South Carolina gives you three legal ways to homeschool, and you must use one of them: approval from your school district board, membership in the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools, or membership in another home school association with at least 50 members. The one you pick decides how much paperwork and testing you face.
Verified against primary sources November 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
Choose one of three options. Option 1: your district board of trustees approves your program, and you teach 180 days of at least four and one-half hours, keep a plan book, a portfolio of work samples and a record of evaluations, send the district a semiannual progress report, and have your child take the annual statewide tests. Option 2: join the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools and follow its standards. Option 3: join another home school association with at least 50 members, and keep a plan book, a portfolio, and a semiannual progress report at home. All three require a parent with at least a high school diploma or GED, a 180-day year, and the same core subjects.
You apply to the board of trustees of the district where you live, and the board must approve a program that meets the standards in the statute. The district can inspect your records and must be sent semiannual progress reports. This is the most closely supervised option.
You teach under the auspices of one named association. Bona fide membership and continuing compliance with its academic standards exempt you from the Option 1 requirements. The state reviews the association's standards each year.
You teach under the auspices of an association with no fewer than 50 members. Bona fide membership and continuing compliance with its academic standards exempt you from Options 1 and 2. The state education department publishes a yearly list of associations that filed the standards assurance form, and says it does not accredit or endorse any of them.
A parent must have the child attend a school or another program approved under the law from the school year in which the child turns 5 before September 1 until the 17th birthday or high school graduation. Home instruction meets that duty only through Option 1, 2, or 3. The penalty for failing to send a child to school is a fine of up to fifty dollars or up to thirty days in jail, with each day counted separately.
If your child is not 6 on or before September 1, you may choose for your child not to attend kindergarten by signing a written election with your school district. Option 1 families with a child eligible for first grade have the child take the state's readiness test within the first 15 instructional days of the public school year.
Under every option a teaching parent holds at least a high school diploma or GED. Option 1 also accepts a bachelor's degree. The Option 1 text also refers to a basic skills exam for parents with a diploma or GED, which applies only once the state department has validated the test for home school parents; ask your district whether it uses one.
All three options set a school year of at least 180 days and a curriculum that includes reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies, plus composition and literature in grades 7 through 12. Only Option 1 sets a day length: at least four and one-half hours, not counting lunch and recess.
Keep a plan book, diary, or other written record of subjects taught and activities; a portfolio of samples of your child's academic work; and a record of evaluations of progress. The district may inspect these on reasonable notice. Send the district a semiannual progress report with attendance and an assessment in each core subject. Your child takes the annual statewide tests, given by a certified district employee. If your child scores below the public school promotion standard for a year, the board decides on placement in public school, special services, or home schooling with an instructional support system at your expense. If the district finds deficiencies, you get 30 days to correct them before approval can be withdrawn. A denial can be appealed to the State Board of Education within ten days, and then to family court within thirty days.
The association's standards must require you to keep a plan book, diary, or other record of subjects taught and activities; a portfolio of samples of your child's academic work; and a semiannual progress report with attendance records and documentation of progress in each core subject. The statute does not have you send these to the district.
The statute itself sets only the parent qualification, the 180-day year, and the core subjects for SCAIHS. Whatever records or reviews the association requires come from its own standards, and continuing compliance with them is what keeps the exemption.
| Before you start | Pick an option. For Option 1, apply to your district board; you are told in advance when the board will consider it and may speak at the meeting. For Options 2 and 3, join the association. |
| During the year | Teach at least 180 days and keep the records your option asks for. Option 1 days are at least 4.5 hours. |
| Twice a year | Option 1: send the district the semiannual progress report. Option 3: complete the semiannual progress report for your records. The statute sets no exact dates. |
| By January 30 | Your association (Options 2 and 3) reports the number and grade level of its students to their districts. Nothing is due from you under the statute. |
| Testing season | Option 1 only: your child takes the annual statewide tests with a certified district employee. |
No. The compulsory attendance law requires your child to attend school or an approved program, and home instruction counts only under one of three sections: district board approval (Option 1), the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools (Option 2), or another home school association with at least 50 members (Option 3). The state education department says co-ops are not one of the three options; they can supplement your teaching but not replace it.
By statute, Option 2 sets the fewest rules of its own: a parent with a high school diploma or GED, a 180-day year, and the core subjects. The association's own academic standards then apply, and you must keep complying with them. Option 3 adds records you keep at home. Option 1 has the most: district approval, a set school day length, records the district may inspect, semiannual reports to the district, and state testing.
Only under Option 1. Option 1 students take the annual statewide tests for their grade, given by a certified school district employee, either with public school students or at your home at your option. If the test is at home, you pay the test giver. The state education department says students outside district-approved programs are not eligible to take those tests.
The state education department tells districts to accept a copy of the board's approval letter (Option 1) or membership documentation from the association (Options 2 and 3). Associations also report the number and grade level of their students to each child's district by January 30 every year.
Yes, under the Equal Access to Interscholastic Activities Act, once the student has been homeschooled under one of the three options for a full academic year. The student must live in that school's attendance zone, meet the district's eligibility rules other than attendance and class enrollment, meet the same team standards as everyone else, and notify the district superintendent in writing before the season begins.
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Make a free parent accountReference information reviewed August 2026 against primary sources (statutes, NCAA and Common App published requirements). This is general information, not legal advice; requirements change, so verify anything load-bearing for your family against your state's current law.