Homeschooling

Homeschooling

Homeschooling or homeschool is the education of children at home, typically by parents but sometimes by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school...

 in the United States constitutes the education

Education in the United States

Education in the United States is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. Child education is compulsory.Public education is universally available...

 for about 2.9% of U.S. students and is a subject of legal debate.

United States Supreme Court precedent

Precedent

In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...

 appears to favor educational choice, so long as states may set standards for educational accomplishment.

Prevalence

Originally homeschooling was mainly an underground practice or a practice in rural areas in the United States. In the 1970s several books called attention to the practice, and increasing numbers of families began to homeschool their children. As of 2006 about 1.1 million students are homeschooled.

It has been estimated that 1.5 million students were homeschooled in the United States in 2007 (with a confidence interval

Confidence interval

In statistics, a confidence interval is a particular kind of interval estimate of a population parameter and is used to indicate the reliability of an estimate. It is an observed interval , in principle different from sample to sample, that frequently includes the parameter of interest, if the...

 of 1.3 to 1.7), constituting 2.9% of students. In these estimations, students were defined as being homeschooled if their parents reported them as being schooled at home instead of at a public or private school for at least part of their education, and if their part-time enrollment in public or private school did not exceed 25 hours a week, and excluding students who were schooled at home primarily because of a temporary illness. About four out of five homeschoolers were homeschooled only, while about one out of five homeschoolers was also enrolled in public or private school for 25 hours or less per week.

By 2006 increasing numbers of homeschoolers partook in private school and home and public school and home partnerships. Home school families opt for them in order to help teach subjects, such as foreign languages and sciences, that are more difficult to teach. In addition many families do partnerships in order to help their children compete in academics and athletics with non-homeschooled children. According to the National Center for Education Statistics

National Center for Education Statistics

The National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...

, around 2006, 18% of homeschooled students attend a public or private school on a part time basis. Some students take one or two classes at traditional school campuses. Some spend several days per week on campuses that are designed to educate part time students.

Motivations

Motivations for homeschooling in the US in 2007
Motivation	Percentage of parents
A concern about the school environment	85%
A desire to provide religious or moral instruction	72%
A dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools	68%
Child has special needs	21%
Child has a physical or mental health problem	~ Approximation An approximation is a representation of something that is not exact, but still close enough to be useful. Although approximation is most often applied to numbers, it is also frequently applied to such things as mathematical functions, shapes, and physical laws.Approximations may be used because...  16%
Other reasons	20%

A survey in 2007 came to the result that the main three motivations selected by parents in the United States who were homeschooling their children were:

• Concern about the school environment. This includes reasons such safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure.
• To provide religious or moral instruction
• Dissatisfaction with the academic instruction available at other schools

Less common motivations were if the child has a physical or mental health problem, or special needs of the child other than a physical or mental health problem but that the parent feel the school cannot or will not meet. Other, less common, reasons parents gave for homeschooling include family time, finances, travel, and distance.

History of legal controversy

The legality of homeschooling in the United States has been debated by educators, lawmakers, and parent

Parent

A parent is a caretaker of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is of a child . Children can have one or more parents, but they must have two biological parents. Biological parents consist of the male who sired the child and the female who gave birth to the child...

s since the beginnings of compulsory education

Compulsory education

Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all persons.-Antiquity to Medieval Era:Although Plato's The Republic is credited with having popularized the concept of compulsory education in Western intellectual thought, every parent in Judea since Moses's Covenant with...

 in Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 in 1852.

For decades the source of debate was focused whether it was legal for parents to withhold their children from school and educate them in a home setting, pitting homeschooling advocates against those in favor of organized public schools.

Since the late 1980s, the focus on the legality of homeschooling in general is no longer in serious debate but legal questions have shifted to whether homeschooling communities can access state school funds, facilities, and resources. There are also legal questions over the degree of control that a state can exercise on homeschooling families regarding areas like curricula and standardized testing.

In 2008 a three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that children must be taught by a credentialed tutor or person with a teaching credential. The court stated that "It is clear that the education of the children at their home, whatever the quality of that education, does not qualify for the private full-time day school or credentialed tutor exemptions from compulsory education in a public full-time day school." The California court rejected the parent's reliance on Yoder's holding regarding religious choice. However, in March 2008, the court agreed to rehear the case and vacated its prior decision. In August 2008, the court issued a new decision unanimously reversing its earlier decision and the Court further stated that homeschooling was legal in California.

