The Garrett County Board of Education Requires the Following to Homeschool
Parents or Guardians who wish to homeschool their children must complete a "Home Instruction Notification Form". This form is available at Pupil Services at the Garrett County Board of Education. The form must be completed and submitted to Pupil Services at least 15 days prior to starting homeschool. The parent or guardian must provide regular, thorough instruction in all subjects appropriate to the student's grade level.
Parents must maintain and be able to present a portfolio of relevant instructional plans, reading materials, and sufficient examples of the child’s school work to document the use of appropriate curriculum and demonstrate student progress.
Work must be reviewed by either a licensed homeschool umbrella, umbrella school (see side article about "Monitoring and Accountability"), or the Garrett County Board of Education at least twice per school year. If being reviewed by the Board of Education, both the parent and child must be present for the review, and a portfolio with must be presented that will prove that the student is completing thorough instruction in all subjects appropriate to the student's grade level. If the portfolio does not prove this adaquately, the parent will have 30 days to assemble a portfolio that does. Reviews take place at the home of the student.
The parent/guardian may request on the Home Schooling Notification form that the child participate in the regularly scheduled standardized testing program at the home school. The parent must contact the GCPS Testing Office at 301-334-8931 to schedule the testing. Students are NOT required to participate in testing. Parents who want to have their child tested and who do not want to use this option can obtain standardised testing from other sources such as homeschool curriculum distributors, or if the child is enrolled in an academy, the academy may provide that service..
If a parent/guardian does not consent to the requirements of the written agreement and participate in assigned reviews, or if the child is not making sufficient academic progress, the child must be enrolled promptly in a public or nonpublic school.
The parent or guardian MUST be the primary instructor according to Maryland Law and MSDE Regulations. It should be noted that for students attending an academy who have other teachers instructing them, the "primary teacher" is still the parent because the parent is responsible for obtaining the curriculum, making sure the curriculum is followed, and following all regulations. The State of Maryland code writes it like this: "Home instruction is not limited to a parent or guardian teaching his or her child at home. As the provider of a home instruction program, the parent or guardian is ultimately responsible for complying with the home instruction regulations, but he or she may design a program that utilizes a variety of instructors and locations of instruction for his or her child. While the home instruction regulations refer to “child” in the singular, other adults may also provide regular daily instruction to siblings in the same family."
Parents or guardians do not have to be certified as a teacher in order to teach homeschool.
The Garrett County Board of Education has a strict policy against homeschoolers participating in any Garrett County public school activites other than standardized testing. Homeschooler cannot participate in any type of public school sports.
Parents and Guardians are responsible for obtaining a valid homeschool curriculum. It is recommended that it be an official homeschool curriculum or an academy enrollment. Although it is possible for parents to design their own curriculum using miscellaneous books or online videos, such as YouTube, the parent would need to be fluent in the requirements necessary for all material that the State requires students to learn in a given grade level, and apply that to the curriculum to make sure that everything is covered. Additionally, the parent would need to maintain exceptional records of every resource used and why. To make this a little clearer, most curriculums, whether they be homeschool or public school, contain the same basic things that a student should be learning in that particular year in each subject. Clearly, there is some flexibility. However, there are certain things that it would be expected that a student should learn in a given grade level. Therefore, a parent fully designing a curriculum would need to make sure each necessary element is covered during the year. Furthermore, since there would possibly be more scurtiny with this form of curriculum, the parent would need a highly detailed Lesson Plan outlining how each thing is being covered and proof that the student completed the material. It is also recommended that the parents contact their overseeing authority to make sure this type of curriculum is acceptable according to their requirements before proceeding.
There is no start date for homeschool in Garrett County, however, students are expected to complete 180 days of instruction. As a note, the State of Maryland does not have this requirement, however they do specify that students attend school enough days to complete all of the curriculum necessary to satisfy adaquate schooling for the year.
Individuals can contact the Board of Education at 301-334-8926 for more information.
The Maryland State Department of Education has a Fact Sheet that clarifies all of the regulations for homeschool in the State of Maryland.
Other Important Facts
Transcripts - Parents need to keep transcripts of their students' grades. This is extremely important because students may need it for college, a job, or security clearance. They may even need it after they are grown and have a family of their own for some great job that has suddenly come along. Parents can obtain more information and a transcript form from Homeschool Legal Defense.
Diploma - Homeschoolers will not receive a Maryland Public Education Diploma. However, parents, a homeschool umbrella, an academy used for curriculum, or a private school can issue a valid homeschool diploma once a child has completed all of the State of Maryland requirements for completion of subjects through the 12th grade. This is often a concern for many individuals looking at homeschool, because there are times when homeschooling parents are told that homeschoolers have to take the GED in order to receive a high school diploma.
The diploma issued in homeschool is completely valid. We consulted attorney Landon Farmer of the Homeschool Legal Defense. He stated, "Maryland law simply requires that children receive 'regular, thorough instruction during the school year in the studies usually taught in the public schools to children of the same age'". He went on to say, "For homeschool students, there actually aren’t any graduation requirements that Maryland law imposes. Since there are no legal requirements for graduation, it’s simply a question of what colleges and employers are expecting to be present in a high school diploma." He, then, suggested that parents download and follow this sample
High School Plan. What that means, in a nutshell, is that as long as an employer or college is willing to take the diploma, it doesn't matter whether it is a Maryland Public Education Diploma. However, it is important to make sure the student does complete all the requirements for completion of all 12 grades before issuing a diploma.
Most colleges and universities have no problem accepting a homeschool diploma and homeschool transcripts. There are thousands of homeschoolers across the country, many of whom attend some of the most prestigous colleges in the country. Since Garrett College is our local college, we asked them if the public high school diploma was a concern, and they told us that they accept homeschool diplomas and have many homeschool students in the enrollment at this time. For individual concerns, we encourage parents to contact Garrett College admissions at 301-387-4000.
For those who still may be worried, some homeschooling families enroll in accredited academies that issues a diploma from their academy, or in a private school that oversees homeschool. These diplomas do not state that they are "homeschool diplomas." They are simply a diploma from the private academy or school that issues them. The reason for this is because they consider homeschooled students to be students of their school. For example, if a student attends Liberty Academy full time in their senior year, Liberty Academy will issue a high school diploma, complete with a graduation ceremony. (It is not manditory for a student to attend Liberty Academy for all 12 grades because Liberty requires students to provide proof of completion and competency in all the grades prior to enrollment.) See our "Academies" section for more information about academies.
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