Home school law?

Question

Yeah I am homeschooling in Maryland but the problem is that some homeschooling support groups say that homeschooling should be taught on the basics of what your kid wants to learn so my mom gets me some of these college books to learn from,but some people say that it should be followed by the law and if you are going to home school you should get every thing the school has so in your opinion what way is better and will my mom get in trouble for teaching me college things I am age 14 Thanks.

Answer 1

Here are the general laws in Maryland:
http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=MD

They do NOT say at what level you need to be working at, simply that you must be doing something. There is no problem with you working from college books. If anything, if you keep going strong in your language arts and math skills, studying from college texts will just make you a stronger student.

Answer 2

The law varies from state to state. In most states there is a requirement that you receive the fundamentals, meaning a credit in math, english, and a physical science - plus some states require special courses, such as state history. But most states do NOT regulate the grade level for the material. As a 14 year old, if you were in public school, you would probably be about 8-9 grade. But even in public school, if at 14 you are capable of doing 12th grade (or college) work, you would be allowed to do it. Same with home school.

Two of my four kids were doing college work at 14 also. Both gradated at 17 with associate degrees from a local college as well as their high school diplomas. (Both were also valedictorians for their classes).

So if you are capable of doing college work at 14, legally you can. In fact, have your mother check around and she may find a local community college or technical school which may actually allow you to earn college credits while you are being home schooled.