Click here for a printable checklist.

Step 1: Make sure your family is on board and prepared to work together, as a team. To read more about this, click the tab “ Digging Deeper FAQs”.

Step 2: Read the SC Homeschool Law (at right) carefully to understand your rights and responsibilities under the law.

Step 3: GET LEGAL! All homeschoolers must be a member of a legal accountability group, like Foothills.

NOTE: LIBERTY ACADEMY, ABEKA ACADEMY, BOB JONES ACADEMY, or other Curriculum-Based Academies DO NOT COUNT as a LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY ASSOCIATION. Even If you use those full-service curriculum/transcript services, you still have to legally register with a 3rd Option group to be legal.

Click here to access Membership Application

Step 4: Research curriculum options and purchase your curriculum.

• Remember: The most expensive is not necessarily the best—you don’t have to spend a lot of money to educate in a superior manner
• The “easiest” is not necessarily the best choice
• Not every high school curriculum is equal in quality and scope. Some may not adequately meet your goals for college. RESEARCH and ASK QUESTIONS!
• Curriculum can be purchased used on Amazon, ebay, or from local sources… AND… curriculum, well cared for, can be resold when you are finished with it to recoup your $

Step 5: Contact your school district and notify them of your intent to homeschool. If they ask you for verification of legal status, You can give them my email or phone contact information and I will be happy to confirm your membership.

Step 6: Attend the Mandatory New Member Orientation in which we will show you how to keep the required records and answer your questions relating to homeschooling in SC.

Step 7: Get Started! You have to achieve 180 days of school between now and May 31st. Lay out your calendar to balance school, work, vacations, and off days the way you see fit. If there is a span of time between joining Foothills, and attending the New Member Orientation, DON'T WAIT to get started! Go ahead and begin schooling, keeping track on paper or planbook what you are doing with your child in the required subject areas.

Step 8: Join a LOCAL SUPPORT GROUP, which provides MUCH NEEDED fun social opportunities for you and your children, if desired. TCHE, EHE, and CHEE are local support groups in this area.

Step 9: Attend the January and May Records checkoff meetings.

Whether you've planned this day since your children were born, or find yourself homeschooling under the pressure of a negative public school experience, we at Foothills believe that God led you to this place, at this point in time, and desires to support you in this endeavor. If you trust in Him to guide your life, He will not disappoint! His Grace has always been sufficient!

Feeling overwhelmed?

Don't worry--all homeschoolers have been where you are today. We remember what it felt like, and we are here to help and encourage you!

3^rd OPTION HOMESCHOOL LAW

SC Statute 59-65-47:

Associations for home schools; requirements.

In lieu of the requirements of Section 59-65-40 or Section 59-65-45, parents or guardians may teach their children at home if the instruction is conducted under the auspices of an association for home schools which has no fewer than fifty members and meets the requirements of this section. Bona fide membership and continuing compliance with the academic standards of the associations exempts the home school from the further requirements of Section 59-65-40 or Section 59-65-45.

The State Department of Education shall conduct annually a review of the association standards to ensure that requirements of the association, at a minimum, include:

1. a parent must hold at least a high school diploma or the equivalent general educational development (GED) certificate;
2. the instructional year is at least one hundred eighty days;
3. the curriculum includes, but is not limited to, the basic instructional areas of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies, and in grades seven through twelve, composition and literature; and
4. educational records shall be maintained by the parent-teacher and include:
   1. a plan book, diary, or other record indicating subjects taught and activities in which the student and parent-teacher engage;
   2. a portfolio of samples of the student's academic work; and
   3. a semiannual progress report including attendance records and individualized documentation of the student's academic progress in each of the basic instructional areas specified in item (c) above.

By January thirtieth of each year, all associations shall report the number and grade level of children home schooled through the association to the children's respective school districts.