Contact the home schooling associations in your area and ask if there is a family you can sit down with or a group you can observe to understand more fundamentally the lifestyle of home education. If appropriate, meet with administration, counselors and teachers at your school to discuss options. Many states require that public schools allow families in their district to take a buffet approach to coursework and extracurricular activities, so that a senior can continue to play on the school's basketball team or attend chemistry lab while conducting the remainder of his coursework at home.
Review home school laws in your state thoroughly. State regulations on home schooling vary widely, with some more friendly towards home programs than others. Contact a home school association that operates within your state; they often have packets developed specifically to help new home schooling families get started on the right track. If you have any uncertainties, talk to a representative in your state's department of education directly. Home schooling is a growing trend and state education departments are usually fully equipped to answer your questions and may even be able to send you boilerplate forms to ease the transfer.
Notify your district in writing of your intent if you are required to do so. If your state requires a notification period, get your letter of intent in as soon as possible to give yourself the maximum flexibility on the timing of withdrawal. If you have any concerns about how your decision will be received by the school, send your letter as registered mail or request that the school mail you an acknowledgment that you have completed the paperwork with them. Remember that as a resident of a public school district, your children have the right to attend its schools. If you transfer your child to home school and the situation changes, you have the legal right to re-enroll your child at any point. Submitting a letter does not obligate you to home school, it only allows you to do so without triggering truancy laws.
Investigate and choose your online school. There are various styles of schools available. Some schools sell an entire program -- students follow the coursework over the internet, receive instruction online and receive credits and a diploma all in one package. Others sell a curriculum, which a student follows independently or with the assistance of a parent. Some "umbrella" schools allow nearly complete independence in curriculum choice. Umbrella status meaning that you register through the school and complete paperwork and often mandatory state testing through the school but receive no curriculum content or instruction. These institutions are largely designed to help a home schooling family navigate the regulatory paperwork and evaluation requirements of their state with confidence.
Use online home school resources creatively. Many public school districts today offer complete home school online packages themselves. You are technically still a student of the district and follow a district curriculum through a home package. These programs are often provided free of cost and may include a computer for home use.
Check with local private schools to see if they offer umbrella services. Some schools will let you register as a student of their schools and participate in some activities while completely most work on in a different program online. This gives a family the confidence of knowing they are following state requirements completely.
Community and state colleges frequently offer concurrent programs through their distance education departments. Check with your state universities and other higher education institutions to see if your high school student can complete her high school year while also earning college credit.