Do you need a special license to homeschool your child?

It does vary by state. For specifics, check with the board of education or something.

I know in CT you have pretty free reign, you just need to tell the local government that you homeschool. Many states require you stick to minimum standards of curriculum, and some even have testing.

It varies by Board of Education, so start with your local BOE. There are minimum requirements for you and most places require a “Certiified Lesson Plan” and like @incendiary_dan said many require a test at end of unit and end of year.

It varies by state. Compulsory attendance laws are enforced by states.

http://education.uslegal.com/homeschooling/homeschooling-laws-by-state/

http://www.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/compulsory-education

Look at your local State laws, and contact a local home school association to help you with the planning.

Don’t lose your records.

In my province it depends on how aligned you are to the government curriculum. We get funding and the more you align the more funding you get.

We don’t have to take standardized tests but neither do the brick and mortar students if their parents don’t want them to.

Here’s the site to check the laws for your state @AshlynM.

In Wis, I need to fill out one form, one time per year to let the State know our child is homeschooled. There is nothing more required from us as parents. All the rest is on our shoulders.

I started to post that exact site, @SpatzieLover. I don’t know, to be honest; but do you think they might be geared toward homeschooling? (Is that spelled correctly? Copyeditor?)

If you want to homeschool, plan it yourself, unless you want the government putting their own spin on things. I was homeschooling in Oregon, and the local elementary principal told me I “had to come in and talk to him.” That was a total lie.

What do you mean, @snowberry? You didn’t have to comply?

@bkcunningham No. I’m saying homescoolers have laws to follow, and if you plan to homeschool, it’s your job to find out what they are. If a public school principal says you have to come talk to him, and that’s not the law in your state, you don’t have to do so. I don’t think there is a law (in the USA anyway), that says a principal is given that sort of responsibility.

I believe in my situation the guy probably wanted to intimidate me into putting my kid into his school, but I never responded.

@bkcunningham Yes, HSDLA is a National sometimes Global defense league for homeschoolers. I do not belong to them, as it’s best to belong to a defense league/group in the state you reside in…However, HSDLA has all current laws, and updates for every state and for many other countries.

Not a school principal, @snowberry, but I think in some states you may be required to tell the school board or at least the school superintendent you are opting out of public schools for your child. Oh, it wouldn’t even be a fair fight if a school principal didn’t have authority and wanted to square off with you snowberry. LOL, poor soul.

I’ll have to educate myself about them @SpatzieLover. I haven’t been involved in kids and the school system in a few years. But I have a beautiful granddaughter and a few neices and nephews whose parents will be making that decision in the not to distant future. May God bless you all in those years of life. I loved it, but I wouldn’t want to go through it again for love nor money.

In some states you do have to have a teaching degree of some sort.
Use a certified ciriculum.
Take yearly, supervised, standardized tests (normally at a school or a library)
Register your kinds as home schooled, and meet all the requirements such as the number of days a year your children have to be in school.
And as Dutchess_III said, keep your records and tests for verification purposes if you were ever questioned.

Some states just have some of these rules.

The requirement regarding standardized tests also varies from state to state. In 1987 Oregon required yearly standardized testing, but we had to pay some independent tester $55 (which was quite a bit back then) for the service. It sort of looked a bit like a scam to me, but I followed the law and set up the appointment for the test. The night before the test my daughter developed a very high fever and did not sleep all night. I took her to the doctor first thing the next morning, and she had pneumonia. I explained this to the lady who was supposed to test her, and begged her to let us reschedule, but she told me we’d have to forfeit the $55 we had already paid and pay again to reschedule.

I was so angry I couldn’t see straight! I couldn’t afford to pay those prices a second time, so I bundled my exhausted, painfully ill child up and dragged her over to the lady who would give her the test. My little girl wanted to do well, but because she was so drugged up and in so much pain, I just told her she just had to get her name on the paper and do what she could.

Any test is a snapshot in time, and this was the first one that she’d taken in that state, so they had nothing to compare her bad score to. I figured it was a good deal for us, because the next time she took the test she was certain to do better than the last one.

My point is, don’t get hung up on test scores. They’re not all they’re cracked up to be. Some kids are not good test takers. If you have a child like that, see if they offer another option for you.

@snowberry California has no testing or certificate requirements. The only requirement is that you follow the curriculum provided by the state, which consists of a list of subjects that must be presented. How you choose to present those subjects is entirely up to you. There is no test or other follow-up to ensure it is followed.

The paperwork consists of a report of attendance that you must present once a year, stating the child attended school the required number of hours, which varies from year to year.

The rules change all the time, so it’s important to keep aware of the newest requirements.