Maryland Homeschool Option 1 vs Option 2: Which Supervision Path Is Right for You?

Maryland does not let you homeschool without oversight. The state requires every homeschooling family to be supervised by someone — either the local county superintendent or an approved nonpublic entity. What most parents don't realize when they start is that this "someone" choice shapes your entire compliance workload for as long as you homeschool.

COMAR 13A.10.01, the Code of Maryland Regulations governing home instruction, lays out three legal pathways. Most Maryland families end up choosing between Option 1 (direct county supervision) and Option 2 or 3 (umbrella or nonpublic school oversight). The difference between them is not just administrative — it determines who reviews your child's portfolio, how often, and what they're authorized to demand.

What COMAR 13A.10.01 Actually Says

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) publishes the home instruction regulations at COMAR 13A.10.01. The law requires that home instruction programs provide "regular, thorough instruction" in eight mandatory subjects across the full academic year. The regulation also mandates that the local superintendent — or a delegated supervisor — review the program to verify it meets this standard.

What COMAR does not specify is your supervision pathway. That's where the three options come in.

Option 1 places your program directly under the county superintendent's oversight. You submit a Home Instruction Notification to your local school system before you begin, and the superintendent (or a designated reviewer) evaluates your child's portfolio up to three times per year — typically twice, at the end of each semester.

Option 2 authorizes a state-approved nonpublic school (typically a church-affiliated institution operating under COMAR 13A.09.09) to supervise your program in place of the county. The nonpublic school verifies compliance and handles its own review process.

Option 3 is a variation of Option 2, allowing a religious institution operating under a church exemption to provide oversight without holding full nonpublic school approval.

Option 1: County Supervision — The Free Path With More Exposure

Under Option 1, your supervisor is the county public school system. There is no enrollment fee. You submit your Home Instruction Notification form, and the county assigns a reviewer who will contact you to schedule portfolio reviews.

The reviews themselves are non-adversarial in most counties, but the process depends heavily on where you live. Baltimore County Public Schools, Prince George's County Public Schools, and Howard County each have their own procedures, timelines, and documentation expectations. PGCPS, for example, requires dated skill reports for online curriculum and specific documentation — photographs, dated logs, or activity receipts — for non-core subjects like Physical Education and Music.

If a reviewer determines your portfolio is deficient, MSDE's regulations give you exactly 30 days to correct the deficiency. Failure to resolve it can result in a mandatory return to public or nonpublic school.

The practical reality of Option 1 is that the burden of proof lands entirely on you. Your portfolio is your defense. A well-organized, legally complete portfolio — covering all eight COMAR subjects with clear evidence for each — is what protects you when a reviewer asks hard questions.

Option 2 and 3: Umbrella Oversight — More Expensive, Less County Exposure

Umbrella programs operate under approved nonpublic school or church exemption status. By enrolling your child, you effectively transfer your oversight obligation from the county to the umbrella organization. The county superintendent's office is no longer involved in reviewing your portfolio.

This appeals strongly to families who want to avoid direct county contact, particularly those who have had difficult interactions with local administrators or who prefer the community aspect that many umbrella groups provide.

The cost is the significant trade-off. Maryland umbrella organizations charge annual fees ranging from approximately $50 to over $150 per child. Some charge per-family, others per-student:

• Calvary Baptist Church Academy (CBCA Knights) charges $100 per student annually
• Severna Park Baptist Church's umbrella charges a $65 family fee plus $50 per child
• Freedomcry Christian Homeschool Community charges a non-refundable $100 fee
• Secular-friendly groups like Goodloe HUGs charge approximately $50 per year

Beyond the base fee, some umbrella organizations require standardized testing, curriculum approval, or class enrollment as conditions of supervision. These additional costs can push annual expenditure well above the base fee.

The other practical issue: many umbrella programs are explicitly religious. Families pursuing secular homeschooling have fewer options under Options 2 and 3, though secular-friendly umbrellas do exist in the state.

MHEA, MACHE, and the MSDE Landscape

Maryland's two largest homeschool advocacy organizations — MHEA (Maryland Home Education Association) and MACHE (Maryland Association of Christian Home Educators) — are not supervision options under COMAR. They are advocacy and support organizations. MACHE in particular has lobbied actively in 2025 and 2026 against proposed MSDE amendments to COMAR 13A.10.01, which would have significantly tightened home instruction requirements.

Understanding the difference matters. Joining MHEA or MACHE does not satisfy your supervision requirement. You still need to be under Option 1, 2, or 3.

MSDE's home instruction page confirms this. The MSDE provides the legal framework, establishes the mandatory subjects, and sets the deficiency notice procedures — but MSDE does not directly review portfolios. That function belongs to the county superintendent (Option 1) or the approved nonpublic entity (Options 2 and 3).

Which Option Makes Financial Sense?

The annual cost comparison makes Option 1 compelling for most families, particularly those with multiple children.

A family with three homeschooled children using an umbrella program charging $100 per student pays $300 per year — indefinitely. Over a twelve-year homeschool career for a single child, that's $1,200 in oversight fees alone, before any additional testing or class requirements.

Option 1 is free. The portfolio review is conducted by your county at no charge.

The objection most families raise about Option 1 is that they don't know how to prepare a portfolio that passes the county review. That concern is legitimate — but it's a documentation problem, not a supervision problem. A well-structured, COMAR-aligned portfolio system removes the anxiety of Option 1 reviews by making compliance visible and organized before the reviewer arrives.

Families switching from Option 2 or 3 to Option 1 to reduce costs immediately need their own documentation framework. The umbrella organization was previously managing compliance on their behalf; that function now shifts to the parent.

Making the Transition From Umbrella to County Supervision

Parents leaving an umbrella program to switch to Option 1 must submit a new Home Instruction Notification to their local school system before beginning home instruction under county oversight. The notification requirements vary slightly by county but generally include the student's name, grade, and a statement of intent to provide home instruction.

One common mistake in this transition: assuming that records kept under the umbrella program format will satisfy county reviewers. County reviewers assess portfolios against COMAR's eight mandatory subjects. If your umbrella records don't clearly map to those eight subjects, you may need to rebuild your documentation system.

If you're weighing whether Option 1 is manageable without umbrella support, the Maryland Portfolio & Assessment Templates are built specifically for COMAR compliance — covering all eight mandatory subjects with fillable logs designed to satisfy what county reviewers actually ask to see.

The Bottom Line

Option 1 and Option 2/3 are not better or worse in the abstract. Option 2 and 3 eliminate county contact and provide community, at an annual cost. Option 1 is free but requires you to build and maintain a compliant portfolio yourself.

For families confident in their documentation, Option 1 is the financially rational choice. For families who want supervision entirely off their plate and are willing to pay for it, umbrella oversight accomplishes that.

What neither option eliminates is the underlying legal requirement: regular, thorough instruction across eight subjects, documented in a way a reviewer can verify. That requirement exists under both pathways.

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