U.S. Supreme Court precedent

In the U.S., homeschooling is legal in all 50 states. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on homeschooling specifically, but in Wisconsin v. Yoder

Wisconsin v. Yoder

Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 , is the case in which the United States Supreme Court found that Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education past 8th grade, as it violated their parents' fundamental right to freedom of religion....

, 406 U.S. 205 (1972)http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/449/ it supported the rights of Amish parents to keep their children out of public schools for religious reasons. The Court has ruled however, that parents have a fundamental right to "establish a home and bring up children" along with the right to "worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience." This combination of rights is the basis for calling homeschooling a fundamental right under the Supreme Court's concept of liberty

Liberty

Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...

 protected by the Due Process

Due process

Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...

 clause. Laws that restrict fundamental rights are subject to strict scrutiny

Strict scrutiny

Strict scrutiny is the most stringent standard of judicial review used by United States courts. It is part of the hierarchy of standards that courts use to weigh the government's interest against a constitutional right or principle. The lesser standards are rational basis review and exacting or...

, the highest standard, if the law is challenged in the courts.

The final two sentences from the Supreme Court's opinion in Runyon v. McCrary

Runyon v. McCrary

Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160 , was a case heard before the United States Supreme Court which held that federal law prohibited private schools from discriminating on the basis of race...

, analyze Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, 268 U.S. 510 (1925) and the Court holds that a State may set educational standards but may not limit how parents choose to meet those educational standards.

In Runyon v. McCrary

Runyon v. McCrary

Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U.S. 160 , was a case heard before the United States Supreme Court which held that federal law prohibited private schools from discriminating on the basis of race...

 the Court analyzed its prior rulings on educational choice:

In Meyer v. Nebraska

Meyer v. Nebraska

Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 , was a U.S. Supreme Court case that held that a 1919 Nebraska law restricting foreign-language education violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.-Context and legislation:...

, 262 U.S. 390 , the Court held that the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...

 includes the right "to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children," id., at 399, and, concomitantly, the right to send one's children to a private school that offers specialized training - in that case, instruction in the German language. In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 , the Court applied "the doctrine of Meyer v. Nebraska," id., at 534, to hold unconstitutional an Oregon law requiring the parent, guardian, or other person having custody of a child between 8 and 16 years of age [427 U.S. 160, 177] to send that child to public school on pain of criminal liability. The Court thought it "entirely plain that the [statute] unreasonably interferes with the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control." Id., at 534-535. In Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 , the Court stressed the limited scope of Pierce, pointing out that it lent "no support to the contention that parents may replace state educational requirements with their own idiosyncratic views of what knowledge a child needs to be a productive and happy member of society" but rather "held simply that while a State may posit [educational] standards, it may not pre-empt the educational process by requiring children to attend public schools." Id., at 239 (WHITE, J., concurring).

In addition the Runyon Court held that: recognized that "The Court has repeatedly stressed that while parents have a constitutional right to send their children to private school

Private school

Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

s and a constitutional right to select private schools that offer specialized instruction, they have no constitutional right to provide their children with private school education unfettered by reasonable government regulation."

Additionally, in Meyer v. Nebraska

Meyer v. Nebraska

Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 , was a U.S. Supreme Court case that held that a 1919 Nebraska law restricting foreign-language education violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.-Context and legislation:...

, the U.S. Supreme Court's majority opinion stated that the "liberty" protected by the Due Process clause "[w]ithout doubt...denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized...as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men." In Meyer, the Court held that a 1919 Nebraska law prohibiting the teaching of foreign languages to school children before high school unconstitutionally violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Many other Court rulings have established or supported the right of parents to provide home education.

Only a short time after compulsory attendance laws became common in the United States, Oregon adopted a statute outlawing private schools. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state law as unconstitutional in its 1925 ruling in Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, 268 U.S. 510 (1925). The Court held that a state may not prohibit a parent from satisfying a compulsory attendance requirement by sending their children to private school. This case has frequently been cited by other courts in support of the proposition that parents have a right to satisfy compulsory attendance requirements through home instruction. Parents' right to homeschool their children has clearly been established through subsequent court decisions to such an extent that any statute attempting to forbid it entirely would certainly be struck down on constitutional or other grounds.

