Ohio Homeschool Laws Explained Simply
Hello and welcome back NEO Homeschoolers! With back-to-school already hitting stores like Target and Meijer, I thought today would be a great time to take a look at Ohio's homeschool laws. If you're anything like me, it can feel like a never-ending task to try and understand homeschool laws. With changes to homeschool regulation occurring across the country, homeschool laws can feel overwhelming. Since my daughter will be 5 years old next year - i.e., public school kindergarten age - I decided it was time to do some research and finally make sense of Ohio homeschool laws... with a little help from AI, haha. I figured I'd share my findings with you all. Ready? Let's get started!
Simply stated, Ohio's homeschool laws require families choosing to homeschool to submit annual notification to their local school district superintendent by August 30th of each year, or within 5 days of starting home education, moving districts, or withdrawing from a school. Notifications must include the name of parents/guardians, the family's address, child or children's name(s), and assurance that you, the parent/guardian will teach the required subjects: English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Government, History, and Social Studies. According to the Ohio Department of Education, upon receipt of notification, your local school district should exempt your child or children from compulsory attendance and your local superintendent should send written acknowledgement of your child or children's exemption within 14 days. Parents are free to design their homeschool as desired as there are no testing, curriculum submission, teacher qualifications, or hourly requirements in Ohio. Any information with requirements in those areas is outdated. Ohio's homeschool laws were dramatically simplified in October of 2023.
In terms of schooling ages, Ohio requires children ages 6-18 to be receiving schooling in some capacity during the year. Homeschooling fills this requirement once notification is filed. One area of confusion for many families is whether online schooling counts as homeschooling, and according to the Ohio Department of Education, online school is not the same thing as homeschooling. Within Ohio's laws, it is clarified that Ohio-based online schools are public community schools known as e-schools. If your child or children attend an out-of-state online school, you do still need to notify your local district, however it does not count as home education.
For families homeschooling children with special needs, and/or on an IEP, Ohio's Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship can help with funding for things such as therapies and specialized services through up to $32,000 in scholarship funds. In general though, Ohio does not fund homeschooling through EdChoice as some states do. However, parents choosing to homeschool can receive up to a $250 tax credit. Ohio also does not distribute diplomas to high school graduates who were homeschooled. Parents are welcome to issue their own homeschool diplomas though. Separately, Ohio's homeschool students are allowed to partake in public school extra-curricular activities and sports by law.
If you'd like more information on any of these laws, you can check out Ohio's Department of Education homeschool page here. Another useful link I used in making sense of Ohio's homeschool laws is numaschool... breaks down homeschool laws and funding in easy-to-understand language. I hope this post helps you make better sense of Ohio's homeschool laws, especially if this is your first year homeschooling. Thanks for reading!
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