Homeschooling in South Carolina

What you must file

1. No fixed dateYou file

   Option 1 - application to the district board

   Before you begin home schooling. The statute sets no renewal date for Option 1 approval; ask your district whether it wants a new application each year.

   Goes to: Local school district board of trustees

   The board must approve a program that meets the standards in the law. The district's application asks for a description of the program, the texts and materials to be used, the methods of program evaluation, and the place of instruction. You must be told in advance of the date, place and time of the board meeting that considers your application, and you may be heard there.

2. No fixed dateYou file

   Option 1 - semiannual progress reports

   Twice a year (semiannual). The statute sets no dates; check with your district.

   Goes to: Your school district

   The report must include attendance records and an individualized assessment of your child's academic progress in reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies, plus composition and literature in grades 7 to 12.

3. No fixed dateYou file

   Option 1 - annual statewide testing

   As scheduled

   Goes to: Administered by a certified district employee

   Includes the Basic Skills Assessment Program for your child's grade level. A certified school district employee gives the test, either with public school students or by special arrangement where your child is taught, at your option. If the test is given at your home, you pay the test administrator.

4. No fixed dateYou file

   Option 2 - SCAIHS membership

   As set by SCAIHS

   Goes to: SCAIHS

   Membership and compliance with SCAIHS academic standards exempt the family from all Option 1 requirements including district testing.

5. No fixed dateYou file

   Option 3 - association membership and records

   Ongoing. The records you keep must include a semiannual progress report (twice a year); the statute sets no dates.

   How often: continuous

   Goes to: The association you join, not the district. The statute says you, the parent-teacher, keep the records; ask your association whether it wants to see them.

   The statute says you, the parent-teacher, keep a plan book, diary or other record of the subjects taught and activities; a portfolio of samples of your child's academic work; and a semiannual progress report including attendance records and individualized documentation of your child's academic progress in each required subject. The state Department of Education says these records include transcripts, grades, lesson plans and attendance.

6. No fixed dateYou keep

   All options - an instructional year of at least 180 days; under Option 1, also an instructional day of at least four and one-half hours, excluding lunch and recesses

   n/a

   How often: continuous

   Goes to: Recorded in attendance records under Options 1 and 3: under Option 1 they go in the semiannual progress report you send to the district, and under Option 3 in the progress report you keep. Option 2: as the SCAIHS standards require.

7. No fixed dateYou keep

   Option 1 - records kept for inspection by the district

   Ongoing; shown to a representative of the school district on reasonable notice

   How often: continuous

   Goes to: Kept by the parent, for inspection on reasonable notice by a representative of the school district

   As evidence of regular instruction, you keep a plan book, diary or other written record of the subjects taught and the activities you and your child engage in; a portfolio of samples of your child's academic work; and a record of evaluations of your child's academic progress. The state Department of Education says these records include transcripts, grades, lesson plans and attendance.

8. No fixed dateYou file

   Option 1 - written agreement holding the district harmless

   As part of seeking the district board's approval

   How often: with each application

   Goes to: Local school district board of trustees

   You must agree in writing to hold the district, its board of trustees and its employees harmless for any educational deficiencies your child sustains as a result of home instruction. It is one of the standards a program must meet to be approved.

9. No fixed dateYou file

   Option 1 - first grade readiness test

   Within the first fifteen instructional days of the public school year in which your child is eligible to enter first grade

   Goes to: Your school district

   Your child is tested with the readiness instrument the State Board of Education approves for public school students. If your child is found not ready, or to lack the necessary emotional maturity, district staff advise you whether to use a kindergarten or a first grade curriculum. This does not limit your right to exempt your child from kindergarten.

10. No fixed dateYou file

    Foster parents only - approval to home school a foster child

    Before you begin home schooling a foster child, under any option

    Goes to: The Department of Social Services, or the other agency that has custody of the child

    This approval is needed in addition to every requirement of the option you choose.

11. No fixed dateYou file

    If your five-year-old will not attend kindergarten - signed written election with your school district

    When you make that choice, in the school year your child is five

    Goes to: The governing body of the school district where you live

    School attendance is required from the school year in which a child is five years old before September 1. If your child is not six on or before September 1 of that school year, you may choose for the child not to attend kindergarten. To do so you sign a written document making that election with your school district, on the form set by Department of Education regulation.