Home Education Home Education Laws Home schooling laws vary from state to state. Although Family Christian Academy’s academic and attendance requirements meet or exceed those of most states, it is the responsibility of parents wishing to enroll their students in FCA to become informed regarding the laws of the state in which they live. Philosophically, FCA is on record as supporting the right of parents to home educate using whatever program they choose. The homeschooling law in Tennessee was written to protect a parents’ right to educate their own children at home. Parents should visit the following website: http://tnhomeed.com/attend.html. This site will allow parents to print the law so it may be carefully studied. Experience has found that very few authorities are familiar with the law and often make false statements to families out of ignorance and, sometimes, with the intention to mislead. It is not unusual for a family to follow incorrect instructions from authorities and, thereby, actually jeopardize their ability to home educate their children. If parents are not willing to familiarize themselves with the homeschooling law, they must accept responsibility for whatever consequences their irresponsibility produces.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS The homeschool law in Tennessee provides three ways in which parents may educate their children at home: Option 1: Option 2: Option 3: Family Christian Academy is a registered, Category IV, Church-Related School (according to Tennessee Code Annotated § 49-50-801) and is, also, a charter member of the Tennessee Association of Church Related Schools. Your registration with Family Christian Academy allows you to operate your school as a Satellite Campus of Family Christian Academy. You, the parent(s) or guardian(s), are allowed to teach your children in your own home according to the conditions under which you registered with FCA. This is Option 3, above.
The school year consists of 180 academic days and 4 hours per day. In summary, children being taught at home by a parent, when the home is a satellite campus of a church-related school, and the parents are faculty members of the school, are in compliance with Tennessee’s compulsory attendance law. Home educated students, enrolled with Family Christian Academy are not considered “homeschoolers” and, therefore, are not required to register with a local public school board. Any family registered with Family Christian Academy who registers with a local or State school board will be in violation of both Tennessee law and Family Christian Academy policy and is subject to being removed from enrollment with FCA. Students transferring to an accredited or public school from Family Christian Academy may be required to take placement tests. Students graduating from Family Christian Academy High School have been accepted at prestigious colleges and universities. However, students who score below average on ACT or SAT college entrance exams may be required to take remedial courses at the college level before being allowed to take college-level classes.
A word of caution: Families who are in compliance with the home school laws of their
state may still be visited by government officials who either do
not know the law or who have decided to reach beyond the law to
punish home educators for not sending their children to public school.
For this reason, FCA highly recommends that every home educating
family join the Home School Legal Defense Association (www.hslda.org)
and purchase, at an affordable cost, legal insurance for their family.
This organization has been defending home educating families for
many years. It is familiar with the laws of every state and even
helped write many of them. If a member of FCA decides not to join
HSLDA and is contacted by a governmental authority, FCA recommends
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