Homeschool Records

Homeschool Registration in NC

At some point, you may need to verify that your homeschool was “official”, or your children may need to verify that their homeschool was acknowledged by the state for employment or further education.

Many more people are homeschooling their kids all the way through high school (way to go!).

Don’t be a victim of  lost homeschool records!

People need to verify North Carolina homeschools sometimes years after children have graduated and the homeschool has been closed.

Some employers and colleges require “official” verification for their records.

A student I know attended a local community college and received her Associates degree and yet her employer required verification for their records that her homeschool had been a valid NC home school.

The NC Division of Non-Public Education

The NCDNPE will try to locate our homeschool information even many years from now. If you can tell them the county you were in and your school name or your administrator’s last name, they will find it for you.

  • Contact the NCDNPE before your potential employer does. Then you can give the potential employer the correct information about your school if they need to contact the state directly to verify your school.
  • If your school was set up under a different address or county than your current one, if you have a different last name from the student or if the school name on the diploma doesn’t match the school name in the NC system, DNPE may not be able to verify that your homeschool was valid – so get the information from them before your child’s employer gets the wring idea.
  • Call NCDNPE and verify all the correct information before you tell a potential employer to call them.
  • Even if your homeschool has been closed, the DNPE will attempt to find your NOI information in their database.

NC Division of Non-Public Education’s phone number: 919-733-4276

Even though your homeschool has been closed and your school is no longer listed on the website, the state still has record of your homeschool and can verify it if needed.

Keeping Your Homeschool Records

It is great to know that the DNPE is there to help, but don’t depend on them. Administrations change, websites get updated or hacked and the DNPE office is understaffed so getting your information quickly could become an issue.

It is better to know that you have kept your student records in order so that you can verify your homeschool’s registration without anyone’s help.

Most of the time, for colleges or bosses, all you will need is a copy of the Verification Record from the NCDNPE website. You can print it out (see directions below) from the new website.

Many times your old NCDNPE Homeschool card, (the peach/orange one) will also be accepted.

Keep copies of your transcripts, your cards from the NCDNPE, course descriptions and your student’s diploma in a safe place and give them each a set of those copies so that they can provide them immediately if asked.

 Administration Tips

Record keeping is a necessary evil. A little extra time now will save a great deal of loss and headache in the future.

As a home educator, you will be the one responsible to provide grades, course descriptions and transcripts for your child when they need them.

  • Put your Homeschool ID # on the back of the transcript copy or the Diploma that you issue to your kids. They can then access the NCDNPE information and print out their information/confirmation online, or call NCDNPE with the homeschool ID number to easily verify their homeschool.
  • Get your Homeschool transcripts or Diploma notarized. Often this kind of seal is enough to placate the need for “official” documentation that home educators regularly have to  provide to colleges, other schools and to employers.
  • Keep those homeschool records safe & backed-up. Use a cloud program that offers free storage (don’t forget the password), keep copies on an external drive and put that thumb drive into your fire proof safe or where-ever you keep other important documents.
  • Keep backed up copies of these docs if you have them: attendance, report cards, homeschool verification print outs, high school and college transcripts, co-op class grades, course descriptions (or a syllabus) for your high school home ed program, college application information such as personal essays, high school and community college diplomas, course certificates, test scores.

Remember anything important to do with homeschooling can be scanned and added to your “back up” copy so you can keep them forever,  because that is how long you will need to keep them: for-ever!

Two Family Homeschools

In NC we can homeschool another family’s children once we open up our homeschool, so if you have homeschooled with another family be sure to get copies of all those items from the administrator.

Getting and keeping that ID# and/or homeschool record information is very important if your student is homeschooling with another family, or if you are homeschooling someone else’s child.

Years from now, that young person may living in another state, or country and they will need to access their educational information.

If they have their homeschool ID info, it will be easy for the NCDNPE to locate the record of their homeschool and verify that their school was registered with the state.  The student may even still be able to access it themselves online with the correct information.

You will still need to make sure all the kids you homeschool (yours and others) have copies of all the records I mentioned above.

The NCDNPE will verify our registration as a homeschool, but it is our responsibility to be sure that our students have a record of their education.