A California Homeschool Program Is Indeed Legal!
One of the harder states in which to start a home school is California. Rumors have flown in the past that home schooling is illegal in California, but that is not the case. Home schooling is legal in California, however the requirements are a little bit on the strict side, depending on how one reads them.
In California, just like any other state in the United States of America, when homeschooling you are required to follow an accredited and recognized curriculum which can come from a public school, private school, or other accredited source.
Capability to Teach
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.
This rumor is also not true, since the Californian law very simply states that any teacher participating in homeschooling must be capable of teaching. Of course it’s certainly can’t do any harm to get a certified Californian teaching license, but it is not legally required.
This particular part of the Californian law for home schooling is as you can see more than just vague, it pretty much leaves it up to your opinion as to what capable of teaching is.
In the public and privately run schools of today the decision on whether a teacher is capable of teaching or not will lie at the hands of the people in charge of the school.
But when you look at the situation in a homeschooling environment things are pretty different, since the teacher and the parent of the child are normally the same person.
Starting a Home School
A good thing to do right away is to officially declare yourself a private school. Doing so will sort out a lot of questions early on, even if you only have one child to homeschool this is recommended.
There is another option you can implement and this is to sign your child up at your local school and then register for an independent study program that you can use to tutor your child from 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
In nearly all home schools in California or any other state of America the tutor is indeed one of the parents of the child or children. But this isn’t always the case, you can if you so wish employ a private tutor to tutor your children for you.
A tutor who is a parent does not have to hold a California teaching certification, but should be, above, capable of teaching, even if the person doesn’t even have a high school diploma.
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.