American Home Schools

North Carolina homeschooling is included under the existing private school law per a 1985 Supreme Court ruling and a 1988 statute. The Director, or his staff, of the Division of Nonpublic Education has been designated to be the representative who accepts application (Notice of Intent) to open a homeschool, and is authorized to inspect the results of national standardized testing annually. An attendance record and immunization record must be maintained.

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Summary:

Parents/guardians residing in North Carolina and desiring, in lieu of conventional school attendance, to home school their children who are at least age 7 but not yet age 16 must:

• Send to the Division of Non-Public Education (DNPE) a Notice of Intent to Operate a School.  The notice must include the name and address of the school along with the name of the school's owner and chief administrator;
• Hold at least a high school diploma or its equivalent;
• Elect to operate under either Part 1 or Part 2 of Article 39 of the North Carolina General Statutes as a religious or as a non-religious school;
• Operate the school "on a regular schedule, excluding reasonable holidays and vacations, during at least nine calendar months of the year'';
• Maintain at the school disease immunization and annual attendance records for each student;
• Have a nationally standardized achievement test administered annually to each student.  The test must involve the subject areas of English grammar, reading, spelling, and mathematics.  Records of the test results must be retained at the school for at least one year and made available to DNPE when requested;
• Notify DNPE when the school is no longer in operation.