In the sunshine state of Florida, homeschooling is truly the bright spot. Although test scores for Florida's public school students are near the bottom of the nation, Florida legislators have been doing some things right when it comes to homeschooling.

Florida public schools scored near the bottom, 48th in the nation, on 2008 ACT scores and 43rd in the nation on SAT scores. Florida residents with kids in school should be thinking of re-locating to another state, but don't pack your bags too fast. Florida legislators have made homeschooling an attractive alternative.

Florida state laws embrace homeschooling and provide homeschool parents with a lot of freedoms and not a lot of requirements. In addition to having an easy path to establishing a homeschool, Florida has no requirements for subjects taught or days of attendance and gives homeschoolers the added benefit of equal access to participate in public school athletics and other extra-curricular activities.

In 1996, Florida enacted new legislation to allow homeschool students equal access to participate in public school extracurricular activities, including athletics. Florida was well rewarded in 2006 and 2008 when the University of Florida won two college football national championships led by Tim Tebow at quarterback, a homeschool student who was allowed to play football at Nease High School, a public high school in the St. Johns County School District, located in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Nease High School was also well rewarded when Tebow led their football team to win the state championship in 2005. In 2007, Tebow brought home the Heisman trophy and the Maxwell Award, both recognizing him as the nation's best college football player.

Upon becoming the first homeschool athlete to be nominated for the Heisman Trophy, Tebow said, "That’s really cool. A lot of times people have this stereotype of homeschoolers as not very athletic – it's like, go win a spelling bee or something like that – it’s an honor for me to be the first one to do that."

Equal access makes a lot of sense because homeschool parents are still required to pay their share of the taxes. But currently only 24 states allow homeschool students equal access to public school athletics. Thanks to Tebow, another 15 states are now pushing to gain similar access for their homeschool students. In Alabama, Kentucky and Arkansas, the new bills are referred to as the 'Tim Tebow bill'.

Besides testing there are few other requirements. Like anyone else, homeschool kids from age 6-16 are required to attend some type of school or homeschool. Beyond that, homeschool parents are required to file a notice of intent with the local school superintendent within 30 days of the start of homeschooling. The notice of intent is all that is needed to legally 'establish' the homeschool. A portfolio containing records and samples of the child's work is to be kept and maintained. This portfolio may be viewed by the school superintendent within 15 days of written request.

Florida homeschool parents have another option, which is to qualify and operate as a part of a private school corporation. Attendance is required for 180 days per year. No requirements are specified concerning subjects to be taught, parent/teacher qualifications, school board notification, recordkeeping, or testing.

All things considered, Florida homeschoolers have a lot to be thankful for. Residents of other states might even be feeling a bit jealous.