How Do I Homeschool In Kentucky?

Homeschooling is an educational method. In this method, the family environment replaces the conventional school environment. In homeschooling, parents are responsible for carrying out the educational process for the child. To legally comply with this teaching process, parents must follow guidelines and regulations established by the Kentucky state.

Parents must notify their local school board’s superintendent in writing that they wish to homeschool their child. The next step is for parents to choose a curriculum for their children. With the first two steps completed, parents are ready to begin homeschooling their children.

This article will develop all you need to know before beginning homeschooling in Kentucky. How to choose a homeschool curriculum, record-keeping, testing requirements, homeschooling, and special education, homeschooled students and public-school access, graduation requirements, and much more. Continue reading to gain knowledge of relevant information about homeschooling in Kentucky.

Before You Begin Homeschooling

It is essential to know certain information before you start homeschooling. From the moment you decide to homeschool, your home becomes a school.

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Homeschool Space

To create an adequate space for homeschooling, here are some tips:

You should allocate and fit out a spacious room as a classroom.

It should have comfortable chairs for students, teachers, and collaborators.
It must have a large blackboard.
It must have all the required educational and didactic material.

You must adequately decorate the space. It is necessary to remove distracting elements; the walls should be painted in warm colors that everyone can enjoy.

Time Required For Homeschooling

You must guarantee 6 hours per day of instruction for 175 days (the school year’s length).

What Are The Kentucky Laws?

You must know what the state of Kentucky requires of your family as a school. The legal requirements are:

You must inform the school board’s superintendent of your child’s enrollment in the home-by-school method.
You must maintain attendance records and the syllabus.
You must ensure compliance with the school days required by law.

You must ensure that the child will study the required subjects in English.

What Is The Registration Process?

Kentucky’s registration process is the step-by-step process you must follow to homeschool your children legally. The registration process in Kentucky is straightforward.

You only have to submit a letter of intent requesting approval for homeschooling to the school board’s superintendent. Once your application has been approved, you must comply with all other requirements of the law.

Homeschooling Cost In Kentucky

The cost of homeschooling can be affordable for most families. It will depend on how much time parents devote directly to the classes and how many outsourced services they want to hire: tutors, support organizations, or field trips.

The cost of homeschooling in Kentucky can range from $100 per month to more than $500 per month per child.

Choosing A Homeschool Curriculum

Choosing the right curriculum is a task to which you should emphasize the importance. A successful education curriculum will help parents make school days at home interesting, productive, and fun at the same time.

Curriculum Style

The curriculum should include a variety of subjects that help develop different skills.
Parents should follow a guided program with a road map with objectives to meet.
The materials used during learning should be tangible. This material should be creative and have technological elements.

The learning environment “classroom” has to be attractive to the child. It must include outside activities.

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Curriculum Standard In Kentucky

In the state of Kentucky, most curricula cover the following aspects:

Science, social studies, mathematics, language arts, and language arts are required subjects.

Practical activities.
Electives
Independent projects.

Here is a list of popular homeschool curriculum companies to get your search started:

Time4Writing
Alpha Omega Publications

Record Keeping & Testing Requirements For Homeschooling

Kentucky does not require parents to submit records, nor does it have testing requirements. However, it is necessary to keep homeschool records as an internal control if the authorities request them.

Experts recommend that parents have a different binder for each type of record they keep. Below we will review the primary documents you should keep when homeschooling.

Binder With The Subjects

The idea is to have a large binder. It is good to put subject separators in the binder to keep them separate. You can store all assignments, papers, or tests in the section corresponding to your subject.

Some of the topics you can include are math, science, social studies, reading, spelling, writing, and as many others as you deem necessary.

The Student’s Attendance Sheet

As we have already seen, the state of Kentucky requires 175 days of 6 hours for homeschooling. The attendance sheet will come in handy if you want to meet this requirement. You can devise anything from complex attendance sheets to one-page ones for the entire school year.

It is also noteworthy that the sheet should offer the possibility to indicate the type of day. For example, if it is an extracurricular activity day, a field trip day, a holiday, or if the student did not attend due to illness.

Recording The Student’s Grades

It is essential to have a system for recording student grades. Remember that you are the school. Keeping grades on record is necessary to demonstrate the student’s success in the course.

The Reading Log

Depending on the curriculum you apply to your student, reading may be a subject of great importance. A reading record sheet will allow you to keep track of the books read during each course. Even with younger children, you can record the read-aloud you do.

Recording Homework Assignments

Just as important as the above record sheets are the homework sheets. This record sheet should be filled out daily and is one of the elements that will shape a child’s discipline. It is a way to build their ability to be responsible for things.

The Curriculum Log

A handy tool for parents is the curriculum log. This sheet lists all the subjects per subject that the student must study during the year.

Homeschooling And Special Education Services

Kentucky homeschooling students are entitled to the special education services available to their school district free of charge.

The state of Kentucky considers homeschooling students to be private students to assign special education services.

Parents should contact Kentucky district officials to review the special education services available and begin applying for this benefit.

Homeschooled Students And Public School Access

Kentucky does not have a law or regulation that allows homeschooling students to participate in public school classes or activities. Each school can decide whether homeschoolers can participate in their classes. But let’s remember that these policies can change from district to district.

Each parent should contact the school of interest to arrange for the homeschooling student’s participation.

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Graduation Requirements

To be able to graduate through homeschooling, they need to earn at least 22 credits. The student must earn these credits as follows:

English: 4 credits
Social Studies: 3 credits

Mathematics: 3 credits
Science: 3 credits
Health and Physical Education: 1 credit

Visual or Performing Arts: 1 credit
Electives: 7 credits

Field Trips For Homeschooled Students

Combining classroom studies with extracurricular activities is very important for the successful development of the homeschooled student. Parents should select exciting places for learning. These places should be targets for academic field trips. Now we will look at some of these ideal options for field trips.

Owensboro Museum of Science and History. Kentucky’s historical museums are a rich source of information and learning for your students.
Big South Fork Scenic Railway, Stearns. This exciting tour is sure to impress your students. It is a beautiful source of learning about history and exploration.
Louisville Zoological Garden, Louisville. This type of excursion helps to develop the child’s sensitivity to the flora of the planet.

Western Kentucky Botanical Garden, Owensboro. As with the latter, the botanical garden will help the student appreciate our flora’s importance.

Homeschool Associations, Groups, And Co-ops

Parents are indeed responsible for the homeschooling of their children. However, other support services are still available to assist the child in succeeding in school. Some of these services are:

Private educators.

Support learning groups. These groups offer a variety of activities to supplement the child’s learning and social skill development.
Virtual support groups. They also offer virtual tutoring in learning subjects and other activities.

Some of these support groups are:

Central Kentucky Homeschool Social Group.
Free Range Homeschoolers.
Georgetown Homeschool Group.

Homeschool Families of Hardin Co, KY.
Lexington Kentucky Homeschoolers.

A Final Thought On Homeschooling In Kentucky

The state of Kentucky is quite friendly regarding homeschooling. The requirements are relatively simple for all parents who wish to apply this method.

Using this highly flexible method requires a great deal of commitment and responsibility on the part of the parents. It is a decision that parents must carefully evaluate for the benefit of their children.