State Requirements

Homeschooling in South Carolina

810 hrs/year 180 days Notice required Portfolio required Assessment required

South Carolina has moderate homeschool requirements. Families must provide at least 4.5 hours per day over 180 school days, and you'll file notice with your local school district.

Homeschooling in South Carolina sits squarely in the middle of the country's regulatory spectrum. Families have real freedom to teach how they see fit, but the state does ask for paperwork and proof of progress along the way. Because the compulsory attendance age in South Carolina runs from 5-17, families plan their homeschool schedule around that window.

Families homeschooling in South Carolina plan around a paired daily-and-yearly minimum: 4.5 hours per teaching day, across at least 180 days per year. The state doesn't dictate what counts as a teaching day, so families are free to blend direct instruction with reading, outings, and hands-on work, and all roads lead to the 810-ish hour mark.

Before instruction begins, or promptly at the start of each school year, families in South Carolina submit a notice of intent to your local school district. Local districts have some latitude in exactly what they want included, but a simple letter naming each student, their grade, and the intent to homeschool is usually enough.

The South Carolina assessment requirement (portfolio review annually) is usually straightforward to plan around, especially if families track activities consistently through the year. Portfolio records are a core part of the South Carolina homeschool year. Families keep samples of work, a log of activities, and evidence of instruction in required subjects, reviewed by a certified teacher or evaluator.

South Carolina expects instruction in reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and composition. How those subjects show up day-to-day is entirely a family's call. The record-keeping side of homeschooling doesn't need to dominate South Carolina families' evenings. Homeschool Fox lets you log activities as they happen, then builds the compliance picture on its own.

At a glance

4.5 hours/day

× 180 days ≈ 810 hours/year

Ages 5-17

Compulsory attendance

Notice requirements

Notice is required

You must notify your local school district of your intent to homeschool.

Need a head start? Use the free Notice of Intent generator to draft a South Carolina-ready letter.

Deeper guides: how to write a notice of intent to homeschool covers the language admins look for, and when and where to file your notice of intent covers state-by-state deadlines and recipients.

Generate your notice of intent

Withdrawing from public school

The South Carolina withdrawal process is a two-step handoff: a letter to the current public school closing out the enrollment, followed by a notice of intent filed with the local school district. Homeschool Fox generates a compliant withdrawal letter from your family's details in a few clicks.

For the play-by-play, how to withdraw your child from public school walks through the conversation, the timing, and the paperwork. What to send the district when you pull your child covers exactly what the letter should and shouldn't say.

Assessment requirements

Assessment is required

Type:: Portfolio review
Frequency:: Annually

Standardized testing for homeschoolers walks through which test to choose, where to register, and how to prep. If South Carolina lets you choose between portfolio review and a test, homeschool portfolio reviews vs standardized tests covers when each option is the better call.

Portfolio & records

Portfolio is required

Option 1 and Option 3 families keep a portfolio including a semester book list, a log of educational activities, samples of the student's academic work, and a record of evaluations (§ 59-65-40(A)(4) and § 59-65-47(d)). Option 2 families follow SCAIHS's own member documentation requirements rather than a state-level portfolio rule.

Building a high-school transcript? Start with our free transcript template. Homeschool portfolio reviews vs standardized tests covers what evaluators actually look at and how to curate samples without drowning in worksheets.

Required subjects

South Carolina requires instruction in the following subjects.

reading writing math science social studies composition

School choice & ESA

Not open to independent homeschoolers

Program

Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF)

Who qualifies and what you give up

South Carolina's Education Scholarship Trust Fund pays roughly $7,634 per student per year (2026-27), but participation is statutorily incompatible with homeschooling. The ESTF Act explicitly bars families from receiving funds while operating under any of South Carolina's three homeschool accountability options (§ 59-65-40 district, § 59-65-45 SCAIHS, § 59-65-47 association). Recipients must instead either (a) attend a participating private school or (b) educate at home under a separate ESTF-only "educate from home" track that is legally distinct from homeschooling.

For a South Carolina homeschool family this means there's no way to keep your existing Option 1/2/3 status and take the funds. To participate you'd have to drop out of your accountability option and switch into the ESTF-only track or private-school enrollment, picking up state-mandated testing, vendor approval, and program reporting. Funding is also capped (15,000-student cap reached for 2026-27 and applications already closed). For most homeschool families, SC's existing accountability options remain a better fit than abandoning them for ESTF participation.

Program details

Deeper guides: homeschool ESAs explained — which states offer them in 2026 covers eligibility and the trade-offs you sign up for. How to use an ESA for homeschool curriculum walks through what's reimbursable and where families get stuck.

Umbrella schools

South Carolina is unusual: the law itself organizes homeschoolers around umbrella-style accountability associations. Option 2 (§ 59-65-45) routes families through SCAIHS — the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools, the original statutory accountability association from the 1990s. Option 3 (§ 59-65-47) lets families enroll in any approved third-party association with 50+ members. Both options replace district-level oversight with association-level oversight, and the vast majority of South Carolina homeschoolers operate under Option 2 or Option 3 rather than Option 1.

Day to day you still teach your own child and pick your own curriculum. What changes is who tracks attendance, holds your records, and certifies your annual evaluation: the association does, and the association — not you — handles the state-level paperwork. Each association sets its own enrollment fee, evaluation method (portfolio review, narrative, or test of its choosing), record-submission cadence, and high-school transcript services. Option 2 (SCAIHS) and Option 3 associations differ in price and rigor, so families typically shop a few before joining. Either way, the trade is straightforward: pay an annual fee, hand off the paperwork, escape district-level reporting and the standardized test that Option 1 requires.

Additional notes

Annual assessment required. Three accountability options: Option 1 (district), Option 2 (SCAIHS), Option 3 (association with 50+ members). Portfolio required under Options 1 and 3.

Calculate your South Carolina hours

South Carolina requires 810 hours/year. Enter how far you've come and we'll show you the daily pace to finish on time.

Hours logged so far this year

Leave at 0 if you haven't started tracking yet

School year end date

School days per week

Enter an end date to see your targets

Prefer a full-page version? Open the standalone hours calculator.

Sources

HSLDA

Verified May 2026

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to notify anyone to homeschool in South Carolina?

Yes, South Carolina requires you to file notice of your intent to homeschool. You must notify your local school district.

How many hours do I need to homeschool in South Carolina?

South Carolina requires at least 4.5 hours of instruction per day over 180 school days, which works out to roughly 810 hours per year.

Does South Carolina require testing for homeschoolers?

South Carolina's assessment requirement depends on your accountability option. Option 1 (district oversight, § 59-65-40) requires an annual standardized test in reading, writing, and math. Option 2 (SCAIHS membership, § 59-65-45) and Option 3 (an approved association with 50+ members, § 59-65-47) don't mandate standardized testing — each sets its own member standards.

Do I need to keep a portfolio in South Carolina?