Every state has some form of a compulsory attendance law that requires children in a certain age range to spend a specific amount of time being educated. The most common way for parents to meet these requirements is to have their children attend public school.

Homeschooling laws and regulations

Homeschooling laws can be divided into three categories:

1. In some states, homeschooling requirements are based on its treatment as a type of private school (California, Indiana, Texas, for example) In those states, homeschools are generally required to comply with the same laws that apply to other (usually non-accredited) schools.
2. In other states, homeschool requirements are based on the unique wording of the state's compulsory attendance statute without any specific reference to "homeschooling" (New Jersey, Maryland, for example). In those states, the requirements for homeschooling are set by the particular parameters of the compulsory attendance statute.
3. In other states (Maine, New Hampshire, Iowa, for example) homeschool requirements are based on a statute or group of statutes that specifically applies to homeschooling, although statutes often refer to homeschooling using other nomenclature (in Virginia, for example, the statutory nomenclature is "home instruction"; in South Dakota, it is "alternative instruction"; in Iowa, it is "competent private instruction"). In these states, the requirements for homeschooling are set out in the relevant statutes.

While every state has some requirements, there is great diversity in the type, number, and level of burden imposed. No two states treat homeschooling in exactly the same way. Generally, the burden is less in states in category 1, above. Furthermore, many states offer more than one option for homeschooling, with different requirements applying to each option.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Law professor David Smolin states that "Article 29 (of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) limits the right of parents and others to educate children in private school

Private school

Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...

 by requiring that all such schools support both the charter and principles of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 and a list of specific values and ideals. By contrast, Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 case law

Case law

In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...

 has provided that a combination of parental rights and religious liberties provide a broader right of parents and private schools to control the values and curriculum of private education free from State interference." While the quote deals with private schools it can also be assumed to extend to private home educational choices because the educational venue must support the U.N.'s values and ideals.

All member nation states (countries) of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

, except the United States and Somalia, have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

State requirements

Some states don't require any notice of intent. Others require the filing of a notice with local school officials containing specified information. In conformity with the general trend to ease requirements however, only two states, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, still require parents to obtain approval prior to homeschooling. More stringent requirements even include the need to have a credentialed teacher supervise the homeschooled child's education.

Some states require home school students to be enrolled in public schools. Some states allow home school students to enroll in public schools, but do not require them to do so. Some states prohibit home school students from enrolling in public schools.

Proponents of heavier requirements argue that they are a necessity in order to achieve the societal goal of having an educated public who are prepared to participate in democratic society. There are no scientific studies, however, that indicate heavier requirements produce better results. In general, standardized test scores in states with high requirements are no better than in states with lower requirements, casting doubt on the wisdom of placing high requirements on homeschooling since higher requirements create higher administrative costs.

California

In California, for example, homeschoolers must either a.) be part of a public homeschooling program through independent study or a charter school, b.) use a credentialed tutor, or c.) enroll their children in a qualified private school (Such private schools may be formed by the parents in their own home, or parents may utilize a number of private schools which offer some kind of independent study or distance learning options). All persons who operate private schools in California, including parents forming schools just for their own children, must file an annual affidavit with the Department of Education. They must offer certain courses of study (generally similar to the content required in public schools, but described in one page rather than the hundreds of pages of scope and sequence requirements that public schools must follow) and must keep attendance records, but are otherwise not subject to any state oversight. There is no requirement in California that any private school teachers, whether the school is large or small, must have state credentials, although all teachers must be "capable of teaching". This principle was recently challenged. A homeschooling family in Southern California had satisfactorily resolved a lower court case concerning parenting issues, but the children's court-appointed attorneys wanted the court of appeals to make a ruling on the topic of homeschooling. On February 28, 2008, the California Court of Appeals issued a ruling that effectively made homeschooling (except for tutoring by certified teachers) illegal in the state of California. Since the lower case was not about homeschooling, the legal representation of the family and its school, Sunland Christian School, requested a rehearing. The court granted the petition for rehearing, and unanimously reversed itself, deciding that non-credentialed parents could homeschool their children under California law.

