What is required to legally homeschool in the state of Florida
(Florida Statute 1002.41)
You must register with your county education office
You can file with your county education office by filling out and sending in a letter of intent to homeschool form. Many counties have these forms and instructions of who to send them to on their county website. In Collier County, you can find the form at https://www.collierschools.com/Page/6342 and the contact person is Jeanette Arcia at arciaje@collierschools.com
Alternatively, you could join an “umbrella school”, which functions as a private school in the home, providing curriculum, advisement, report cards, and transcripts in lieu of the following requirements.
You must have an annual evaluation with a teacher certified in the state of Florida
During this meeting with the student and the homeschooling parent, the certified teacher will review learning activities and samples of work from the beginning through the end of the year to assess progress. The State of Florida only requires that a student be making progress through the year, not that it be on grade level or at a certain pace. The teacher will identify areas to focus on through the next year and may suggest curriculum or advise learning strategies. The teacher will fill out an Annual Evaluation form for the parent to submit to the county that says only that the student demonstrated progress.
Alternatively, progress may be evaluated by standardardized test scores submitted to the certified teacher who will then fill out the Annual Evaluation Form. Please see Florida Statute 1002.41 for other alternate assessment options.
You must keep a list of all books read by/to the student
This is a list of all curriculum used (textbooks, etc), as well as the books read by or to the student including fiction and non-fiction. Please include the title, the author, and the edition if available.
You must keep a record of contemporaneous learning activity
This is simply a dated record of what the student did each day. It may be written on a calendar, kept in a planner, or any other method of organization.
You must keep a portfolio demonstrating learning activities for each year
This is an organized collection of samples of the student’s work through the course of the year. It may include (but is not limited to), worksheets, notebooks, tests, collages, photographs, workbooks, computer files, or other tangible items.
This will be reviewed by the certified teacher during the annual evaluation and must be kept for a minimum of two years. The County Educational Superintendent may request (with 15 days notice) to review your student’s portfolio.
Upon completion of your home school program, you must submit a Letter of Termination of Home School Program to your county Education office.
For Collier County, please see https://www.collierschools.com/Page/6343