Most parents were “homeschooling” their children, not by choice, for the last few months of the 2019/2020 school year.

And now, the 2020/2021 school year looms ahead, with more uncertainty than we’ve ever faced before. North Carolina public schools will be opening with “moderate social distancing,” although school districts can opt for remote-only learning if they feel that they need to.

But what will it actually be like at school? Will kids be able to play together at recess? Eat together at lunch? Do group projects? Will school be fun for them?

If you’re thinking about homeschooling for this school year (or beyond), you might have some questions. How do you get started? What are the legal requirements? How do you keep your kids from being isolated? How do you know that they’re keeping up to grade level? How do you keep from going crazy yourself?

New to Homeschooling in NC Facebook Group

I homeschooled my son for four years, from 5th to 8th grade, because his learning style wasn’t a good fit for school. We both look back on those four years as some of the happiest of our lives.

He had the chance to really delve deeply into the areas he was interested in. He learned to learn independently. We both made lifelong friends. He learned to play musical instruments. He learned to build forts and how to start fires without matches. He played in the woods with other kids. They created their own games together.

When he went back to public school in 9th grade he went back empowered, with the belief that education was his responsibility, not his teachers’. That understanding was, perhaps, the most important thing he learned from his time homeschooling. When he returned to school, if he didn’t understand the way a teacher taught something, he found another way to get the information.

A quick survey of his homeschool friends reveal a diverse group of now-grown-up kids who went on to live life on their own terms. There is a working actor, a veterinary school student, a financial advisor, an astrophysics PhD student, a carpenter, an engineering student, a sales manager, and more.

Remote Learning Through School Systems

It’s important to note that you do not have to operate a home school in order to keep your child at home. Most school districts will be offering remote learning to students. Make sure to pay attention to your school district’s registration process and deadlines.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Remote Learning

As of July 30th, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School is planning to start remotely. Previously they were going to go with B-Plus Remote, meaning that there would be a two-week in-person on-boarding period, before going virtual.

It’s a little bit unclear to us right now what the difference is between the default plan, which starts with remote learning, and Remote Academy, which parents have to register for. We will update more when we know more.

You’ll find a lot more detail about Full Remote Academy here.

Cabarrus County Schools Virtual Academy

Other school districts will also be offering remote learning. Cabarrus County Schools is opening a Virtual Academy.

Any student in kindergarten through 12th grade may apply to attend. Applications for Cabarrus County Schools’ Virtual Academy will be accepted through July 31st for entry in August.

Gaston County Virtual Academy

Applications are being accepted now for Gaston County Virtual Academy for 2020/2021 for grades K-12.

Other School Districts

If your child is enrolled in another school district, and you’re interested in this option, contact the school district and ask about remote learning for the 2020/2021 school year.

If you enroll your child in a virtual school through a school district, you are not operating a home school, and don’t have to worry about the legal requirements that I will list below. However, you may still find some of the other information useful.

Legal Requirements for Home Schools in North Carolina

If you’re not enrolling your child in a school district’s remote learning program, and you wish for your child to learn at home, then you need to know the legal requirements of North Carolina home schools.

In North Carolina, in order to homeschool your child, you must notify Department of Non-Public Education (DNPE) that you are planning to operate a home school.

This is required if at least one of the children you’ll be homeschooling is at least 7 (or will turn 7 during the school year) and is under age 18.

Send to DNPE a Notice of Intent to Operate a Home School including:

Name of your home school (there are some rules; make sure to read them in the above link)
Address of home school
Chief administrator (that’s probably you)

These are the DPNE’s requirements and recommendations.

You’ll find the link to register your homeschool here. (Just look for “Opening a New Home School.”)

Besides notifying DPNE that you’re opening a homeschool, these are the other legal requirements:

Parent/guardian must hold at least a high school diploma or its equivalent.
Operate for at least nine calendar months of the year, excluding holidays and vacations.
Maintain immunization records.
Maintain attendance records.
Administer a nationally standardized achievement test each year.
Notify DNPE when the school is no longer in operation.

Looking at a couple of these requirements in a little more depth:

Attendance Record

Here is a sample attendance record from DNPE. You can print this out and just check the box for each day your child is “in attendance” at the home school.

Keep in mind that there is no rule about what the student’s educational activities have to be that day. That’s up to you. Learning from nature, hiking, watching educational videos, doing art projects – those are all a part of learning.

Nationally Standardized Test

Test Qualifications:

Nationally standardized reporting score as at least GE/AE, National Percentile rank
Measure achievement
Covers English grammar, reading, spelling and mathematics

There are many tests to choose from. These are the tests used most commonly by North Carolina home schools:

CAT
ACT w/essay
BASI
Brigance
IOWA (ITBS)
MAP
PASS
SAT w/essay
Stanford
Terra Nova
Test Point
WIAT
Woodcock Johnson
WRAT

Please note that there is no requirement that your child get a certain score on the test. And you do not send the results to DNPR. Just keep the results in your records.

Some tests allow parents to administer them and some require the tests be given by administrators with specific credentials.

DNPR’s page on testing includes a list of test vendors, along with their websites and contact numbers.

It is not all that likely that DNPR will contact you to check on the tests, attendance record and immunization record, but keep them around just in case.

