Three legal ways to homeschool in South Carolina
Option 1 goes through your local school district. The district board of trustees reviews your program and must approve it if it meets the statutory standards. S.C. Code Ann. § 59-65-40.
Option 2 is membership in the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools. S.C. Code Ann. § 59-65-45.
Option 3 is membership in a qualifying homeschool association with no fewer than fifty members. S.C. Code Ann. § 59-65-47.
Options 2 and 3 mean you do not submit a program to your district for approval. You join an association, follow its standards, and teach.
What South Carolina asks under Option 3, and how to handle it
South Carolina’s core Option 3 requirements are shorter than most families expect. Join a qualifying association. Hold at least a high school diploma or a GED. Run an instructional year of at least one hundred eighty days. Cover reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies, and in grades seven through twelve, composition and literature. Keep three kinds of records. Your association may ask for more under its own standards, so ask yours what it expects. S.C. Code Ann. § 59-65-47.
What South Carolina asks for
- Membership in a qualifying homeschool association with no fewer than fifty members
- A high school diploma or GED for the parent-teacher
- An instructional year of at least one hundred eighty days
- Instruction in the required subjects
- A plan book, diary, or other record of subjects taught and activities
- A portfolio of samples of your student’s academic work
- A semiannual progress report with attendance records and progress in each basic instructional area
How to handle it
- Choose an association from the South Carolina Department of Education’s current Option 3 list and join it directly. SchoolhouseTeachers.com supplies curriculum and recordkeeping tools and is not an association
- Keep your own diploma or GED documentation on file
- Custom Schedule Builder, with your attendance records as documentation
- Hundreds of courses covering reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, and, for grades seven through twelve, composition and literature
- Applecore Record Keeping and Schoolhouse Gradebook, plus a report card you can print
What South Carolina asks for
How to handle it
- Membership in a qualifying homeschool association with no fewer than fifty members
- Choose an association from the South Carolina Department of Education’s current Option 3 list and join it directly. SchoolhouseTeachers.com supplies curriculum and recordkeeping tools and is not an association
- A high school diploma or GED for the parent-teacher
- Keep your own diploma or GED documentation on file
- An instructional year of at least one hundred eighty days
- Custom Schedule Builder, with your attendance records as documentation
- Instruction in the required subjects
- Hundreds of courses covering reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies, and, for grades seven through twelve, composition and literature
- A plan book, diary, or other record of subjects taught and activities
- A portfolio of samples of your student’s academic work
- A semiannual progress report with attendance records and progress in each basic instructional area
- Applecore Record Keeping and Schoolhouse Gradebook, plus a report card you can print
You create and maintain these records. South Carolina law does not require an Option 3 parent to file them with the state or school district, although your association may require you to submit or show certain records. SchoolhouseTeachers.com gives you templates and tools that help you produce and organize them.
Your South Carolina year
When compulsory attendance begins. South Carolina’s attendance law applies beginning with the school year in which a child is five before September 1 and continues until the child turns seventeen or graduates. If the child has not turned six by September 1, a parent may sign a written election with the local school district for the child not to attend kindergarten.
Any month. South Carolina law sets no statewide filing window. Under Option 3, make sure your association membership is active before beginning your homeschool program.
When you begin. Join a homeschool association first. If your child is already enrolled in a school, follow that school’s withdrawal procedure after your association membership is active. South Carolina law does not prescribe one statewide withdrawal form.
Twice a year. Prepare a progress report with attendance records and documented progress in each basic subject. South Carolina law places these records with the parent-teacher, but your association may require you to submit or show them.
By January 30. Your association reports to school districts how many students it serves and at what grade level. Your association handles this, not you.
One hundred eighty days. You choose the calendar, subject to your association’s policies. The statute requires at least one hundred eighty instructional days but does not prescribe the months in which they must occur.
Association policies differ, including how and when they review member records. Ask yours what it expects and when.
What comes with one membership
The Curriculum Lane. Hundreds of courses for preschool through twelfth grade, written from a Biblical worldview. Interactive iST courses, Virtual School Boxes, World Book Online, and thousands of family-friendly videos. Mix subjects and grade levels to fit each child. Use it as your whole curriculum or beside what you already love.
The Records Lane. The Homeschool Records & Compliance Center, with the Education Plan Builder, Custom Schedule Builder, Portfolio Builder, Applecore Record Keeping, Schoolhouse Gradebook, and more, including Certificates of Completion for every course. Transcript templates and tools that members use to prepare their own transcripts.
One membership covers every child in your house. No fee per child. No fee per course.
“An incredibly useful resource with fantastic customer service. I really could not be more pleased! The value is rather astounding, too! I feel . . . covered.”
Dawn Cremeans, SchoolhouseTeachers.com member
You do not need a teaching degree
If Option 3 is your path, the parent-teacher must hold at least a high school diploma or a GED. That is the educational qualification South Carolina requires. No teaching credential, no college degree, and no district approval of your instructional plan. A willing heart and a place to begin are the rest of it.
Your child is being discipled either way, whether at your kitchen table or in a classroom across town. Someone is answering the big questions. Someone is teaching whom he answers to. You get to be the one.
Questions? Call 1.888.718.HOME or email customerservice@theoldschoolhouse.com. A real homeschooler answers.
Requirements vary and change. Confirm current requirements with your homeschool association or, if you are using Option 1, with your school district. SchoolhouseTeachers.com provides curriculum and recordkeeping tools. It is not a school, it is not accredited, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
Sources: S.C. Code Ann. §§ 59-65-10, 59-65-40, 59-65-45, and 59-65-47; current guidance from the South Carolina Department of Education; and HSLDA’s South Carolina compliance and withdrawal guidance.
Last reviewed: August 2026
