I mean, yeah - homeschooling needs to be regulated more and not just anyone is qualified to teach children to be functional adults.
Do homeschooled kids have to take standardized tests? Growing up, it felt like every other year there was some state or nationwide mandated placement test I had to take. For all the grumbling people have made against standardized testing, homeschooling feels like the perfect application of it.
I'm not sure - but I can research a little later.
Most importantly, you need to make sure that you are familiar with the homeschool laws governing your state. My go-to site for understanding homeschool law is HSLDA. I also like to reference my statewide homeschool support website, GHEA. If youre not sure where to find your states homeschool support group, HSLDA maintains a listing of homeschool support groups by state.
In speaking with homeschooling parents from other states and reading up on homeschooling laws on HSLDA, I feel confident in saying that, as of the time of this writing, most states do not maintain guidelines for graduating a homeschooled student. Some possible exceptions to that are Pennsylvania, New York, and North Dakota, so be sure that you are familiar with your states laws so that you and your student dont have any unpleasant surprises.
Most states consider home schools independent entities which means that you, the homeschooling parent, determine the graduation requirements for your student and, upon completion of those requirements, you can issue your graduate a high school diploma.
Some states, such as Tennessee, offer the option to be a part of an umbrella school. Typically, a homeschool family will register with their umbrella school annually. The umbrella school maintains records and transcripts based on the information submitted by the teaching parent and, upon completion of the schools graduation requirements, the umbrella school will issue a high school diploma.
In both the case of a parent-issued diploma and an umbrella school diploma (and most other homeschool options of which Im aware), the resulting diploma is considered non-accredited. However, homeschooling is so wide-spread now that most colleges accept these diplomas as long as the other entrance requirements of the college have been met. You can typically find admissions policies related to homeschool graduates on most secondary schools websites.