One of the harder states in which to start a home school program is California. There were rumors in the past that home schooling is illegal in California, but that is not the case. Home schooling is in fact legal in California, but the requirements are a little bit strict, depending on how one reads the requirements.  As in all the states, home schools in California should use an accredited and recognized school curriculum, or an ISP (Independent Study Program) that can come from an area public school or from a private, but accredited source.

California Home School - Capability to Teach

There have also been some rumors about the fact that California home schoolers should have a California teaching license in order to be considered a qualified teacher for the students that they are home teaching.  While it is helpful for a teacher to have a teaching certification, the law in California actually states that someone who is running a home school in California has to, simply, just be ‘capable’ of teaching.

Evidently, this statement can be interpreted in a very vague wide 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 teaching certification.  The process for home schooling in California is different; the parent and the teacher are often the same person.

California Home School - Starting a Home School

In order to start a home school, you need to declare yourself as a private school.  Even if there is only one student, declaring your school status will clear up a lot of questions.  Another option is to simply sign your child up at an area public school, but register for an Independent Study Program that you will be responsible for implementing for your children at home.  In either of these two paths, you should be able to open up your own home school in California without too much of a red tape.

California Home School - Tutor

A home school requires a “tutor.”  In most cases, this tutor will be one of the parents in the home, but it could also be a third party who is hired by the family to be the tutor of their kids.  A tutor who is a parent does not have to hold a California teaching certification, but should be, as above, capable of teaching, even if the person doesn’t 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 demand that the tutor have a proper teaching certification to begin with.

Tags: home schooling, education, california homeschool, homeschooling

If you are thinking about picking an accredited homeschooling ciriculums for your child, there are many decisions that you need to make before doing so.  You need to decide whether you will prefer to teach your child, whether a tutor will teach your child, or if you are going to use an online school.  You need to select the curriculum and resources that you will use in your home school.

You should decide on how long each day your home school will last, and how often you will arrange meetings with other home schooled kids.  But before you even make these decisions, you need to decide whether or not you want your child to attend a non-accredited home school or an accredited homeschool.

What is Accredited Home Schooling and the homeschooling ciriculums?

Accreditted home schooling is merely a home school system that ensures that your child is being taught the same curriculum that the rest of the state is learning.  It is created by certified teachers who are familiar with the public school curriculum, and yet still leave enough flexibility to allow the parent to tweak the curriculum if they so choose.

Some parents opt not to use an accredited high school program because they feel it does not allow them to have full control over their child’s learning experience. This would be considered a mistake by some, because not attending an accredited home school can limit many children in their future aspirations.

There are many benefits of accredited homeschooling ciriculums.  Most home schools are non-accredited because most state governments do not recognize a home school as being an accreditted education program.  However, it is advantageous for a child who is being home schooled to get a diploma.  This opens up so many more doors for them when it comes to applying for colleges.  Most colleges either do not accept a non-accredited diploma, or they have special requirements for applicants with non-accredited home school diplomas. Sometimes, an accredited home school diploma is even necessary for a certain job.

Online Accreditted Programs

To get an accredited home school diploma, there are several options.  One of the most common ways to get a diploma is to use an online program.  This is harder than it sounds, because despite what you might find when you research on accredited homeschooling, there are only Seven accredited homeschooling programs on the internet, though many will claim otherwise.