If you live in Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Ilinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma or Texas, you do not need to notify your state before you begin home schooling. Parents in these home-school-friendly states do not need to report their child's progress to the government or administer standardized tests. Most no-notice states require students to complete school work for a minimum of 180 days each year and a few demand that parents hold a high school diploma before educating their children at home.
Parents who wish to home school in Alabama, California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming must notify their state of their intent to home school. In addition to giving notice of their child's status as a home schooler, parents in most of these states must provide educational instruction for a minimum of 180 days each year. Because parents do not need to report their children's progress or use approved curricula, these states are still considered among the the most home-school-friendly.
A few states with limited regulation still have academic subject requirements for home educators. In New Mexico, parents must teach science, social studies, mathematics and language arts, while Texas home schoolers must study math, language arts and good citizenship. Other states, including New Jersey, demand that students receive instruction in state history. Despite these stipulations, parents may use any curriculum, textbooks or method they wish to teach these subjects and do not need to report their child's progress to the government.
The Home School Legal Defense Association (hslda.org) considers Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana,Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia to be moderate-regulation states. You will need to send a notification of your home-schooling status to a local superintendent and regularly submit reports detailing your child's progress. Many of these states require home-schooled students to regularly take state-regulated standardized tests.