You’ve decided to start homeschooling, but what do you need to do to make that happen? Mike Smith speaks with one of HSLDA’s legal assistants on how to handle the legal side of establishing your homeschool on this today’s Home School Heartbeat!
Mike Smith: This week, we’re talking about how to make a smooth transition from public or private school to homeschooling. A crucial step in this process is, knowing the legal requirements of your state. Joining us today is HSLDA Legal Assistant Peter LaRock. Welcome to the program, Peter!
Peter LaRock: Hi, Mike, it’s great to be here.
Mike: Peter, you talk to lots of families who are just beginning their homeschooling journey. Are there specific legal requirements for all homeschoolers? And how should a family who’s just starting find out what they need to know to homeschool legally?
Peter: Mike, those are great questions. First you asked if there are specific legal requirements for all homeschoolers, and the answer is yes—but they aren’t all the same. Homeschool laws in the United States vary pretty dramatically across the states. Some require notification, some require testing, and some require that certain records be kept. But I don’t think that any of those requirements are constant across all 50 states. That, and even within some states you’ll still run into different legal options that you’ll be able to choose between when you start homeschooling.
So, Mike, because every state is different, the first thing that I would recommend that any parent do if they’re considering homeschooling, is to go to our website, www.hslda.org, and look up our analysis of that state’s homeschool laws. Our attorneys have spent countless hours researching and updating these to make sure that any parent who wants to homeschool has the knowledge they need, so they can start out confident that their program is in full compliance with state law.
Mike: Thanks Peter, for your time today! And I’m Mike Smith.
