Home Schooling Requirements and Laws

First of all, you need to understand that each state in the United States has their own home schooling requirements. Therefore, you are going to need to find out what your area's home schooling requirements are. Usually these home schooling requirements are quite simple, so you really should not have a problem.

Basic Laws regulations And Other Home Schooling Requirements

States requiring no notice of home schooling: No state requirement for parents to initiate any contact.
TEXAS, ALASKA, OKLAHOMA, MISSOURI, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, CONNECTICUT, IDAHO, NEW JERSEY

States with low regulation: State requires parental notification only.

CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, ARIZONA, UTAH, NEW MEXICO, NEBRASKA, KANSAS, KENTUCKY, MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA, WYOMING, MONTANA

States with moderate home schooling regulation: State requires parents to send notification, test scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress.

WASHINGTON, OREGON, HAWAII, COLORADO, SOUTH DAKOTA, MINNESOTA, IOWA, ARKANSAS, LOUISIANA, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, NORTH CAROLINA, TENNESSEE, VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA, OHIO, MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, MARYLAND

States with high regulation: State requires parents to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualification of parents, or home visits by state officials).

NORTH DAKOTA, VERMONT, PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK, RHODE ISLAND, MASSACHUSETTS

See more: http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/

Once you have made the decision to home school your child, you may be wondering just how you should go about getting started. Well, there are a lot of things that you are going to need to prepare before you ever start your first home schooling session.

While it is not a home schooling requirement, you should check into what home school support groups are in your area. You may find that it is very helpful to be able to keep in touch with the parents in your neighborhood who are already home schooling their children. Then you will have the support and advice you need whenever you are just beginning this journey. Some of these groups also have regular educational trips and activities that they do together. These may help your child understand that he is not the only child who is being home schooled and thus he will be able to make more friends such as himself.

You may find that you need to make some physical rearrangements of your home in order to create an area for home schooling. This is not a home schooling requirement though. There are a lot of home-schooled children who simply use their kitchen table for doing their schoolwork. However, you will need to purchase curriculum, paper, whiteboards, etc.

Take the time to create a home schooling schedule. This way you can be sure that each day’s lessons are completed. You should also have a bookkeeping system so that you can keep track of the tasks that you have been completed.  This is one of the home schooling requirements that most states require.

You will also need to choose what home schooling curriculum you want to use for your child. This decision should be based upon your child's learning aptitude and ability. Some of the most popular home schooling methods includes Montessori, classic and the Charlotte Mason approach. Of course, there are also some families who decide to “unschool” and thus do not need to worry about purchasing curriculum.

There are a number of reasons why you would consider home schooling your children. 

It isn’t an easy choice to make whenever you are making the decision to home school your child. This is mostly because there are home schooling requirements that you are going to want to keep mind when choosing to teach your child at home.

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