Few states have set guidelines of what homeschoolers need to learn in high school
Homeschooling parents have to determine high school graduation requirements, since most states do not set guidelines for homeschool students. Some exceptions are New York, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. Interactive maps (shown below) can help parents find out what to teach to meet state’s requirements.
High school students should choose electives based on their career choices and a few outside their area of study.
Although Florida does not set requirements for homeschool students, some states do. High school classes are usually pretty similar throughout the country because universities establish class requirements. North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and New York are the only states that enforce high school graduation requirements to homeschoolers.
Education Commission for the States’ website provides high school graduation requirements information for all 50 states.
Graduation requirements include four years of English, two to three years of foreign language (preferably the same language), three or four years of mathematics (Algebra I and above), two to four years of science, two to three years of social studies (American History, World History, economics, or American Government), and one year of art.
Often, homeschool parents teach their children through traditional methods in middle school, but are very conflicted when it comes to high school. Should classes be taken through accredited schools? I chose to have all high school core classes taken through accredited schools. All elementary and middle school classes were done at home. I signed my sons up with Seton High School for Algebra, Algebra II, and Pre-Calculus. Although I was still in charge of teaching the classes, all the tests were administered by the school and graded by their certified teachers.
Linking the state guideline topics with your curriculum relieves some of the stress. My blog provides stet-by-step instruction on how to link your curriculum with Sunshine standards. In addition, this method is to be used as a guideline and not to replicate brick-and-mortar school curriculum. I came up with a method to align my lessons with the school system’s “required topics” to ensure my sons were learning everything that was expected of them. Although it is not necessary to follow this method, it definitely gives homeschool parents peace of mind. I linked my lessons with the sunshine state guidelines per grade and subject level (for core classes only) and made sure my sons learned that material, in addition to our curriculum.
At the time, Florida had adopted the Sunshine State Standards guideline that addresses what students should learn by the end of each school year. These guidelines provide vital problem-solving and analytical skills used across all subject areas that will benefit students in this increasingly complex high-tech world.
Only nine states in the United States did not adopt the Core Curriculum. Florida adopted it for a few years, but mostly used the Sunshine State Standards. Regardless of which standard your state adopted, they are all designed to identify and create high-quality education. The goal is to ensure that students are prepared to successfully complete their upper education and are career ready.
“Regional accrediting commissions are among the oldest accrediting organizations in the country. The United States is divided into six accreditation regions: New England, Middle States, North Central, Southern, Western and Northwest. Seven accrediting commissions operate in these regions. All regional accrediting commissions review entire institutions, as opposed to programs or schools within institutions.” CHEA.org
An interactive map can be found here
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education website provides an interactive map that shows which states have high school requirements for homeschoolers.
The states in red have no subject requirements, but all the other states have some level of restriction. Click on the map to go to CRHE website.
HSLDA’s website gives information on each state’s requirements (testing, state mandatory subjects, vaccination, age, teacher qualifications, and assessment).
