South Carolina reads your record twice a year.

Twice each school year, South Carolina homeschool families on Options 1 and 3 produce a progress report — per subject, with attendance — backed by a plan book kept daily and a portfolio of the student's actual work. South Carolina Option 1 and Option 3 homeschool families keep a plan book, a portfolio of the student’s work, and semiannual progress reports with attendance (S.C. Code §§59-65-40, 59-65-47). Families do that one of two ways: two report-writing scrambles a year, or thirty seconds of capture at a time so the report is a printout of a record that already exists.

The three South Carolina options, in general terms

Option 1 — district approval. The family homeschools with the approval of the district board of trustees, teaches at least 180 days a year, and maintains a plan book or diary, a portfolio of the student's work, and a record of academic assessments, submitting a semiannual progress report with attendance to the district (S.C. Code §59-65-40).

Option 2 — SCAIHS. The family joins the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools (§59-65-45), which sets and administers its own record-keeping standards — ask SCAIHS what it keeps and what it expects from you.

Option 3 — a fifty-member association. The family joins a homeschool association of at least fifty members and keeps, as evidence of regular instruction, a plan book or diary of subjects taught and activities, a portfolio of samples of the student's academic work, and semiannual progress reports including attendance records, across an instructional year of at least 180 days (§59-65-47). By January 30 of each year, the association reports the number and grade level of its homeschooled children to their school districts.

What the statute asks a family to be able to produce

Artifact	What it is
Plan book or diary	A running record of subjects taught and activities — a daily habit, not a document.
Portfolio	Samples of the student's academic work, accumulated across the year.
Semiannual progress reports	Twice a year: progress per subject, with the attendance record, drawn from the two artifacts above.
180-day attendance record	One line per school day; all three options build on it.

Stated in calendar voice on purpose: none of this is an emergency on any given day. The plan book, the portfolio, and the attendance log are either kept as the year happens or reconstructed twice a year.

One record, read twice a year

On Eformogi the record is a timeline the family owns. A book finished, a math worksheet photographed, a project built, a day of school logged — each is one entry, captured in about thirty seconds, free. The plan book is the timeline itself. The portfolio is the evidence attached to it. The attendance record is the count of days with entries on them.

When the semiannual report comes due, there is nothing to reconstruct — the report is the last six months of the record, grouped by subject, with attendance already counted. And year over year, the same record rolls up into a family-issued verifiable transcript a college or scholarship program can check directly at a public link — see how receivers verify, no account on their end.

The ESTF, honestly stated

South Carolina's Education Scholarship Trust Fund (revised by S.62 in 2025) awards $7,634 per student for 2026-27, with applications in three windows from November 1 for returning families through a February 9 open window, closing at the statutory cap of 15,000 students. Program guidance describes funds spent through the program's digital wallet, paid directly to SCDE-approved providers with quarterly distributions and generally no reimbursement of out-of-pocket purchases — the current participant handbook is the source of truth on mechanics. ESTF participants also submit annual documentation of academic progress to the Department of Education: the state test or an approved nationally norm-referenced assessment. The homeschool records above are the statute's requirements either way — the scholarship does not replace them.

Generate the documents from the record

The record is free for families, forever — capture, the plan-book timeline, the portfolio vault, the transcript, verification, export. Generating filled-in compliance artifacts from it — a semiannual progress report with attendance, assembled from the year's entries — is the one optional paid family service, part of Family Pro, $99 per year. Every document previews filled-in, free, before any decision to pay.

Why a family-owned record

The district holds its approvals. The association holds its membership roll and its January count. Neither holds the record of your child's education — that belongs with your family, in a record you own, portable across options and across states. The semiannual report is a document that record produces, not the place the record lives. Read the sovereignty contract.

Frequently asked questions

How do you homeschool legally in South Carolina?

South Carolina law offers three options. Option 1 is homeschooling with the approval of the district board of trustees (S.C. Code §59-65-40). Option 2 is membership in the South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools (§59-65-45). Option 3 is membership in a homeschool association with at least fifty members (§59-65-47). All three involve at least 180 days of instruction per year; Options 1 and 3 spell out the records — a plan book or diary, a portfolio of the student's work, and semiannual progress reports with attendance. Confirm current requirements with your district or association directly.

What goes in a South Carolina semiannual progress report?

For Options 1 and 3, the statute describes semiannual progress reports that include attendance records and progress in each basic instructional area. In practice that means twice a year a family states, per subject, what was covered and how the student is progressing, alongside a count of instructional days. A record kept as the year happens produces this in minutes; a record reconstructed the week the report is due is the hard way. Your association or district may publish its own preferred format — ask early.

What is the difference between Option 1 and Option 3?

Option 1 runs through your school district: the district board approves the program, and the semiannual progress report with attendance goes to the district (S.C. Code §59-65-40). Option 3 runs through a homeschool association of at least fifty members: the family keeps the plan book, portfolio, and semiannual progress reports as evidence of regular instruction, and by January 30 each year the association reports the number and grade level of its homeschooled children to their school districts (§59-65-47). The record the family keeps is essentially the same in both.

How do I keep the 180-day attendance record?

All three options are built on an instructional year of at least 180 days, so a running attendance log is the base artifact. One line per school day — kept as the days happen — accumulates into the attendance record that the semiannual reports include. There is no special form the statute requires for the log itself; the requirement is that the record exists.

What is the South Carolina ESTF, and how does it relate to homeschool records?

The Education Scholarship Trust Fund is South Carolina's scholarship program, revised by S.62 in 2025. For the 2026-27 school year the award is $7,634 per student, with applications in three windows from November 1 (returning families) through a February 9 open window, closing at the statutory cap of 15,000 students. Program guidance describes funds spent through the program's digital wallet paid directly to SCDE-approved providers, with quarterly distributions and generally no reimbursement of out-of-pocket purchases — confirm mechanics in the current participant handbook. ESTF participants also submit annual documentation of academic progress to the SC Department of Education: the state test or an SCDE-approved nationally norm-referenced assessment.

Will colleges accept a family-issued South Carolina homeschool transcript?

Family-issued transcripts are the norm for homeschool admissions — colleges evaluate them alongside test scores, coursework evidence, and essays, and acceptance is ultimately each institution's call. What Eformogi adds is verifiability: every entry on the transcript is sealed, and a receiver can check it directly at a public link, no Eformogi account on their end. Verification is free for receivers.

What does this cost?

The record is free for families, forever — capture, the plan-book timeline, the portfolio vault, the verifiable transcript, verification, export. Generating filled-in compliance artifacts, like a semiannual progress report assembled from the year's record, is the one optional paid family service, part of Family Pro at $99 per year, and every document previews filled-in, free, first.