Seems to be a lot of talk state wide about allowing homeschooled kids to play team sports for whatever high school their house is districted to. I think I am against this. KHSAA has academic requirements, there are school attendance requirements, and there are, I think, drug testing requirements. Are any of you hearing any chatter about this?

4 hours ago, PP1 said:

Seems to be a lot of talk state wide about allowing homeschooled kids to play team sports for whatever high school their house is districted to. I think I am against this. KHSAA has academic requirements, there are school attendance requirements, and there are, I think, drug testing requirements. Are any of you hearing any chatter about this?

I'm not hearing any talk about it, but I would most certainly be against it.

6 hours ago, PP1 said:

Seems to be a lot of talk state wide about allowing homeschooled kids to play team sports for whatever high school their house is districted to. I think I am against this. KHSAA has academic requirements, there are school attendance requirements, and there are, I think, drug testing requirements. Are any of you hearing any chatter about this?

A true homeschooler must be enrolled in a homeschool program and they have academic requirements and a curriculum to follow in order to pass, etc. From experience (a family member was homeschooled as a child in order to advance in a non traditional sport), there were attendance logs as well. I think it was a certain amount of hours per week that had to logged.

I'm not hearing anything on it, but I'd absolutely be for it assuming there was a baseline of expectations and academic requirements met.  There are only 20 states that don't allow homeschoolers to play sports for their local public school (KY, Indiana, and Illinois amongst the 20), so it isn't like this is some new and uncharted phenomenon.  

1 hour ago, The Double Deuce said:

I'm not hearing anything on it, but I'd absolutely be for it assuming there was a baseline of expectations and academic requirements met.  There are only 20 states that don't allow homeschoolers to play sports for their local public school (KY, Indiana, and Illinois amongst the 20), so it isn't like this is some new and uncharted phenomenon.  

So, you want your cake and eat it too.  LOL

1 hour ago, 4 Quarters said:

So, you want your cake and eat it too.  LOL

I don't want any cake, but those families are paying their property taxes for those public schools, and if they are deciding not to use them, but their kids are able to pass needed requirements assigned them, I'd 100% support them playing.  

2 hours ago, The Double Deuce said:

I don't want any cake, but those families are paying their property taxes for those public schools, and if they are deciding not to use them, but their kids are able to pass needed requirements assigned them, I'd 100% support them playing.  

Speaking of taxes, I haven't had a child in school for 30 years, but I'm still paying. I think I'll run up to school tomorrow at lunch time and see if I can eat for free. I'm guessing that would be a no, but yet 40% of the students are getting free lunches. LOL

58 minutes ago, 4 Quarters said:

Speaking of taxes, I haven't had a child in school for 30 years, but I'm still paying. I think I'll run up to school tomorrow at lunch time and see if I can eat for free. I'm guessing that would be a no, but yet 40% of the students are getting free lunches. LOL

That's part of the whole design of things....people paying into the pot for more years than they're taking advantage of the education system. Plus there's also the fact that your property taxes aren't prorated to take into account how many kids you're putting through the public education system. That is to say, you don't pay double the property taxes if you have 2 kids in public schools, and you don't pay quadruple the property taxes if you have 4 kids in public schools. And for that matter, you also continue to pay property taxes if you have kids in private schools and aren't utilizing the public school system at all.

But I'm with TDD, I think if a homeschooled kid can prove that they're meeting attendance requirements via logged educational hours and meeting educational requirements via whatever testing standards are required, then I think the kids should be allowed to play sports for whatever local public school district they reside in.

I've seen talks about this too.  My first thought was that if the school isn't good enough for your child, why are the athletics? Those that I personally know that have homeschooled kids have done so for 2 different reasons.  The one is for athletic reasons.  They wanted their child to be able to train more than what a traditional school would allow for.  Their training was essentially built into their school day.  Both of those situations have their daughters playing division 1 soccer, so I guess it worked for them.  However, I know many more that went to your public or private schools and are playing division 1.  The other reason is the parents hated the structure of school.  They believed their kids should be able to be kids and learn on their own.  Schooling would take place sporadically throughout the day.  Time will tell how that works out for them.

