Last updated: November 2, 2026
LessonPorch is a site for parents who teach their children at home, or are thinking about it: how to get started, what your state asks of you, how to choose a curriculum, how to plan a day, a week and a year, how to keep records, and how to teach more than one age at the same table.
It is written for the parent, not the child. The answers are meant to be plain, short and something you can check yourself, because the rules and the research are public and you should be able to read them too.
Who writes it
The guides are written under the name Marisa Holcomb. LessonPorch is run by a small team that writes under pen names, and Marisa Holcomb is the name on our homeschooling guides. We are not teachers, lawyers or education officials, and the site never says otherwise.
How a guide is made
- The sources come first. Every guide starts from published sources that know the subject: each state’s own education department and its homeschool law, national education statistics, and published research.
- The sources are named. Each guide lists the sources it used, so you can read them yourself.
- Every number comes from a named source, read when the guide is written, and the guide says when that was.
- Disagreements are said out loud. Where the sources disagree, the guide says so instead of quietly picking a side.
- No made-up experience. A guide never claims a classroom, a child or a story we did not have.
- Corrections are made. If you find a mistake, tell us and we fix the guide and note the change.
State rules
Homeschool rules are set by each state, and they change. A guide that names a state’s rules links that state’s own page and says when we read it, and every such guide is read again against that page at least once a year. Our guides are general information, not legal advice: your state’s own page has the last word.
How the site pays for itself
Today it does not: LessonPorch carries no ads, no affiliate links and no sponsored posts. If that ever changes, the pages that carry them will say so, and the privacy page will change first.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections and ideas for a guide are welcome at hello@lessonporch.com. The contact page says what we can and cannot answer.