Texas

Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, which is considered to be very friendly toward homeschooling (after losing a landmark case when it attempted to outlaw homeschooling), has very minimal requirements. The Texas Education Agency

Texas Education Agency

The Texas Education Agency is a branch of the state government of Texas in the United States responsible for public education. The agency is headquartered in the William B...

 (TEA) has no authority to regulate home schools (TEA considers home schools to be equivalent to "unaccredited private schools"; TEA states that private schools are not required to be accredited, and it has no authority to regulate those either). The requirements (based totally on state law, or more precisely the absence of state law), are based on a near-laissez faire attitude toward homeschooling, and are as follows:

• State law only requires that a school (of any type) curriculum 1) must teach "reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and a study of good citizenship" (the latter is interpreted to mean a course in civics
  Civics
  Civics is the study of rights and duties of citizenship. In other words, it is the study of government with attention to the role of citizens ― as opposed to external factors ― in the operation and oversight of government....
  
  ), and 2) must be taught in a bona fide manner (which means there must be a real intent to actually provide education). Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) FAQ The curriculum may be of any type of media (textbooks, workbooks, other printed material, and computer-based on any type including the Internet) and can be obtained from any source(s) desired, and does not have to be approved or even provided to the state or the local school district.
• State law does not specify any minimum number of days in a year, or hours in a day, that must be met. Nor does it mandate a specific time of the day during which classes must be held; this has occasionally (according to the THSC) caused students to run afoul of local curfew laws.
• State law does not require achievement tests for home school graduating seniors.
• State law does not restrict home school families from combining into one group setting (though THSC cautions that whenever more than three children outside the family are involved, this could cause problems with local zoning ordinances and may also require a state license for child care).
• State law does not require registration or annual filings.
• State law does not require any teacher credentials, or proven capability.
• State law requires notification only if the child was previously in a public school and is withdrawn; the notification required is merely a letter notifying the school district of the parent(s)' intent, and only one letter is required at the outset (annual letters are not required). Parents who home school from day one are not required to give any notice.

Home school students may enroll in public schools, but they are not required to do so.

Ohio

The law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 in Ohio that excuses students from compulsory attendance is the Ohio Administrative Code, Chapter 3301-34. Under this law, home education

Home education

Home education is a collective term used in the UK to describe education provided otherwise than through the schooling system. Parents have a duty to ensure their children are educated but the education legislation in England and Wales does not differentiate between school attendance or education...

 is defined as education that is directed by the parent/guardian of the child. The purpose of the law is to ensure that parent rights to homeschool their children are not violated. Before the homeschooling process begins, the parent/guardian must notify the superintendent

Superintendent (education)

In education in the United States, a superintendent is an individual who has executive oversight and administration rights, usually within an educational entity or organization....

 in his/her child’s school district

School district

School districts are a form of special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools.-United States:...

. Some school districts have forms that they use. As long as the following information is provided in a letter or other form of notification, parents do not have to use the school district forms. Information that needs to be provided in a form of notification to the superintendent before homeschooling begins includes: the school year, name of parent and address

Address (geography)

An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used for describing the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or...

 (telephone is optional), child's birth date, parent signature

Signature

A signature is a handwritten depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying...

 guaranteeing that the subjects listed in the Ohio Administrative Code will be part of homeschooling, outline of the curriculum that the parent plans to cover in the next year, a list of materials (textbooks, etc.) that the parent plans to use, parent signature guaranteeing that the child will be in home education for 900 hours during the upcoming school year, and finally assurance that the home instructor has a high school diploma

Diploma

A diploma is a certificate or deed issued by an educational institution, such as a university, that testifies that the recipient has successfully completed a particular course of study or confers an academic degree. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, the word diploma refers to...

 or the equivalence of a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 diploma. Parents must also send an academic assessment to the superintendent from the previous school year. The academic assessment report needs to be one of two things: either the results of a nationally normed, standardized test

Standardized test

A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a...

 or a written narrative

Narrative

A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...

. The written narrative should include samples of the student’s work. The superintendent must notify the parents within fourteen days of his/her decision.

