What I've discovered on homeschooling in Tennessee

[peg2001]

This is not intended to start a debate about the pros and cons of homeschooling. I just wanted to share what I was able to learn from researching the legalities of homeschooling in Tennessee. We've been considering it, although we are not yet ready to take the plunge.

Essentially, there are 3 different options in Tennessee.

1. You can register thru the public school system to homeschool and they then control the number of days and hours you must instruct, the qualifications you must hold, your attendance records must be available for inspection at any time, and standardized tests are given at grades 5, 7, and 9.

2. You can register with a church related school to homeschool. Your only requirements with the state then are to hold a high school diploma or GED, register with the local school and administer achievement tests for grades 9-12. None of these requirements apply for grades through 8th. Attendance requirements (# days, hours per day, etc) and subjects taught are prescribed by the church related school.

3. This is the most liberal option that intrigued me. Operate as a satillite campus of a church related school. Essentially, you become staff of the school and your children are your students. Legally, you are not even homeschooling! None of the state requirements apply. I even found an church related school that I could use option 3 with, all for a suggested donation of $40 per year.

I'd be interested to hear how other states handle the legalities of homeschooling.

Peggy

 

[AirForceRocks]

I believe that Alabama's rules are similar to option #2 for Tennessee. We had friends there that homeschooled all of their children, and they registered with a local church and operated under that umbrella. But they got to choose their own curricula, etc. They did have to do a certain number of instructional hours throughout the year.

 

[piratesmate]

It's been a while, but I think this is accurate . . . .

In PA you need to hold a HS diploma (not sure if GED is okay as it didn't apply to me) & file your intention by Aug 1 for continuing - 1st year is whenever you decide to do it. (We pulled DS after C'mas.) You need to find someone - certified teacher - to review your portfolio at the end of the year & make a report to the district. They're very flexible on what you use for curriculum - I always developed my own. In high school you need to keep a count of the number of hours of instruction.

Individual districts then handle things differently. Some are very cooperative & go so far as to allow HS students to participate in extra curricular activites. (Ours was cooperative, but did not allow participation in sports etc.) Others actively seek to block you & make your life difficult - at least they did a few years ago.

 

[Kermit]

In SC, we have a few options. One of which is to be controlled by the public schools, and few people choose that option. I'd send my kids to public school if I wanted them telling me what to do. The other is to join a state-approved organization called an accountability group, or join any other accountability group that has at least 50 members. The state-approved one is actually named in the law, but the others work. (Interestingly, it's a Christian group, but they don't exclude non-Christians.) You have to have a high school diploma, and you have to have a certain number of hours of instruction. You also have to keep records of what you do, but no one in the state ever looks over your records. The accountability groups usually do, though.

I'm not sure of the other requirements. I know the requirements for the accountability group that we're going to join as soon as we're the legal guardians for my BIL, but I'm not sure how much of that is just them and how much is the law. We do have to have some sort of standardized test every year for all students in 3rd grade or higher, but I don't think they do anything if you don't do well on the test.

 

[rebbeca]

Hi Peggy. My DS (17) is in his fifth year of homeschooling under option #3. It works very, very well for us. Let me know if you have any further questions.

Becky