Home Schooling Program: What You Need To Know

What is home schooling?

- Homeschooling mostly means learning at home; this may be due to physical restrictions, emotional inhibitions or simply the parent’s want to be with his/her child. Homeschooling, no matter it’s purpose is basically the parent taking responsibility for his/her child’s education and is a totally acceptable procedure.

Is home schooling permitted in my state?

- Yes, home schooling is permitted in all 50 states, however, there are differences in the implementation. Most of the time, the superintendent must first be notified with the intentions of home schooling. Each state’s regulations regarding home schooling varies, some have high, some have low, some don’t even require the parent to give notice for a child’s home schooling.

What are the requirements for home schooling?

- As said earlier, home schooling varies from state to state, however, every state requires a certain qualification for the parents, a certain list of subjects to be taught, exams and other evaluation procedures, and a certain number of hours of teaching in a school year. Most of the time, if the requirements aren’t met, home schooling is discontinued and the child gets sent to a public school.

How do you actually homeschool?

- Some parents employ a set of programs provided by qualified curriculum analysts, however, home schooling can involve a regimented program or what they call natural learning, which is more of a hands-on experience.

Where do I get my curriculum?

- The internet is a great source, so are libraries and local home schooling support groups

What about testing?

-Some states require a certain amount of evaluation method, not necessarily written exams. Basically tests are the decision of the parent. Presently, some actual formal education institutions are discouraging the idea of formal exams. A good rule of thumb is, if your child is discovering new things and it is apparent in his/her behavior, then that should be evaluation enough.

What about College?

- The main disadvantage of home schooling is its lack of a diploma, since the child isn’t taught in a public school, the state cannot issue a diploma; however, some states allow parents to “make” their own diplomas to be given to the child on the day of “graduation”. Nevertheless, homeschooled people shouldn’t find it hard to get into college or pursue higher education as many institutions, colleges and universities highly accept and sometimes even encourage the entrance of homeschooled students into their school program.