How To Meet Your State's Home Schooling Requirements

With the growing concern over the level of quality offered in public schools, a lot of parents are choosing to remove their children from the public education system and teach them at home. While there is no specific curriculum provided by the education board for homeschooled students, there are certain home schooling requirements that must be met. These requirements will vary by state, but all of them require instruction in the basic subjects of math, English, science, history and reading. Another requirement is that the child be given instruction for a specified amount of hours every day.

As a general rule there is no monitoring by the public board, but a representative can choose to drop by the residence at any time during regular school hours to check up on the schooling. In addition, the educational system does not provide a parent with any type of materials to use in their instruction. In the past parents were often at a loss as to where to obtain textbooks and other materials to provide a good source of knowledge for their children. Much of this unguided instruction has been corrected through the use of online resources.

There are a lot of teachers who have created websites designed to help the homeschooling parent. These sites offer printable pages on all types of subjects to be used as worksheets. There are also online worksheets available that students can fill in by directly entering the information using their home computer. These worksheets are corrected through an automated system so the student can see right away how well they did. There is no time involved when filling out these Internet papers so a child can progress at their own pace.

In addition to the standard sheets they can work on for math or English, there are a number of interactive learning games available as well. These can also be purchased as software products for in-home use and cover math, English reading and sometimes history and science. The math programs include arithmetic, mathematics, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry and trigonometry so a student can work with the program best suited to their grade level. Both the software programs and the online worksheets will offer chapter tests to assess the progress the child is making. In most states there are no tests provided by the educational system for these students to take during their K through 12 learning period.

Once a child has completed all of the grade levels, they can take the GED or HSED exams to receive certification. These exams are given at most technical colleges and will have stipulations depending on the state they are administered in. The stipulations will include the age a child must be in order to take the tests. In some states, the students graduating class must have graduated before the child can take their state exams. Each test is administered separately and will require a fee. The results are sent to the child's home address when the papers have been corrected. These certifications are as valid as any school diploma and can be used to obtain a job or apply to a college.