Section 1002.01, F.S., defines home education as the sequentially progressive instruction of a student directed by his or her parent or guardian in order to satisfy Florida's compulsory education requirements. You can declare intent to homeschool ANY time of the year.  When homeschooling, the curriculum choice and implementation are the parent’s responsibility. 

F.S. 1002.41 drives our homeschooling process in FL.  The statute says a parent homeschooling must do these things:

1. Declare Intent. To declare intent, send the school district a written 'Notice of Intent' to homeschool. To make it easier to declare your intent to homeschool, we have created the PCSD Home Education Intent Form. This fillable pdf can be emailed or printed and mailed in. If your child is currently an active student in one of our Putnam County schools, the homeschool coordinator, upon receipt of the form, will notify the former school and have your child withdrawn from the public school system. At that point, the parent takes over responsibility for the education of their child. The district does not provide a homeschool curriculum. It is the parent's right to research and select a curriculum that meets their child's needs. The intent notice must be filed within 30 days of beginning the home education program and must include the following information: 

   • Name of the home education student(s)

   • Birthdate(s)

   • Address 

   • Parent's signature 

2. Select a curriculum to provide instruction that leads to “growth commensurate with ability.”

3. Maintain a portfolio of educational records. Keep the portfolio for at least 2 years. Statute defines a portfolio as “a log of educational resources & activities which is made contemporaneously with the instruction and which designates by title any resources, sites, online curriculum, or materials used.”

4. While not mandated in statute, the following are best practices recommended by the district home education office:

   • Keep a home education transcript. While grade levels and specific courses aren't required for homeschool, these records will be critical if you ever wish to enroll your child back into the public school system.

   • We recommend that a homeschool curriculum cover the 4 core subjects: Language Arts, Math, Social Studies & Science. 

   • We also recommend that within a section, a log of the activities as well as student work samples should be archived.  The student work samples should show the progression of skills across the year.  This is critical for the annual evaluator to see at evaluation time… to be able to deem that the student made growth commensurate with their ability.

5.  Submit annual homeschool reporting each year to the district. Select ONE annual reporting method and submit to the homeschool office on or by the anniversary date of your initial homeschool start date:

   1. PCSD Annual Evaluation Form completed by a FL Certified Teacher. “A teacher selected by the parent shall evaluate the student’s educational progress upon review of the portfolio and discussion with the student. Such teacher shall hold a valid regular Florida certificate to teach academic subjects at the elementary or secondary level”

   2. Submit Nationally Normed Standardized Test Report. “The student shall take any nationally normed student achievement test administered by a certified teacher” Acceptable tests include ACT, SAT, Stanford 10, etc. Click here for a complete list of acceptable tests.

   3. Opt in to Statewide Standardized Assessments (Grade 3–10 only) “The student shall take a state student assessment test used by the school district and administered by a certified teacher, at a location and under testing conditions approved by the school district.” 

   4. Submit Academic Evaluation Report from Psychologist. “The student shall be evaluated by an individual holding a valid, active license pursuant to the provisions of s. 490.003(7) [Psychologist] or (8) [School Psychologist].”

   5. Submit FLVS Flex or Putnam Flex Unofficial Transcript. Putnam County will accept unofficial transcripts from two virtual curricula: Putnam Flex or FLVS Flex.  They are the only two virtual curricula for which transcripts are sufficient for reporting.  The data must show completion of the full year of the 4 core subjects with passing grades: English/Language Arts, Math, Science, & Social Studies. 

*When you decide to end homeschooling, please complete the PCSD Home Education Termination Form.