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 Hawaii.

What you need to know:

• Hawaii Homeschool Law requires you to file a Notice of Intent with your school district before homeschooling.
• If you need to remove your kid, submit your Notice of Intent form, and then contact the school to see how you need to remove your kid.
• There are no particular requirements for homeschool teachers.
• There are no required hours per day or days per week for teaching homeschooled learners.
• There are eight required subjects for elementary-level learners: language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, art, music, health, and physical education. There are seven secondary-level learners: social studies, English, mathematics, science, health, and physical education.
• The state of Hawaii requires that you document and record the lesson plans for each homeschool kid, a copy of the Notice of Intent, your kid’s test scores, and samples of the kid’s work.
• Hawaii homeschool learners must follow the statewide testing program, requiring each kid to test grades 3, 5, 8, and 10.
• If you re-enroll your child in a public school, you must submit a notification to your zoned public school principal.

Resources

You can also check out the Hawaii Homeschool Association, Home School Legal Defense Association – Hawaii, the Hawaii Department of Education’s Homeschooling page, and Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii.