FAITHFUL SCHOLARS MEMBERS BI-LAWS AND EXPECTATIONS:

Submit a copy of educational documentation that proves an education level of a high school graduate or higher. This can be your high school diploma, general educational development (GED) certificate or college diploma.
Attendance of 180 days of school must be documented over a one-year period. Sick days may not account for any of those 180 days.
It is strongly recommended that you complete your membership in full before the 10th public school day of your district in order to avoid possible truancy charges. Your home school start date does not need to coincide with this date. This does not apply to those families moving to our area or withdrawing their child from public or private school mid-year.
It is the family’s responsibility to notify your school when withdrawing your child from a school. The school will want a copy of your Faithful Scholars membership letter for their records, which we are happy to mail or Fax upon your request. It is very important to choose an association under Option 2 or Option 3 immediately before or after withdrawing a child from school in order to avoid truancy charges and to comply with home schooling laws.
Your membership renewal date must be within ten days of your original membership date in order to avoid a $10 late fee and/or membership cancellation. This will be easily avoided if, upon completing your end-of-year, on-line compliance form, you follow the prompt offering to take you to a membership renewal form.
Semi-annual (90 day period) and annual (180 day period) progress reports are required to in order to maintain legal home school status. These forms can be written assessments, scaled assessment using Satisfactory to Unsatisfactory, letter or number grades or other as long as it denotes your child’s progress. These records must be noted in your end-of-year compliance form and absolutely must be kept in your personal files for review upon request by Faithful Scholars to verify that the minimum law is being met.
Parents must give each child-student basic instruction in reading, writing, math, science and social studies, and in grades seven through twelve, composition and literature. Subjects of personal interest are encouraged to be included in your child’s curriculum and will enrich their education as well as your lives.
A plan book, diary, log or journal must be kept outlining your educational activities during the required 180 days.
A portfolio of samples of each child’s academic work must be kept for possible review during the course of each year.
A compliance form must be completed in full at the end of your 180 days (school year) to allow us to show in our S.C. Department of Education report that your family has met the home school requirements set forth by law. The Department of Education has the right to audit Faithful Scholar’s records in order to verify compliance, therefore we must have completed compliance forms before we can place your family in good standing on our records or state records. We ask that this document be completed before or by June 30th of each year in order to process your state compliance forms in a timely fashion.
When members neglect to comply with these bi-laws as set forth, they will be placed under probation status and given one month (thirty days) within which to address and/or correct their compliance violations. If, within these thirty days, they do not address or correct their compliance violations they will be denied continued membership with Faithful Scholars and banned from future membership with Faithful Scholars. Faithful Scholars will not file truancy charges against said members; however, we will make available, upon the written request of the S.C. State Board of Education or your local school district Board of Trustees, any and all applicable and available documents.
Curriculum choice is a personal decision; one made after much research, discussion and prayer. No two families homeschool the same and no one curriculum is better than another. We are happy to give curriculum advice and offer links to assist in your discovery of what is available, but we only give opinion and experience. Faithful Scholars does not supply you with books or a curriculum plan.
None of the information or opinions on our web site, e-mails or phone conversations should be taken as legal advice. We are in service to offer accountability assistance to homeschooling families through being a corporate entity maintaining a professional relationship with your school district and the S.C. State Board of Education. Faithful Scholars purpose is to allow our members the least restrictive home school environment and maintaining your privacy while insuring the authorities of your legal compliance.