On 3/20/2026 at 4:06 PM, nees1212 said:

I've seen talks about this too.  My first thought was that if the school isn't good enough for your child, why are the athletics? Those that I personally know that have homeschooled kids have done so for 2 different reasons.  The one is for athletic reasons.  They wanted their child to be able to train more than what a traditional school would allow for.  Their training was essentially built into their school day.  Both of those situations have their daughters playing division 1 soccer, so I guess it worked for them.  However, I know many more that went to your public or private schools and are playing division 1.  The other reason is the parents hated the structure of school.  They believed their kids should be able to be kids and learn on their own.  Schooling would take place sporadically throughout the day.  Time will tell how that works out for them.

No doubt that there are people who homeschool for athletic reasons. And yes, there are lots of people who homeschool because they don't like some aspect of traditional school's structure....there are actually lots of people who homeschool for the sake of being able to tailor the curriculum specifically to each of their children. I know a local school teacher whose spouse is homeschooling their daughter. The daughter had all of her required high school credits completed by age 14 and has been taking "classes" that earn her dual-credits for college since that point. This May she'll be a couple of months past 17 and she's going to be graduating with her high school diploma (via homeschool) and will have the ability to enter college as the equivalent of a second-semester sophomore.

Religion/faith is the basis for a many homeschool families as well. Folks homeschool because they want faith/religion incorporated into their child's education. I known people who have homeschooled because they wanted their religion to be included in their kids' education but there were no local private schools organized around their particular religion. Others homeschool because they can't or don't want to go through the financial burden of paying for private schools but they still don't want their kids to miss out on the religious/faith aspect of their education.

My parents opted for my mom to homeschool my younger brother for 3 years because of childhood learning disabilities that he had. We were a Catholic school family, and after starting his education in the Catholic grade school nearest to us, the school simply couldn't provide the resources for the one-on-one teacher/student time my brother needed at his age to keep up with lessons. My parents wanted religion incorporated into his daily education, so instead of sending him to the local public school where there were more special ed resources available, my mom taught him at home. He eventually was able to get himself caught up and developed the learning techniques and study-habits he needed to go back to attending traditional schools. He finished grade school and high school in Catholic schools, ended up graduating from college with a double-major in art and education, and then later went back and got a degree as a respiratory therapist and he works in hospitals now. 

During the years that my brother was being homeschooled my parents also had him join a Christian-focused homeschool organization that was intended to offer opportunities for educational field trips, socialization, and some athletics (mostly sports days with just pick-up type games). The organization was local to Northern Kentucky and there were hundreds of homeschooling families involved.

Thinking about it as I'm typing, I also know at least 3 families who have homeschooled their kids because of very negative experiences that one or more of their kids have encountered at their local schools. So that's another reason families can opt for it.

Let me stir the pot. What if a child is home schooled but the parents choose to have the child compete in athletics at a parochial school? I realize tuition would be involved, but if the athlete competed in 2 or 3 sports and was super talented the family may feel it is worth it. Thoughts? I believe that was Tim Tebow's path as a young man.

On 3/17/2026 at 6:10 PM, 4 Quarters said:

Speaking of taxes, I haven't had a child in school for 30 years, but I'm still paying. I think I'll run up to school tomorrow at lunch time and see if I can eat for free. I'm guessing that would be a no, but yet 40% of the students are getting free lunches. LOL

I know what you say is (partly) in jest, but this is the proverbial circle of life of the educational system and, by extension, a productive society. I will hear arguments about the unfairness of those without kids in the system questioning why they have to contribute. The educational system is drained already, so if you believe it can be supported alone by those utilizing it, the math just doesn't math. 

I think your average person would be shocked at how many kids are homeschooled. Estimates are around 3.5 million. That number accelerated during COVID, but other factors, such as school safety, religion, and quality, have kept the number steady. 

1 hour ago, bugatti said:

I know what you say is (partly) in jest, but this is the proverbial circle of life of the educational system and, by extension, a productive society. I will hear arguments about the unfairness of those without kids in the system questioning why they have to contribute. The educational system is drained already, so if you believe it can be supported alone by those utilizing it, the math just doesn't math. 

Yes, part of what I said was in jest.