SC Homeschooling News

Our goal is to keep you informed of news and legislation that may effect homeschooling in South Carolina. Please let us know if you come across something that should be included in this section.

Homeschoolers Win Writing Contest

SC Virtual Charter Schools

Reading, Writing, and Regulation

Truancy and Daytime Curfews - Chester, SC

Parent-Produced Transcripts for LIFE Scholarships

Equal Access (Sports)

Put Parents in Charge

SC's Virtual School

Other News

Homeschoolers Win Writing Contest

Each year the South Carolina Writers' Workshop, a statewide organization that provides networking and educational opportunities for writers, sponsors a contest for high school juniors and seniors. For the first time, homeschool students placed among the winners. Cecelia Ward won section place in fiction with A Silent Heart, and Abby Horn won an honorable mention with Loyal Blood. Both students received a certificate, and Cecelia received an additional $50 for her second place finish. Congratulations to both of these homeschoolers.

SC Virtual Charter Schools

New virtual charter schools, in addition to SC's own virtual school, are preparing to open for the 2008-2009 school year. Students who attend these schools will be public school students -- they'll have no choice in curriculum, must adhere to state curriculum standards, must participate in statewide testing, and must meet daily and hourly attendance requirements. Although they provide another alternative to brick and mortar public schools and private schools, enrolled students are not homeschoolers.

We're adding links as we receive notice of them. Please email me with links, whether for or against, so I can add them to this page.
 

Virtual Charter Schools:

Connections Academy
K12 Online Schools
Calvert School

Provost Academy
 

Opinions, Blogs, and Articles:

Let's Not Let Cyber Charter Schools Do In Homeschooling
Virtual schools hit the news!
Problems With Putting Public E-Schools in Homes

Risks Public Virtual Schools Pose to Homeschools

The ultimate online experience? School
 

Want to talk about this with other homeschoolers?

Visit the SC Virtual Schools thread in our Discussion Forums.

Editor's Note: Many thanks to our Discussion Forum members who provided links.

Reading, Writing, and Regulation

A July 10, 2007 news program called for more regulation of SC's homeschool associations and homeschoolers. At the close of the program, the writer mentioned that Education and Public Works Chairman Rep. Bob Walker "tells us we can expect legislation in the fall which will seek to strengthen homeschooling regulations and at least require homeschooling organizations to report to Columbia the data collected on the members of their association." See the full transcript for more information.
 

Truancy and Daytime Curfews - Chester, SC

Tougher truancy ordinances and a daytime curfew under consideration in Chester County, SC, may result in problems for homeschoolers. See this News & Reporter article for more information.

UPDATE: This issue has been favorably resolved.

Parent-Produced Transcripts for LIFE Scholarships

Legislation has been introduced via Senate Bill 7 to mandate that parents can provide transcripts for LIFE scholarship purposes.

NOTE: On June 6, 2006, the SC Commission on Higher Education (CHE) revised its policy and began barring parents from creating homeschool transcripts for the purpose of LIFE scholarship eligibility. As of 7/28/06, the SC Commission on Higher Education reversed this change and parents are once again allowed to create their own transcripts. Here is the letter they issued on August 1st. (It's a PDF file, so you need Adobe Acrobat to access the link.)

Equal Access (Sports)

A new version of the Equal Access bill, Senate Bill 93,  has been introduced this legislative session (2007-2008).

Articles about Equal Access:

Home Education Magazine - School Sports Access by Larry and Susan Kaseman

Greenville News - Home-school parents fight for more access to public school activities

HSLDA - position on the bill

NOTE: A previous version of the Equal Access bill (Senate Bill 638) did not pass by the end of the 2005 legislative session.

Put Parents in Charge

A new version of the Put Parents in Charge bill, House Bill 3484, has been introduced this legislative session (2007-2008). More information about this type of legislation is linked below (many of the links refer to the previous legislation, which did not pass into law).

General links:

Read the text of the new PPIC bill

Website of the group proposing the bill

How school choice is working in Wisconsin

In Newspapers & Journals:

Greenville News (Article and Poll) - State school chief slams school-choice ad

Charleston Regional Business Journal - The Put Parents in Charge Act: you can't tell a bill by its title

Fort Mill Times - Voucher opponents mobilize

The Times Examiner - A Liberty Alternative to the PPIC Act

At homeschooling websites:

Home Education Magazine - Tax Credits for Homeschoolers

HSLDA - position on the previous PPIC bill

NOTE: A previous version of the Put Parents in Charge bill was defeated on Wednesday, May 4, 2005, by a 60-53 vote. Many thanks to Palmetto Homeschool Association for allowing me to post some of their collected links.

SC's Virtual School

SC's new virtual school continues this year, with homeschoolers and private school students welcome to use it on a space-available basis. For more information about the school, visit the following links:

SC Virtual School website

http://blackboard.ed.sc.gov/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp

Newspaper articles:

Island Packet - Cyber-savvy Bluffton High helps state's virtual school

School websites:

Rock Hill School District 3 - SC Virtual School Project

Other News

Dr. Phil & Homeschooling - October 2006

The Dr. Phil Show, "The Great School Debate" (proposed air date of October 27, 2006), presents a very negative and misleading image of homeschooling. According to others who watch "Dr. Phil," he's made subtle remarks against homeschooling in the past, but this show leaves no doubt that he's against homeschooling. For more information about the show and how it was taped see this article in The Homeschool Scuttle.

Home is Where We Learn - Fall 2004

South Carolina's Sandlapper magazine has an article about homeschooling in the Autumn 2004 issue. To read the article, visit the Autumn 2004 index of Sandlapper Online and scroll down to the Home is Where We Learn article in the Features section.

Disclaimer: Any legal information provided on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be considered complete, professional legal advice.