General Requirements for Home Schooling in The U.S.

In the United States, the regulatory requirements for home schooling is the primary responsibility of the state governments.  The general and specific home schooling requirements would vary from one state to another, but the requirements are based on the division of three categories:

• Requirements are based on the treatment of home schooling as a type of private education. The states that follow this category would require the home schoolers to follow the same laws that are applicable for private schools.
• Requirements are based on the unique choice of words used to describe and define the mandatory school attendance statute of a particular state without any specific mention of the word “home schooling”. The states that follow this category would set-up the specific criterion or guidelines for home schooling based on the state's statute for mandatory school attendance.
• Requirements are based on the statute or collection of statutes that particularly apply to home schooling, even if the applicable statutes would not specifically use the term “home schooling” and instead use other similar terminologies. For those states, the home schooling requirements would be based on the state's relevant statute for mandatory school attendance.

The state governments enforce various requirements that should be followed by the parents in the home schooling of their children, but there are general requirements that are commonly used in several states. The general home schooling requirements include:

1. Not requiring the parents or private tutors to file a written notice of intent to home school a child,
2. Filing a written notice that contains specific information with the local school officials,
3. Having a certified teacher to supervise the child's home school education, and 
4. Requiring the child to take standardized tests or evaluations that are either administered by the parent or a certified teacher, and for the tests or evaluations to be submitted to the applicable local school authority.

If a parent has decided that home schooling is the best option for educating his child, then the parent should inquire from the applicable local authorities about the specific home schooling requirements and guidelines that he should follow so he can be sure that the home schooling of his child is legal and is recognized when his child again enters the formal education system.