Home Schooling

Though home-schooled students have succeeded and continue to succeed, their parents' fight to be able to home school has not proceeded without court involvement. For example, in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, compulsory attendance laws of various states were challenged in court. By 1986, however, all states had adopted some form of legislation recognizing home schooling as an education option. Now, only ten states require parents to have specific qualifications to home school their children, and these include a high school diploma, GED, or some college. Fifteen states require simply that home schooling parents be "competent" and instruction be "thorough." Thirty states require testing or other evaluation of home-schooled students. Finally, nearly all states require parents to file basic information with either the state or local education agency, and many states have additional requirements, such as the submission of a curricular plan or the testing of parents.