or area of interest in college.

Meeting your local area’s requirements for homeschooling is usually achievable, but before you spend any more time thinking or planning for one, be sure and check out exactly what your local home school requirements are.

About the Author

Mr.Adams comes from a family with many teachers. Discussions about homeschooling led to a lot of research, which led to a series of articles being written. He and his wife also own and maintain a website at http:www.elementary-home-schools.com/home-school-requirements.html where you can download a 10-part mini-course on homeschooling.