<p>cooladu, CBSE and ICSE are both nationally prescribed syllabi. Both can be considered similar in nature. As for state syllabi, they're based on the national syllabi. So there is uniformity.
What do u mean by "maximum turmoil possible"?</p>
<p>Oh yes, schools in the US follow different curricula. Some states have more detailed standards than others, but I don't know if any place has anything similar to what is found in other countries. States differ from each other, school systems vary within states, schools vary within school systems, and teachers even vary within schools. And private schools go their own way entirely.</p>
<p>Obviously this creates a problem with students who move from one school to another.</p>
<p>Some believe the lack of a definite curriculum is what ails education in the US. See, e.g., Hirsch, The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them (he also goes into the "constructivist" pedagogical theory that has taken over US teacher's colleges, which tries to go for student-constructed knowledge and "higher order thinking skills" in preference to "mere facts.")</p>
<p>I actually reviewed my state's "curriculum" and that of my local school system. I found neither to be useful (what wasn't vague seemed dumbed down) and so I found my guidance elsewhere.</p>
<p>Homeschooling requirements vary from state to state. You can view them by logging onto the deptartment of education's website for the US state that you would likely live in.</p>
<p>Where we live, Georiga, there is very little support given to home-schoolers by the public school system (in our county, none actually). </p>
<p>It can be a challange to put together a curriculum and obtain the resources for it, but it can be done and it can be done well. Just remember that it will be a great deal of work. </p>
<p>In the US you can usually find many homeschooling groups to join or participate in. This helps with field trips, extra classes with other home-schoolers, national events like the robotics competition, etc.... If you search hard enough, you usually can find resources in your community. Larger cities will probably offer more in this way than rural areas. </p>
<p>Corporations and non-profits are beginning to notice the home-school market here as well and often offer "home-school days" at museums, parks, science centers, etc....</p>
<p>The perception that the majority of Americans have toward home-schoolers is not favorable - mostly because they do not understand what home-schoolers do and probably also because they have come across a crazy person or two who have said that they home-school. There ARE some crazy people who home-school - just like there are some crazy people who send their kids to public and private school. There ARE some people doing a terriable job at home-schooling too - just like there are public and private school kids who don't do well in those schools. And there ARE many people who do an outstanding job home-schooling their children and these people are usually sucessful getting their home-schooled kids into good colleges. </p>
<p>The smaller colleges (private, especially) like home-schoolers. This mainly has to do with the fact that they spend more time evaluating their candidates for admission and have the time to look at portfolios and essays, rather than just numbers like GPAs. The larger schools often do not want to fool with going the extra mile to evaluate their candidates. Specifically, in Georgia the University of GA. is very difficult for home-schoolers to get into where as Emory and Agnes Scott are much more open to them. Emory has even stated that home-schoolers tend to do very well there and are more independent learners. </p>
<p>Home-schoolers will be required to obtain SATs at least as high as the average freshman being admitted and SAT IIs to back up the validity of the GAP given on a transcript. At private schools like Emory and Agnes Scott, they only require 3 SAT IIs where as University of GA may require up to 7. </p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Pearl gave excellent information, but I'd like to clarify one thing:
Many larger schools also welcome applications from homeschoolers and assess them fairly. Homeschoolers shouldn't limit themselves to small private schools. Granted, large state universities can be difficult when they select on the basis of raw stats, but like the small LAC's, large private universities also tend to take more time and won't reject you just because you don't have a GPA or class standing. Applicants should check a school's common data sheet, or call its admissions office if there is any doubt about their admissions process and requirements for homeschoolers.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Georgia is very nice in many ways because it is very accepting of homeschoolers. Although they don't stick their nose in much with suggestions, they also don't bother us. </p>
<p>In NY, it's almost a national offense to homeschool...At least in the area we lived in. They have standardized testing twice a year, and if your kid failed one subject test, he had one more test to straighten up, or he was thrown into school or removed from the home. This was only a problem as far as curriculum went. For example, a test in American history (because that was what the public schools were doing that year) while we had been studying world history.</p>
<p>Everything depends on the schools. My daughter's safety was a large state school (not even our state) -- all she needed was a transcript (no grades BTW) and a minimum ACT score. She got into three more selective schools also without submitting SAT II scores.</p>
<p>The New York situation is ridiculous. What happens when kids fail the tests but are in public school? Do kids in private schools have to take the same tests?</p>
<p>Don't know, we stuck with the homeschool end. Good question though, anyone?</p>