Thinking Of Home Schooling in California? Here's The Legalities!

You may have heard rumors going around that home schooling in California is in fact illegal, despite what you may have heard this is totally not true. What is true is that the requirements for setting up a home school in California are pretty strict.

In the state of California, if you set up a home school for your children you will be required to follow an accredited and recognized school curriculum, also known as an ISP which stands for independent study program.

Being capable of teaching

It is also true that some rumors have been circulating that in the state of California you must have a Californian registered teaching license in order to run a homeschool.

I think there can be no argument that having a certified teaching license can only be a good thing, but again contrary to what the rumors might have you think, in California the law simply states that the teacher must be capable of teaching.

Evidently, this statement can be interpreted in a very vague sense. In this way, home schooling has a sort of vague quality in California.

In public and privately-run traditional school settings, the administrators, teachers, and parents are the ones who decide if teachers are still considered qualified to teach, alongside their formal certification.

Obviously in the case of homeschooling things are different since normally the parent of the child is indeed the child's teacher.

Starting a Home School

In order to start a home school, you should declare yourself as a private school. Even if there is only one student, declaring your status will clear up a lot of questions.

One additional option open to you is to sign up your child or children at your local public school, but contrary to what other parents do, you will register for an independent study program that you yourself will implement with your child at home.

Regardless of what option you take, you shouldn't really have too much of a problem setting up your home school in California.

A Tutor

Obviously a tutor will be necessary in a homeschool. In most homeschools It is one of the parents who takes it on their selves to fill this role, but it doesn't have to be that way if you don't want it to be. You can pay a tutor to come to your home and tutor your children.

As we've already covered a homeschool teacher does not have to be legally certified, but clearly has to be above capable of teaching.

If the tutor is an adult hired by the parents to be the primary teacher, most parents opening home schools in California understandably demand that the tutor have a proper teaching certification.

Setting up your homeschool in California is going to take a little work and implementing it, especially if you are the tutor, will definitely required dedication and planning, but the benefits it can bring to your child should make it all worthwhile.