Home School Policy for Texas Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad is a team activity, not an individual one, so a child must be a member of a team. A team consists of up to 15 children. For Division B (6th - 9th grades), a maximum of five ninth graders and for Division C (9th - 12th grades), a maximum of seven twelfth graders on a team is permitted.

Since there is no official method to determine what grade a home school child is in, we have established that a child's equivalent grade will be determined by their birth date. Hence, a child who will be eleven years old on September 1 will be considered to be a sixth grader and so forth and so on. This calendar age will be used to determine eligibility for Division B or Division C. A child may compete with a higher division team than their age indicates but not a lower one. For example, a tenth grader can only compete in Division C while a sixth grader could compete in Division B (or even C).

Home schooled students are not eligible to compete on any public or nonpublic school team.

All liability is the responsibility of the home school.

It is presumed that a home school team will be composed of children who have a pre-existing relationship of working together on a regular basis.
We will require a statement from the coach as to the nature of that relationship. An "all star" team assembled by student abilities rather than by their pre-existing regular study relationship would not be allowed. Since this is a new aspect of the Texas Science Olympiad, we may establish additional criteria as the home school activity materializes and unforeseen problems become known. Our desire is to provide this opportunity to as many children as possible while, at the same time, keeping the playing field level.