Article 39 115C-547 through 115C-565, which state:

1. "Home school means a nonpublic school in which one or more children of not more than two families or households receive academic instruction from parents or legal guardians or a member from either household."
2. A home school must meet the following requirements:
   a) operate for a nine calendar month school term (doesn't say which months)

   b) keep attendance records and disease immunization records

   c) send a letter of intent to the director of the Division of Non-public Education of their intent to operate and include name and address of the home school, the home school's owner, and the "chief administrator".

   d) The home school must also elect to operate under the qualifications of a "private church school or school of religious character" OR under the qualifications of a "qualified nonpublic school." The requirements are the same for either classification.

   e) If the home school is in a private home, all safety and sanitation requirements are waived.

Parents must have at least a high school diploma or GED.

Testing: Parents must administer an annual standardized test any time during the school year which must be made available on request for inspection by the state at reasonable times. You must make them available for at least a one-year period.'

State officials do not have the right to make home visits, nor are they to look at any other records other than test scores. Parents are under no obligation to attend "regional meetings" arranged by the Division. Test scores can simply be mailed to the Division of Non-Public Education.

Before beginning homeschooling, you must notify the North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education of your intent to homeschool. You must obtain, from that office, and complete the form "Notice of Intent to Operate a School in North Carolina." Attach photocopies of documentation that you, as the home school teacher, hold at least a high school diploma or its equivalent.

Certainly a benefit of home schooling is the flexibility and control it gives the parent with their child's education; both academically and morally. One of the biggest reasons for the constant rise in homeschooling is the continual failure of the public schools to provide the attention to detail in their academic studies. As a parent you are a recipient of the benefit of homeschooling wherein you are the parent, the teacher, and the administrator of your child's educational track.

Once you begin to consider the benefits of homeschooling, you should also keep in mind some of the basic challenges and opportunities as well.

First, I can't begin to tell you the amount of time commitment homeschooling requires. Remember you will wear many hats in your child's educational programming... and still have to put on your parent's hat at the end of the day and many times work on their homework with them and enrichment activities in the evenings. You must have a high level of energy and endurance as a homeschooling parent. And this may sound strange, but you really must love to be around your kids every waking hour of the day. This is a big commitment of your time and life. Talk together as a family about home schooling. Talk honestly. Talk to other families that are fully entrenched in home schooling. To put it simply the freedom of home schooling comes with major commitment of your time.

Home school resources and home school information: Resources and information about homeschooling are vast. The internet and online sources are abundant. Your local library can be a real gem for books and videos on the subject of home schooling. Before you commit, take the time to research.

Home Schooling Financial Considerations: Home schooling parents use many resources and are quite creative with their resources. Some can be rather expensive and some are free. Once you begin making contacts with other homeschooling parents, many times you can borrow and even swap homeschooling materials to help defray the actual costs. Again, resources are vast and don't forget about your public library. Even if you don't have internet access, your public library probably will, so join up and visit often.

Also, in many cases, when parents decide to homeschool it means giving up or severely cutting back on one of the two salaries. Be sure to crunch the numbers with your spouse and get started mapping out a family budget. The job of a homeschooling parent can be stressful, don't add unnecessary financial stress to your day as well.