Washington State

Under Washington state law RCW 28A.225.010 education is compulsory for children 8 or older, OR if the child has been officially enrolled in public school. Washington does require (RCW 28A.225.010) that homeschoolers teach the following 11 subjects: reading, writing, spelling, language, math, science, social studies, history, health, occupational education, art and music appreciation. However, the subjects do not have to be taught separately, and the state does not require a timeline or schedule to be submitted or adhered to, other than to meet the requirements of a yearly evaluation. Each year the student must be evaluated according to law RCW28A.200.010, in the form of:

• A standardized achievement test that has been approved by the State Board of Education
• OR a non-test assessment administered by a Washington State certified teacher who must be currently working in the field of education.

The tests are confidential and only the parent receives a copy, the Washington Homeschooling Organization (WHO) keeps a list of the individuals who may administer the tests, or non-test evaluation.

Both the tests and results are required to be kept per RCW 28A.200.010 but does not specify in what form they be kept (Original or photocopy), they are not required by any state agency and parents do not have to share them. However, the records can, and probably will be requested by a school administration if parents later decide to enroll their children in formal schooling, be it public, private or university. The state requires immunization records in accordance with law, and requests that further records be kept on instructional and educational activities.

In order to start homeschooling parents must annually file a Declaration of Intent to Provide Home Based Instruction RCW 28A.200.010 and be state qualified to homeschool (RCW 28A.225.010).

In order to qualify to homeschool the guardian, parent or tutor must fulfill ONE of the following: RCW 28A.225.010 (4)

• Proof that applicant has earned 45 quarter units of college level credits.
• Attended a Parent Qualifying Course. (Recommended even if you already qualify.)
• Meet with a Washington State certified teacher who meets with the student regularly, on average an hour a week.
• Meet annually with a local school district superintendent and be deemed sufficiently qualified to provide home-based instruction.

The declaration of intent may be obtained and must be returned to the superintendent of the school district in which you live, or the district to which the student would transfer too. Information that is required is the child(ren's) age, name, guardian's name, address and the method by which the parent qualifies to homeschool. If using a supervising certified teacher their name may also be required. Any other information may be added at discretion and is not recommend by the Washington Homeschool Organization. The declaration does not limit the student's ability to use public school facilities or activities in the case of part-time enrollment (ALE), and it is generally understood to be a liability document seeking to protect the parent and students from truant laws, as well as the school body who are no longer held responsible for the child's education.

Though undocumented, it is generally agreed that Washington State has stricter requirements than most states but that assessment and interpretation of qualifications are usually fairly lax with respect to the requirements.

RCW 28A.200.020 states that parents who are causing their children to receive home-based instruction shall be subject only to those minimum state laws and regulations which are necessary in ensuring that a sufficient basic educational opportunity is provided to the children receiving such instruction. Therefore, all decisions relating to philosophy or doctrine, selection of books, teaching materials and curriculum, and methods, timing and place in the provision or evaluation of home-based instruction shall be the responsibility of the parent except for matters specifically referred to in Chapter 28A.225 RCW.

The state legislature recognizes that home-based instruction is less structured and more experiential than the instruction of a classroom education. Therefore, the provisions relating to the nature and quantity of instructional and related educational activities shall be liberally construed.

Virginia

In order to be allowed to teach one’s children at home, the teaching parent must meet at least one of the following criteria:

1. Possess a valid high school diploma (or a higher degree, such as can be obtained through a university) which must be submitted to the district’s superintendent. A GED does not fulfill this requirement.
2. Hold a valid teacher’s certificate as approved by the state.
3. Provide a distance or correspondence curriculum approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
4. Provide evidence that they as the teaching parent are capable of handling the child’s education in a way that meets the Virginia Standards of Learning objectives.

The teaching parent must annually inform the district of their intent to instruct the child(ren) at home. The child(ren) in question must have all state-mandated vaccinations required of students in public education with the exception of those under the protection of religious exemption (i.e. the tenets of that family’s faith prohibits them from attending school). Part-time enrollment, allowed but extremely rare, allows for home-instructed students to take some classes (often higher level math and science or electives like foreign language that parents don’t feel confident teaching) within the context of a public school. A homeschooled student may or may not be eligible to play sports for the school in their area, depending on the school.

