Making every service you need for your home school to be successful as close to your kitchen table as possible is the focus of all the home schoolers working together in local support groups, coops and tutorials, teams, in your regional THEA chapter and in THEA.
Home Schooling in Tennessee The resources your home needs to succeed
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In Tennessee law home schooling is defined as "parent(s) or guardian(s) teaching their children." As long as the State of Tennessee maintains a compulsory attendance law, dealing with state officials or with those who answer to the state will be part of any educational alternative, publc, private, or church related. During the ages in which a child is confined by state law into a school - 7 through 16 for home schoolers, that law can be satisfied either by enrolling with your local superintendent or the family can enroll with a church related school. About ninety-five plus percent of home schoolers in Tennessee sign up with a church related school that offers an umbrella program. Why's that? The number of services available to families and their students makes them so popular. Through this option there are many alternatives, many different services, and the scope of options of curriculum, scheduling, testing, assistance, graduation participation, plus all sorts of coordinated activities including the arts and sports. Some of these schools offer statewide and worldwide enrollment. Some only allow enrollment for members of their church. Some require that you live within 50 miles of the church. Some require testing while others offer testing when parents are ready. Some mandate the use of a certain curriculum, while others simply request that you report what curriculum is used. These schools are business / ministries and they are mindful of their customers wishes within the contest of their ministry objectives. For home schoolers about five percent use the alternative of signing up with their local superintendent of schools. Other than a one page attendance form, few services are offered by their superintendent, testing is required for certain grades with penalties attached to low performance. For the most part this is something that local superintendents are required to do by law, but that generates no funds from the state, so it is typically a very low priority.
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