Service Learning Hours

Including Volunteering In Your Homeschool

Maryland law requires public school students to complete 75-hours of service-learning (aka “volunteer hours”) before they can graduate from high school.

This graduation requirement does not apply to Maryland homeschoolers, but a number of reasons exist for why families may want to include a service-learning component to their home instruction program.

Scholarship Eligibility
If college or trade-school are in your child’s future and you’re hoping for a scholarship to help with expenses, then you’ll want to start researching scholarship eligibility now. Many of the most prestigious need-based scholarships require students to provide documentation of service-learning hours.
Career Exploration
Service-learning hours can take many forms. While many families might think of volunteering as spending time at a nursing home or an animal shelter, some families get much more creative with their service-learning opportunities. If your teen is considering a specific career, look for ways that they can give back back to their community while also exploring whether or not their prospective career choice is really what they want to do.

Letters of Recommendation
If your teen has put in 50+ hours of volunteer time at an organization, you are in a good position to ask their volunteer supervisor for a letter of recommendation for a future job or possibly college.
Part-time Job Opportunity
While it happens infrequently, some volunteers are lucky enough to turn their extraordinary work ethic and service-learning gig into an actual paying part-time job.
Returning to Brick & Mortar School to Complete High School
If your teen is considering returning to public or private high school for any reason, the service-learning hour requirement will still need to be completed. No sense trying to cram it in in 2 or 3 years.