Other options that are not governed by the above are (1) home instruction by a certified tutor with a valid Virginia Board of Education teaching license and (2) religious exemption. A provision unique to Virginia, the latter is due to a family’s irreconcilable religious difference with a public education, often relating back to topics of science and social studies which are in direct opposition to the held beliefs of that family. If sufficient evidence is given that a child’s family has religious backing that attending school is abhorrent to their faith and the proper forms are filled out, none of the above is required to instruct a child at home.

At the end of each year must provide the district with written documentation that the child(ren) has(have) made academic progress. This could be (1) through a letter from an educator holding a masters degree or higher in education who has evaluated the achievement of the child(ren) through the submission of a portfolio or (2) through a report card and/or transcript from an accredited program (i.e. a community college or correspondence program employed as the primary curriculum). If these are not available, the use of some form of “nationally normed standardized achievement test” is required. The scores attained must be at or above the 23rd percentile. Some tests that may be used include “the Stanford Achievement Test, the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), the California Achievement Tests (CAT), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS-TAP), Science Research Associates (SRA), or the Woodcock-Johnson Educational Battery.”

Because homeschoolers do not receive a diploma from the state of Virginia, one of the major struggles faced is entering community college or higher education. Those who do correspondence curricula get diplomas from the program, while others get GEDs. Children who receive home instruction are not required to take the SOL examinations, which may contribute to the inability to obtain a diploma accredited by the state. However, this does not stop many homeschooled students in Virginia from going to college and studying a wide variety of subjects. It just means that there is a lot of consideration given to scores on achievement tests like the SATs and the Advanced Placement exams.

Parents who instruct their children at home are likely to have been homeschooled themselves.

Testing and assessment

States also differ in their requirements regarding testing and assessment. Following the general trend toward easing requirements, fewer than half the states now require any testing or assessment. In some states, homeschoolers are required either to submit the results of a standardized test (sometimes from an established list of tests) or to have a narrative evaluation done by a qualified teacher. Other states give parents wide latitude in the type of assessment to be submitted.

Again, using California as an example, students enrolled in a public program are encouraged to take the same year-end standardized tests that all public school students take, but students using tutors or enrolled in any private school, homeschool or not, are not required to take any tests. Texas also does not require standardized tests for any student outside the public school arena, and absence of such tests cannot be used to discriminate against enrollment in higher education.

Recognition of completion

There are also differences between the states in graduating children from homeschools. In states in which homeschools must be or can be operated as any other private school, graduation requirements for all private schools in that state generally also apply to the homeschools. Some state education laws have no graduation requirements for private schools, leaving it up to the private schools to determine which students have met the graduation requirements, and thus allowing homeschoolers the same privilege (for example, as stated above, Texas considers home schools to be equivalent to unaccredited private schools). And in yet other states, homeschoolers receive no official recognition that is equivalent to graduation. Independent homeschoolers in Florida, for example, cannot truthfully claim to have "graduated", even after completing twelve years of homeschooling (however, Florida does grant such students equal access to the state's system of public colleges and universities).

Homeschooling is increasingly becoming recognized as a viable alternative to institutional education, and fewer families are being targeted for prosecution. In an unintended demonstration of the increasing acceptance of homeschooling, the outgoing Superintendent of Public Instruction for the state of California, Delaine Eastin, caused a furor by telling the state legislature that homeschooling was illegal and that families could not form private schools themselves or teach their children without credentials. She called for a legislative "solution" to the growing "problem" of homeschooling. The legislature balked at taking any action. Then, Ms. Eastin's successor, Jack O'Connell, instructed his legal staff to review the state laws. Homeschooling advocates were informed by one of the Department of Education attorneys that the state was reversing the position it had taken under Ms. Eastin's tenure. Statements that parents could not teach their own children or form their own private schools were removed from the state Department of Education website. Although some officials still maintain traditional views, truancy prosecutions in California are much rarer now than they were under Ms. Eastin's leadership. Those prosecutions that are still pursued routinely fail, and district attorneys now usually refuse to file such cases.

Curricula

Curriculum requirements vary from state to state. Some states require homeschoolers to submit information about their curriculum or lesson plans. Other states (such as Texas) just require that certain subjects be covered and do not require submission of the curriculum. Still others, such as North Carolina, view homeschools as a type of private school, affording each homeschool the freedom to choose the curriculum appropriate for its students. While many complete curricula are available from a wide variety of secular and religious sources, many families choose to use a variety of resources to cover the required subjects. In fact, it is not uncommon for a homeschooled student to earn a number of college credits from a 2- or 4-year college before completing the 12th grade.

