It always seems like there in a big increase in the number of questions about starting to homeschool this time of year. Many people decide to begin their homeschool journey at the beginning of a traditional semester (August or January). I am often asked where to start the homeschooling journey by new homeschooling moms. I always have the same answer….you need to start by learning about the homeschool laws in your state. The laws vary so much between states – some states have no requirements at all while others require pre-approval of curriculum choices.
So just how does a new homeschooler find out about state laws? It is actually quite simple…if you google “Missouri department of education” (Just replace Missouri with the state you live in) you find the website of Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (MO DESE). A simple search on the department’s site will help you to find the homeschooling requirements for your state.
It is also important to pay attention to any changes of the homeschool laws within your state. The requirements in Missouri changed just slightly recently.
If you haven’t reviewed the requirements for your state this year, I encourage you to take another look at the homeschool laws for your state.
Ugh, homeschool law makes my head swim. 2 things that helped me were 1-joining a local homeschool yahoo email group. This was very helpful because one mom was putting on class about local homeschool law. 2-when I joined the Parent Partnership Program through our local homeschool, they took over all of the record keeping for me, whoohoo!
I couldn’t agree with you more. Here in California, there are a few different options, and each one of them are always being “tweaked” in some way or another. Also, homeschool has many names such as: Independent Study Programs, Charter Schools, Private Satellite Programs, and Affidavits. For a family looking for homeschool information, this can be quite confusing! I have explained the differences for California on my website.