How Can I Do Homeschool? A Practical Starting Guide for Parents
How Can I Do Homeschool? A Practical Starting Guide for Parents
The first question almost every parent asks when homeschooling becomes a serious option is: "Am I actually allowed to do this?" The short answer is yes — homeschooling is legal in all 50 states. The longer answer is that what you need to do to start legally varies quite a bit depending on where you live.
This guide covers the sequence of steps to start homeschooling, the decisions you actually need to make before day one, and the ones you can figure out as you go.
Step 1: Find Out Your State's Legal Requirements
Before you pull your child out of school or enroll them in any program, look up your state's homeschooling laws. Requirements fall into four general categories:
Low-regulation states (like Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma): No registration, no curriculum approval, no standardized testing. You are operating as a private school on your own authority. You may still need to notify the school district when withdrawing.
Medium-regulation states (like Florida, Virginia, North Carolina): You must file a notice of intent to homeschool with the school district or the state. Some require annual standardized testing or portfolio evaluation by a qualified reviewer.
Higher-regulation states (like New York, Pennsylvania): Annual assessment is required, sometimes including a portfolio review by a certified teacher. Some states require submission of an educational plan in advance.
Each state's homeschool advocacy organization maintains a plain-language summary of the requirements. These are more reliable than state government websites, which are often outdated.
If you are in Missouri, the requirements are covered in detail in the Missouri Homeschooling Laws post, and the Missouri Legal Withdrawal Blueprint provides the withdrawal letter and record-keeping tools built around Missouri's specific statutes.
Step 2: Withdraw from the Current School Properly
This is the step most new homeschoolers rush past — and it is the one most likely to cause problems if done wrong.
You cannot simply stop sending your child to school. In most states, a child who stops attending school without a formal withdrawal is truant. The process for correctly withdrawing depends on your state:
- No-notification states (Missouri, Texas): You still need to send a formal withdrawal letter to the school district. The letter serves as your legal protection — it establishes that absences following the withdrawal date are intentional homeschooling, not truancy.
- Notification states (Florida, Virginia, North Carolina): You file a notice of intent with the school district or state before beginning. The deadline and process vary by state.
When you send a withdrawal letter, it should:
- State the child's name, grade, and effective withdrawal date
- Cite the relevant state statute (e.g., Missouri RSMo §167.031)
- Request transfer of all academic records under FERPA (you are entitled to copies of grades, standardized test scores, IEP records, and health records)
- Be delivered by certified mail with return receipt — keep that receipt
Do not include long explanations for why you are homeschooling. Do not criticize the school. Keep the letter short and factual. School districts can make the process uncomfortable, but they cannot legally prevent a parent from homeschooling in any state.
Step 3: Know What Your State Requires You to Teach
Most states that specify curriculum requirements do so at the level of subject areas, not specific programs. Missouri, for example, requires at least 600 hours of instruction in five core subjects: Reading, Math, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science. The curriculum you use to cover those subjects is entirely your choice.
States that require annual assessments or portfolio reviews will specify what kind of documentation is acceptable. In those states, your curriculum choice also affects your record-keeping burden — some programs generate automated progress reports, while others require you to maintain logs manually.
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Step 4: Choose Your Teaching Approach
This decision feels enormous before you start and becomes much clearer after a few weeks. The main approaches:
Structured / school-at-home: You follow a published curriculum closely, maintain a daily schedule, and replicate the core structure of a classroom. Works well for children who thrive with routine and for parents who want clear guidance on what to teach.
Unit study approach: Subjects are woven together around a central topic (e.g., a unit on ancient Rome covers history, geography, literature, writing, and sometimes art and music simultaneously). Takes more planning but can feel more natural and engaging.
Charlotte Mason: Emphasis on living books (narrative, well-written books rather than textbooks), nature study, narration (the child retells what they read rather than answering comprehension questions), and short focused lessons. Popular with literary families.
Classical education: Organized around the trivium — grammar stage (memorization and foundational knowledge), logic stage (critical analysis), rhetoric stage (argumentation and original expression). Strong emphasis on Latin, history, and great books.
Unschooling / interest-led learning: Child directs their own learning based on interests, with the parent serving as a resource and facilitator. Requires significant trust in the child's natural curiosity and flexibility about what constitutes education. More common in low-regulation states.
Eclectic homeschooling: Most families end up here — using different programs for different subjects, adjusting as they discover what works for each child.
Step 5: Choose a Curriculum (or Build Your Own)
You do not need to have a curriculum finalized before you withdraw. Pick something workable and adjust as you go. Buying the perfect curriculum is much less important than starting.
Full-package curricula (one publisher covers all subjects):
- Abeka, Bob Jones University Press — traditional, structured, Christian
- Sonlight — literature-based, secular with optional Christian materials
- Timberdoodle — hands-on, diverse publisher mix
- Masterbooks — creation-based, affordable
Subject-by-subject approach (different publishers for different subjects):
- Math: Saxon, Singapore Math, Math-U-See, Teaching Textbooks (online), Khan Academy (free)
- Reading/Language Arts: All About Reading, Explode the Code, Writing With Ease
- Science: Apologia (Christian), Real Science 4 Kids (secular)
- History: Story of the World (classical), Mystery of History (Christian)
Online programs:
- Time4Learning — structured, secular, online, generates automatic progress reports
- Connections Academy / K12 — free (publicly funded virtual schools), but the student is enrolled in a public charter, not independently homeschooled
- Khan Academy — free, excellent for math
Step 6: Set Up Your Record-Keeping System
Even if your state does not require you to submit records to anyone, you should keep documentation of what your child is learning. This is your legal protection if questions ever arise, and it becomes your child's transcript for college applications.
Minimum record-keeping for most families:
- A daily or weekly log of subjects covered and approximate time spent
- Samples of student work in a folder or binder — tests, essays, completed worksheets, projects
- Evaluations — test grades, written notes on progress, or annual assessments
For high school students, you will also need to track credits and maintain a transcript. One credit typically equals one year of study in a subject. You as the parent generate and sign the transcript — most states do not require a third-party evaluator.
Step 7: Understand What a Typical Day Looks Like
The most common mistake new homeschoolers make is trying to replicate a 6-hour school day at home. It does not work that way. Without the time lost to transitions, administrative tasks, and waiting for 25 other students, most homeschool families complete the equivalent academic content in 2-4 hours per day.
A reasonable starting structure for elementary-age children:
- 60-90 minutes of core academics in the morning (reading, writing, math)
- 30-45 minutes of additional subjects (science, history, art)
- Independent reading, projects, outdoor time, or life skills in the afternoon
Younger children need shorter focused sessions. Teenagers often work more independently and may need less direct teaching time but more structure to stay on task.
Your schedule will evolve. Give yourself the first month to experiment rather than locking into a rigid structure on day one.
You Can Start Now
Homeschooling does not require a teaching degree, certification, or formal credentials in most states. What it does require is a clear legal start — a proper withdrawal, awareness of your state's requirements, and a basic record-keeping system from day one.
The curriculum decision is important but reversible. The legal withdrawal is not. Getting the withdrawal right protects your family from truancy allegations and school district interference before your homeschool has even begun. If you are in Missouri, the Missouri Legal Withdrawal Blueprint handles that piece — letter template, certified mail instructions, and the record-keeping log — so you can focus on the teaching.
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