Some states offer public-school-at-home programs. These on-line, or "virtual", public schools (usually "charter" schools) mimic major aspects of the homeschooling paradigm, for example, instruction occurs outside of a traditional classroom, usually in the home. However, students in such programs are truly public school students and are subject to all or most of the requirements of other public school students. When parents enroll their children in such a program, they effectively surrender control over the curriculum and program to the public school, although a casual observer might think they are homeschooling. Some public-school-at-home programs give parents leeway in curriculum choice; others require use of a specified curriculum. Full parental (and/or student) control over the curriculum and program, however, is a hallmark feature of homeschooling. Taxpayers pay the cost of providing books, supplies, and other needs, for public-school-at-home students, just as they do for conventional public school students. The U.S. Constitution's prohibition against "establishing" religion applies to public-school-at-home programs, so taxpayer money cannot lawfully be used to purchase a curriculum that is religious in nature.

Access to resources

A minority of states have statutes that require public schools to give homeschooled students access to district resources, such as school libraries, computer labs, extracurricular activities, or even academic courses. In some communities, homeschoolers meet with a teacher periodically for curriculum review and suggestions. The laws of some states give districts the option of giving homeschooled students access to such resources.

Access to interscholastic athletic competition varies from state to state.

• Some state athletic associations, such as the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
  Kentucky High School Athletic Association
  The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has been the governing body of Kentucky high school athletics since 1917. Located in Lexington, the organization sanctions competition in the following sports:*Boys and girls**Basketball**Bowling*...
  
  , completely ban homeschoolers from interscholastic competition; both by prohibiting homeschoolers to compete for a state federation member school as well as by prohibiting member schools to compete against independent teams made up of homeschoolers. In such states, homeschoolers may only compete amongst other homeschoolers or against schools that are not members of the state's interscholastic athletic federation.
• Other states allow homeschoolers to compete for the public schools that they would otherwise attend by virtue of their residence; for example, current Denver Broncos
  Denver Broncos
  The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
  
   quarterback Tim Tebow
  Tim Tebow
  Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow is an American football player who is currently the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft...
  
   was able to play high school football
  American football
  American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
  
   because under Florida
  Florida
  Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
  
   law, a public school must allow homeschoolers resident in its attendance area unimpeded access to extracurricular activities, including varsity athletics. Tebow's success has inspired similar legislation to be introduced in other states.
• Still other state interscholastic athletic associations allow homeschoolers to organize teams that compete against other established schools, but do not allow homeschoolers to compete on established school teams. The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools
  Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools
  The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, or TAPPS, is an organization headquartered in Salado, Texas which creates rules for, and sometimes administers, almost all athletic and academic contests for non-public high schools in the American state of Texas...
  
  , the largest of several governing bodies for non-public schools in Texas
  Texas
  Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
  
  , uses this option, as does the Michigan High School Athletic Association
  Michigan High School Athletic Association
  -About:The Michigan High School Athletic Association is a service organization for high school sports in Michigan and is headquartered in East Lansing...
  
  , though the MHSAA allows such contests during regular season play only.

Advocacy Organizations

There are several national homeschooling advocacy groups, such as:

• Home School Legal Defense Association
  Home School Legal Defense Association
  The Home School Legal Defense Association is a United States-based "nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and to protect family freedoms."...
  
  (HSLDA)
• Alliance for Intellectual Freedom in Education
• Homeschool Legal Advantage / Christian Law Association
• American Homeschool Association
• National Home Education Network
• Association of HomeSchool Attorneys
• National Home Education Legal Defence

Homeschooling Conventions

There are many homeschooling conventions featuring exhibitors and workshops. There are two main types of homeschooling conventions: public and organization (Christian, Secular, Catholic). Some larger shows in the United States include the following:

• Alabama Homeschool Expo (Montgomery, AL)
• CHEA Convention (Pasadena, CA)
• FPEA Convention (Orlando, Florida)
• HEAV State Convention & Educational Fair (Richmond, Virginia)
• Southeast Homeschool Expo (Atlanta, Georgia)