The parent/guardian may request on the Home Schooling Notification form that the child participate in the regularly scheduled standardized testing program at the home school. The parent must contact the GCPS Testing Office at 301-334-8931 to schedule the testing. Students are NOT required to participate in testing. Parents who want to have their child tested and who do not want to use this option can obtain standardised testing from other sources such as homeschool curriculum distributors, or if the child is enrolled in an academy, the academy may provide that service.

If a parent/guardian does not consent to the requirements of the written agreement and participate in assigned reviews, or if the child is not making sufficient academic progress, the child must be enrolled promptly in a public or nonpublic school.

The parent or guardian MUST be the primary instructor according to Maryland Law and MSDE Regulations. It should be noted that for students attending an academy who have other teachers instructing them, the “primary teacher” is still the parent because the parent is responsible for obtaining the curriculum, making sure the curriculum is followed, and following all regulations. The State of Maryland code writes it like this: “Home instruction is not limited to a parent or guardian teaching his or her child at home. As the provider of a home instruction program, the parent or guardian is ultimately responsible for complying with the home instruction regulations, but he or she may design a program that utilizes a variety of instructors and locations of instruction for his or her child. While the home instruction regulations refer to “child” in the singular, other adults may also provide regular daily instruction to siblings in the same family.”

Parents or guardians do not have to be certified as a teacher in order to teach homeschool.

The Garrett County Board of Education has a strict policy against homeschoolers participating in any Garrett County public school activites other than standardized testing. Homeschooler cannot participate in any type of public school sports.

Parents and Guardians are responsible for obtaining a valid homeschool curriculum. It is recommended that it be an official homeschool curriculum or an academy enrollment. Although it is possible for parents to design their own curriculum using miscellaneous books or online videos, such as YouTube, the parent would need to be fluent in the requirements necessary for all material that the State requires students to learn in a given grade level, and apply that to the curriculum to make sure that everything is covered. Additionally, the parent would need to maintain exceptional records of every resource used and why. To make this a little clearer, most curriculums, whether they be homeschool or public school, contain the same basic things that a student should be learning in that particular year in each subject. Clearly, there is some flexibility. However, there are certain things that it would be expected that a student should learn in a given grade level. Therefore, a parent fully designing a curriculum would need to make sure each necessary element is covered during the year. Furthermore, since there would possibly be more scurtiny with this form of curriculum, the parent would need a highly detailed Lesson Plan outlining how each thing is being covered and proof that the student completed the material. It is also recommended that the parents contact their overseeing authority to make sure this type of curriculum is acceptable according to their requirements before proceeding.

There is no start date for homeschool in Garrett County, however, students are expected to complete 180 days of instruction. As a note, the State of Maryland does not have this requirement, however they do specify that students attend school enough days to complete all of the curriculum necessary to satisfy adaquate schooling for the year.

Individuals can contact the Board of Education at 301-334-8926 for more information.

The Maryland State Department of Education has a Fact Sheet that clarifies all of the regulations for homeschool in the State of Maryland.