One of the first questions that usually comes to mind for new homeschoolers concerns the legal requirements of homeschooling. Is it completely legal to homeschool my child, and if so, what do I need to know? 

We’d love to be able to give you a simple, one-size-fits-all answer, but unfortunately, that’s not possible. And even if it were possible, neither one of us is an attorney nor do we have a legal background.

The reason it’s not simple is because the laws and regulations vary from state to state, and from country to country. Although we do have some knowledge of the laws, we prefer to point you to an expert resource instead.

And best of all, it’s a free source of information. We’re talking about HSLDA, the Home School Legal Defense Association -  http://www.hslda.org.

You can also sign up for a membership with HSLDA, which gives you a low-cost method of getting quality legal defense for homeschoolers.

After you join for $115/year, there are no further charges of any kind for defending you in court. HSLDA pays in full all attorney fees, expert witness costs, and all other court costs allowed by law.

When you consider that you’d pay about the same cost for just one hour of a typical attorney’s time, this could potentially save you a lot of money in the event of legal threats.

We’re not trying to scare you into thinking you’re likely to run into legal problems, nor are we making any money for referring you to this, but joining gives you the peace of mind to homeschool without having to face legal threats alone.

Again, the threat will vary from state to state and country to country, so you may want to do some research on their web site to determine your likelihood of problems before you decide.

You can sign up for their free Weekly Update newsletter to keep abreast of current development on the homeschooling legal front. Once again, the link to HSLDA is http://www.hslda.org.

Another good web site for legal information for USA home schoolers is Homeschool Facts:
http://www.homeschoolfacts.com/states/index.php/State_Laws

Their information is well organized and easy to find. Just click on your state and you’ll find a brief summary of that state’s laws followed by the details, including the code section where the law is found.