A number of states have different legislation required when it comes to homeschooling within the United States of America. Some states are easier to homeschool in than others. States requiring no notice to the school district include Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas. The HSLDA is an organisation that allows you to find out the legal requirements you need to meet when you are considering homeschooling.
Unfortunately, it is not always legal to homeschool your children in other countries. If you are a homeschool family that is planning to live abroad for a while, it would be well worth the effort to find out exactly what the country’s laws regarding homeschool entail. There are more than forty countries listed on Wikipedia where it is illegal to homeschool your children. Make sure that if you are going to one of them, that you enroll your child in the legal school system.
While homeschooling is a progressive movement across the globe, and more people are opting to teach their children at home instead of sending them to public or private schools, it is still not quite as popular as it will get. Many governments around the world still feel that parents are unable to impart quality education to their children, and in third world countries this may be true because the parents are barely literate themselves. In time the option to homeschool your child would become available in more nations.
There are already nations where homeschooling is illegal, but allowed for children with special needs. Since the public school system is unable to cope in these countries with the extra attention that a special needs child requires, they have allowed parents to homeschool these children. As more people around the world realize that homeschooling can have just as many advantages as public or private schools we will see them rallying to make it legal in their own countries as well. Till then, be grateful if you live in a country which will not arrest you and throw you into jail simply because you choose to give your children an education within your home.
