Access To Resources
A minority of states have statutes that require public schools to give homeschooled students access to district resources, such as school libraries, computer labs, extracurricular activities, or even academic courses. In some communities, homeschoolers meet with a teacher periodically for curriculum review and suggestions. The laws of some states give districts the option of giving homeschooled students access to such resources.
Access to interscholastic athletic competition varies from state to state.
- Some state athletic associations, such as the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, completely ban homeschoolers from interscholastic competition; both by prohibiting homeschoolers to compete for a state federation member school as well as by prohibiting member schools to compete against independent teams made up of homeschoolers. In such states, homeschoolers may only compete amongst other homeschoolers or against schools that are not members of the state's interscholastic athletic federation.
- Other states allow homeschoolers to compete for the public schools that they would otherwise attend by virtue of their residence; for example, current New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow was able to play high school football because under Florida law, a public school must allow homeschoolers resident in its attendance area unimpeded access to extracurricular activities, including varsity athletics. Tebow's success has inspired similar legislation to be introduced in other states.
- Still other state interscholastic athletic associations allow homeschoolers to organize teams that compete against other established schools, but do not allow homeschoolers to compete on established school teams. The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, the largest of several governing bodies for non-public schools in Texas, uses this option, as does the Michigan High School Athletic Association, though the MHSAA allows such contests during regular season play only.
Read more about this topic: Homeschooling In The United States
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