Legal/Homeschool Laws
Laws that regulate home education vary from state to state. It is important to understand the legal requirements in your state and to be aware of legislative and other legal issues that affect homeschoolers in your community. We've compiled resources that will help you become informed. Although homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, and the vast majority of homeschoolers face no problems, you may find that you need legal assistance at some point in your homeschooling career. We've compiled a list of resources to help you find the support you need. And if you'd like to become more involved in working towards homeschooling freedoms, we discuss some of the issues facing homeschoolers that we hope you find compelling.
State Laws
Read the laws regulating home education in California and browse through the case law and legal opinions relating to those laws, along with government publications relating to homeschooling and summaries of the laws.
Forms
Which forms do you need to fill out? Where can you get them? Here is a list of useful forms for homeschooling in California.
Legal Support
If you need legal information or have run into a legal situation regarding your decision to homeschool, these resources will be helpful.
Lobbying Groups
A listing of local and national lobbying groups and information on how you can become involved in the political process to ensure the freedom to homeschool is protected.
Attorneys
When searching for an attorney, it is helpful to know whether he or she has experience working with homeschoolers and is interested in protecting the right to homeschool.
Legal Issues
Is homeschooling legal? Which laws pertain to homeschoolers and which don't? How do homeschoolers protect their rights to freely educate their children and to preserve their privacy?
Government Resources
A listing of local and state government resources, including your state's Department of Education, school districts, and Senate and House of Representative information.
What's Popular
Selected California Statutes Applicable to Private Schools
The Homeschool Association of California lists selected statutes that pertain to homeschoolers in California.
Homeschool Attorneys in California
These attorneys have indicated that they are willing to provide legal information, consult with or represent homeschoolers on homeschooling or other legal issues they may have in their states. Most of these attorneys homeschool or have homeschooled their own children.
California Education Code, Section 44237
Commission on Teacher Credentialing. This section pertains to private schools requirement of submission of criminal record summary information.
Tutoring
Parents with a valid teaching credential can act as tutors for their children, or parents may employ a credentialed teacher. However, tutors and parents who choose to tutor their own children must fulfill all of the requirements of §48224.
Legal Issues - Special Needs Children
Many homeschoolers are reluctantly drawn to homeschooling because the schools failed their children. This trend is expanding to include children in special needs programs, resulting in an increasing number of questions from parents choosing to homeschool their children who are interested in continuing or obtaining special needs help from the schools. In many instances a special needs child shows tremendous gains just by being removed from the public school situation and educated at home by lovin...
HomeSchool Association of California
The HomeSchool Association of California supports and promotes the entire spectrum of homeschooling. They provide information, monitor and influence legislation, offer networking opportunities for homeschooling families, and more.
A New Charter for Homeschooling?
Discusses some of the issues relating to homeschoolers in North Carolina placing their children in public charter and virtual charter schools for some or all of their education. Using examples from Alaska, California, and other parts of the country, author Dr. Karen Palasek examines why homeschooling parents need to be informed about the implications of this type of enrollment.
California Education Code, Section 48200
Admission-Persons Included. Section relating to compulsory education requirements.
California Education Code
Index to the entire California Education Code. Sections pertaining to home education include Sections 33190-33193, 44237, 48200, 48220, 48222, 48224, 48415, 51210, 51220, 51220.5, 51221, 51225.3, 51745, and 51747.3.
California Department of Education
The website for the California Department of Education.
The Legality of Homeschooling Using the Private School Option
In California, families can legally homeschool their children by establishing a private school in their home and complying with the private school requirements of the California Education Code. Parents who have established and enrolled thier children in a home-based private school cannot be prosecuted for truancy. This legal brief provides a basis for understanding the laws in California relating to home education.
California Education Code, Section 48415
Compulsory Continuation Education-Pupils Exempt. Pertains to homeschoolers who are considered a private school.
California Education Code, Section 48220, 48222, 48224
Compulsory Education Law-Pupils Exempt. This section includes the exemption from attendance to a public full-time day school that pertains to homeschoolers.
Special Situations
This article takes a look at the effect of California law on certain special circumstances, including withdrawing your child from school mid-year, homeschooling after a divorce, contact by truancy officers, contact by Children's Protective Services, welfare benefits, and communities with curfews.
Homeschooling Legal FAQ
This Frequently Asked Question list includes everything you need to know about the legality of homeschooling in California.
Featured Resources
As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We get commissions for purchases made through links on this site.
Miserly Moms: Living on One Income in a Two-Income Economy
Save Thousands of Dollars a Year Jonni McCoy and her family are proof that you live on one income. The McCoys made a successful transition from two incomes to one while living in one of the most expensive parts of America: the San Francisco Bay Area...
A Catholic Homeschool Treasury: Nurturing Children's Love for Learning
This book reviews different approaches to learning and different homeschooling methods. Read parents' perspectives and learn more about homeschooling issues.
Learning Adventures
Each book in the Learning Adventures series covers skills and concepts for grades 4-8, with a history-based approach. Each contains a year's worth of lesson plans in a daily format. All subjects except math are covered.
The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric
Opening the door for beginners who seek a thorough grounding in the first arts of human understanding, this book explains the nature of logic, grammar, and rhetoric-the three of the seven liberal arts-and how they relate to one another. In Renaissanc...
Pass Your California DMV Test Guaranteed! 50 Real Test Questions! California DMV Handbook
This book contains the 50 most common questions and answers to the California DMV Written Test. Written by a former DMV classroom instructor and test creator, this straight forward book tells you the most likely questions and answers that will appear...