As a result of COVID-19, homeschooling is on the rise. For some, this is a short-term arrangement, and others have discovered that homeschooling is perfect for their family. In case you don’t know, homeschooling is simply the practice of educating your kids from home. Some families choose to collaborate through homeschooling cooperatives and extracurricular leagues to enrich the home school experience.
Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, including the District of Columbia. When exploring the homeschooling route, please be aware that the laws and policies that govern homeschooling differ by state. If you wonder if homeschooling is a good fit for your family, you probably have questions about how to begin the process and what resources are available. Because of this, we created a series entitled, How to Start Homeschooling. In each installment, we will discuss homeschooling rules and resources for each state. In today’s installment, we will discuss homeschooling in Colorado.
What you need to know:
- Colorado’s Homeschool Law requires that you submit a Letter of Intent 14 days before start homeschooling each year to inform the school district that you will be homeschooling.
- If you need to remove your kid, you must submit a Letter of Intent 14 days before homeschooling. Some schools have an official withdrawal form.
- You must be a parent, legal guardian, or an adult relative designated by the parent to homeschool a kid
- Colorado Homeschool Law requires that you teach 172 days out of the year and an average of 4 hours per day.
- Colorado requires you to teach your kid seven academic subjects: communication skills, mathematics, history, civics, literature, science, and the United States Constitution
- You must keep records for each kid you homeschool of attendance, test and evaluation results, and immunization records.
- Homeschool learners in Colorado are required to participate in testing during grades 3,5,7,9 and 11. Your kid can either take a national standardized test or be evaluated by a qualified psychometrist. The results must be submitted to your school district, and 13% or higher must be achieved to continue homeschooling.
- If you decide to go back to a public school, assessments will be administered and used for placement into your kid’s appropriate grade.
Resources
You can also check out the Home School Legal Defense Association – Colorado, the Colorado Department of Education’s Homeschooling page, the Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC), the Colorado Heritage Education School System (CHESS), and the Western Colorado Homeschool Connections (SPICE).
