How to Start Homeschooling: a step-by-step plan for your first month

Homeschooling is run by states. Three official pages, read for this guide, already show how far apart the paperwork can be.

Texas says the Texas Education Agency does not regulate, index, monitor, approve, register, or accredit home school programs. TEA says home schooling has been a legal alternative since 1994, when the Texas Supreme Court decided Leeper, and that parents follow a course of study that includes good citizenship. A district that learns a student may be home schooled may ask, in writing, for a letter of assurance. The rest of the Texas rule, including the statute, is on our Texas law page.

Florida’s parent FAQ, item 2, says a parent who starts a home education program must send a written letter of intent to the school district superintendent, give the superintendent the annual evaluation, and submit a letter of termination when the program is finished. The same FAQ says current law does not prescribe a curriculum, a parent does not have to be a certified teacher, and there is no specific hourly attendance requirement. The parent provides the materials.

New York says parents have a legal right to instruct a child of compulsory school age at home, and that the district must be assured the child is receiving instruction in required courses. The parent sends written notice to the superintendent. The district then sends the home instruction regulations and an individualized home instruction plan (IHIP) form. The parent lists the curriculum materials for the required subjects. NYSED points to Part 100.10 and its questions-and-answers page for the rest of the process. Our New York law page collects those links in one place.

Open your state’s page before you buy anything. The page names the statute, the state education department, and the date those pages were last compared.

If your child is already enrolled, the school’s withdrawal and the state’s homeschool notice are two different papers. Do the one your school asks for, and the one your state page describes.

Put the school’s notice in writing and keep a copy. Ask the office which form they use, send it, and save the reply. A phone call is easy to lose.

Then do the state step, if there is one:

• Florida. Send the letter of intent to the district superintendent. Florida’s parent FAQ says to keep a copy and something that shows the district received it. Parents may not register for Florida virtual courses until that letter has been submitted and acknowledged. Florida’s district FAQ says “annually” for the evaluation means one year from the date of the letter of intent.
• New York. The written notice goes to the superintendent, and the IHIP comes back from the district for you to complete.
• Texas. TEA’s home schooling page does not describe a state registration. It does say a district may request a written letter of assurance. Our Texas page has TEA’s note about telling the school when you withdraw.

Florida’s parent FAQ also says districts are not required to accept a letter of intent for a 5-year-old who will not turn 6 by February 1. Some districts accept those letters anyway. If yours does, the FAQ says you then follow the home education statute. Read that item before you file for a kindergartner.

Florida’s parent FAQ says a parent may use a curriculum, or none at all, and that home education students are not bound to public-school hours. Texas’s page requires a course of study that includes good citizenship. New York wants the curriculum materials named on the IHIP. Name what you will actually use, including library books and free lessons if that is the plan.

A first week can look like this. It is a sample, for you to rewrite:

• Morning: one reading thing and one math thing.
• Midday: outside, or a trip to the library.
• Later in the day: a read-aloud, a project, or nothing academic.
• One day: lighter on purpose. Errands and a park still count as a day you lived.

You are watching when your child can concentrate, and when the day falls apart. That observation is what the weekly rhythm in week 3 is built from.

A homeschool curriculum for beginners can be one math resource and a pile of library books. Add a second program when the first one has a hole you can name.

Match the resource to the job:

• Several subjects in one login. Time4Learning posts $39.95 per month. Read the price notes below before you multiply that by 12.
• Early reading, and early math on the combined plan. Reading Eggs posts $13.99 a month or $99.99 a year for reading and math, for up to four children.
• Writing practice for ages 6–12. Night Zookeeper posts $14.99 a month or $119.90 a year for one child in the US.
• A live teacher for one subject. Outschool does not publish one price. The teacher sets the class price.
• A free set of courses. Khan Academy says its lessons are free, and that it is not an accredited school.
• A free full Christian curriculum. Easy Peasy says the online lessons are free. Paper, pencils, and some experiment supplies are still on you.

The online programs guide and the free curriculum guide go subject by subject through what each publisher includes. Prices there were checked the same day as this page.

A rhythm is a repeating shape, looser than a bell schedule. Four lines are enough:

1. What usually happens in the morning.
2. What usually happens after lunch.
3. Which day is lighter.
4. Which subject you will skip if the day goes sideways.

Florida’s “no specific hourly requirement” is Florida’s rule. Other states write their own. Each state page on this site has an instruction-time line taken from that state’s sources. Read yours before you treat a two-hour morning as the whole legal day.

One undated page is enough for this: subjects across the top, a short plan for each day, and a box for what actually happened. Start any Monday.

Florida’s parent FAQ is the most specific list in the pages read for this guide. The portfolio is a log of educational activities made at the time of the instruction, the titles of reading materials, and samples of writings, worksheets, and creative materials. The parent keeps it for two years and makes it available if the superintendent gives 15 days’ notice. The FAQ says the law does not require the superintendent to inspect it. You still provide an annual evaluation to the district.

TEA’s home schooling page does not list a portfolio. New York’s page centers on the IHIP and required subjects, and sends you to Part 100.10 for the rest. A folder is still worth keeping: a one-line log, the titles you read, and a few pages of work. If you move, the next state may want samples you can no longer reprint.

Easy Peasy, which is free to use, says the same thing from the curriculum side: it is not a school, it keeps no student records, and the parent does.