Home School Requirements

Each state varies in its requirements for home schooling families. Some are pretty laid back about the “rules”, other states have rigid requirements.

It pays to know the requirements for your state, as central school offices can offer skewed advice at times. If you have to talk to anyone at the superintendent’s office, go prepared. Many libraries have a copy of their state’s home school laws in the reference section. Please make sure you are well-versed in the requirements or lack thereof. If someone tries to give you false information, you’ll know immediately.

The number one place to get online support for state home school requirements is the Home School Legal Defense Association. Just click on your state to find any regulations for home schooling. They’ll also provide links to your state home school organizations. This website will be a #1 resource! hslda.org.

If you live in a state that has few laws regarding home schooling, you have more freedom in your teaching. However, laws can change. Even though unschooling fits my personality better than a traditional curriculum, I’d still make sure I taught skills that would show up on end-of-the-year school tests. Just to be on the safe side. You never know when a state might decide to use test scores against home schooling families.

I definitely recommend that these skills (i.e. subject, predicate, prefixes, suffixes, etc.) be taught in a non-threatening way –like in games that are reviewed from time to time. Worksheet after worksheet doesn’t always translate into life-long learning. A little review from time to time with fun activities or games you can play while in the car can make a skill stick much longer than repetitive, meaningless paperwork.

Due to the possibility that test scores might be used to “judge” home schoolers, I suggest that you purchase a book from a parent-teacher store that gives test practice for your child’s grade level. Working through this book a little at a time will help your child understand the testing format and not feel threatened by it. It will also give types of questions that may actually show up on a year end test.