Can someone else help teach your child if you’re homeschooling?

You don’t have to do it all yourself. You can hire a tutor, your child can receive academic instruction in a group setting, or your child can be instructed in some subjects by an expert.

What curriculum should you use?

There is wide latitude as far as curriculum. Although the State of North Carolina encourages you to offer instruction of similar quality, scope and duration as local conventional schools, you’re not required to match what schools are doing. That’s one of the advantages of homeschooling – you can let your kids go at their own pace, and let them dig deep into subjects that they’re interested in.

If it would put your mind at ease to be familiar with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Grades K-12, you can start here.

But you do not need to consider yourself bound to those standards.

The first year I homeschooled my son, he was in 5th grade, and he was, for whatever reason, deeply interested in the French Revolution. So, the whole year, the only academics he did were math, and learning about the French Revolution. But through his study of the French Revolution, he learned critical reading, writing, grammar, spelling, art, what a primary source was, and, of course, history.

Trust me that he did not “fall behind” as a 5th grader, and, if he had returned to public school in 6th grade, he would have been just fine.

There is a huge range of approaches to homeschooling, and you just need to do an online search to realize that the ones I’m listing below are just the tip of the iceberg.

And many homeschooling families just take a relaxed approach that works for them. The key thing to remember is that there is no approach that’s right for every child and every parent. You can change if something isn’t working for you.

And, although you will meet people who are very passionate about their approach, and possibly critical of other approaches, you do not need to buy into anything completely. You can combine approaches. The important thing is that your child is happy and learning, and that you’re happy too.

These descriptions are necessarily extremely brief, just to give you the most basic understanding of what the approaches mean. With this list, you’ll have some terms to search for and learn more. We aren’t listing any pros and cons of these approaches. This is just a starting point.

Charlotte Mason

The Charlotte Mason approach, named for an English educator from the late 19th century and early 20th century, values home atmosphere, good habits and “living methods.” It relies on living books, rather than textbooks. Students spend time outdoors, and they do narrations, nature journaling, studying composers and more.

Unit Studies or Project Based Learning

Students’ learning is based on a single topic or theme, either chosen by the student, or, perhaps, for the whole family. Different subjects, like reading, vocabulary, and science, are taught as the theme is explored. The length of time spent on that one theme before moving onto something else varies.

Classical

Classical education has the goal of a well-rounded learner with strong communication and thinking skills. It relies on a historically-based curriculum.

Unschooling

Unschooling families believe that meaningful education is chosen by the child. There’s no set curriculum, and parents see their role as facilitating the learning that their child is interested in.

Montessori

Montessori at home values a “prepared environment,” where young children have child-sized tools. They learn through gardening, pouring, touching, exploring, and participating in the activities of the household. They choose their own activities and work at their own pace.

Socialization while Homeschooling

School isn’t just about academics. It’s about making friends, and learning to get along and work with others.

All of these goals can be met while homeschooling. It will be more challenging this year, because of the social distancing required for public health, but it’s important to know that during normal times, homeschooled kids have just as many social opportunities as kids who go to school.

Even during these times, there will be social opportunities for kids learning at home. One advantage you’ll have over socialization at school is that you can have more control over the safety measures. You can meet in smaller groups. You can meet with a family that takes safety as seriously as you do. You can make sure that all the adults, and all the children who are old enough, are wearing masks. You can plan activities that allow for social distancing. You can plan the meetings for a shorter period of time. If you observe that there are unsafe behaviors, you can bring your children home.

This isn’t being over-protective. Not in these times.

There are many homeschool groups in Charlotte and beyond. Some of the groups are formed by parents looking for other families with similar values. So, there are faith-based groups and approach-focused groups. But there are also groups that are purely social, where members are happy to spend time with families of all faiths and approaches, and to learn from each other.

There are groups that have regularly scheduled park days, hold co-op classes, and go on field trips together and more, although much of that might be curtailed right now.

Also, most groups will have an online presence, whether through an email list, a Facebook group, or other means, and that’s a great way to get to know other families, figure out if the group is a good fit for you, and to ask questions of more experienced homeschooling parents. You’ll be amazed at the resources available, and of parents’ generosity in sharing their experiences and answering questions.

There are also some homeschool groups that are primarily online, just for resources and discussion.

Before you join any other homeschooling groups, it’s recommended that you join this Facebook group that is just for people new to homeschooling in North Carolina. It’s run by several diverse veteran homeschoolers and they can answer your questions. There are so many new and prospective homeschoolers that some of the other groups are getting overwhelmed with questions.

New to Homeschooling in NC Facebook Group

These are just a few homeschool groups and organizations that are in the area. There are many more.

Charlotte Area Homeschool Connection
The Homeschool Gossip
North Charlotte Secular Homeschool Community
Charlotte Homeschooling – For Homeschooling in Charlotte and North Carolina
North Carolina Coalition of Home Educators (NCCHE)
CCHNet (Charlotte Christian Homeschool Network)
African American Homeschoolers of Charlotte
WINGS Homeschool Group

Homeschool Resources

The Homeschool Room is a place to buy used books, curricula and more, and, of course, to sell yours when you’re done.

They have two locations:

1115 Matthews-Mint Hill Road, Matthews
110 N Statesville Road, Huntersville