The Preschool Homeschool

Although you might be homeschooling a preschooler who is under no legal obligation to attend any type of schooling, use this time to brush up on your state’s homeschooling laws. If you decide to continue homeschooling into the primary grades, not knowing what your legal obligations are as a homeschooler can actually be dangerous to your homeschooling. The last thing you want is a social worker or truant officer knocking on your door because you failed to notify your school district or send in required test scores.

When we started homeschooling we lived in Florida. I printed out the homeschooling law, read it, knew it and could recite it to anyone who was misinformed. When we moved to Missouri, I did the same thing. Missouri is very lenient though, so there wasn’t much to learn. However, there are about a half dozen states with very stringent requirements - New York and Pennsylvania are two.

Don’t let legal homeschooling requirements dissuade you from homeschooling. Many families meet these hard-nosed requirements with no problem. Other families go above and beyond what they need to do because they don’t understand the laws in their state. Check out HSLDA Homeschool Laws for a rundown of the laws in your state. However, the best way to learn the laws is to contact your department of education and request materials. You can also check out the DOE website for your state, which usually lists the statutes in a PDF file.

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