Parents may home-school their child according to Tenn. Code Annotated §49-6-3050. Tennessee views them as Independent home school. Parents may send their children to Christian schools as an alternative to traditional homeschooling. Tennessee Code Annotated §49-50-801 views church schools as home schools. Parents must notify their district, fill in the "Intent Form" and pay a $20 fee.
Parents may teach their children if they have a high school diploma and have children enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade. On the high school level, the teacher must hold a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited school or receive a waiver.
If a church school has been chosen as the home school, then its curriculum and teachers will be the responsibility of the church, not the state of Tennessee.
Kindergarten through eighth-grade do not have a mandatory curriculum. The teacher has the option of what to teach. Grades nine through 12 do have a mandatory curriculum based on college prep or general education. College prep classes are those required to gain admission into college, while the general education curriculum is what students need to graduate from high school.
Students must attend school 180 days per year for at least four hours per day. Parents must keep attendance records. Testing is required in grades five, seven and nine at the school the student would be attending. There is no charge for this test unless the parent has their child tested elsewhere. Students performing one level below where they should be for two years in a row can result in the parent being required to enroll their student back in school, unless the child has been determined to be special needs.
If students attend a church School, all testing done at school with the exception of the ninth-grade test, which must be done at the school they would have attended.