Getting started homeschooling in California

CurriculumQuiz checked the linked government or statute page on 2026-10-17. The six notes are notice, subjects, days or hours, assessment, teacher qualifications, and records. A curriculum website can help you choose books. It is not the statute. When this page and a blog disagree, the linked official page wins. If that page is silent, the answer here stays unknown.

Rules change. A summary can be wrong, incomplete, or out of date. Confirm the linked page, and contact that agency or a qualified attorney about your own facts. Save a copy of the page or the form it names, with the date you read it.

1. Open the official source

The recorded source for California is California Department of Education. California Department of Education. Read it yourself before you buy a curriculum or file a form.

2. Notice or registration

Anyone offering or conducting private school instruction at the elementary or high school level must annually file a private school affidavit under Education Code section 33190. The page says parents are not required to report to their school district, and that districts verify the affidavit when checking a compulsory-education exemption.

If that note does not name a form, a deadline, or an office, the source we read did not give us one. Check official source before you mail or upload anything.

3. Subjects

Children instructed in a private full-time day school shall be taught in the English language, unless exempt, and shall be offered instruction in the several branches of study required in the public schools (Education Code section 48222). The page points to sections 51210 and 51220 for the grade-level course lists. Those lists were not copied onto the homeschool page.

A curriculum that lists those words is not, by itself, proof that a legal duty is met. Match your plan to the sentence above. Ask the agency when the sentence says the list was not stated.

4. Days and hours

The page requires attendance records that show every absence of a half day or more. A statewide number of days or hours for a home-based private school was not stated on this page.

Do not borrow a day count from another state. If this note does not state a number, we do not invent one.

5. Assessment

Not stated on official source

A test that comes with a curriculum is not the same thing as a test an agency requires. Use the sentence above.

6. Teacher qualifications

The page lists a credentialed tutor as a separate option from a home-based private school. For a private school, section 33190 requires the names and addresses of faculty and a record of each person's educational qualifications. The page does not say a teaching credential is required for the private-school option.

A college degree, a teaching certificate, and a high-school diploma are different things. Record only what this sentence names. If it names nothing, check official source.

7. Records

Education Code section 33190, as summarized on the page, requires attendance records, the courses of study offered, and faculty names, addresses, and educational qualifications. The page also recommends keeping affidavit copies and individual pupil records.

Online schools in this directory often keep a grade file. Print curricula usually leave the file with the parent. That describes the product. It is not a ruling that either one satisfies California. Keep what the sentence names.

Withdrawing from public school

The text recorded from the official source does not describe withdrawing from public school. This page does not add a withdrawal rule. Ask the school the child attends, and check official source.

If you are leaving a public school, ask that school what it needs in order to drop the student from its roll. A district can have a local form that the state page does not quote. This page will not supply one.

After the official page, then a curriculum

The quiz ranks programs from grade, style, time, budget, faith, accreditation, and pace. It does not read the California statute, and the state does not change the match percentage. It adds a link back to the state page. The quiz runs in the browser. Quiz answers are never stored or sent. The site uses Google Analytics, which sets cookies, for anonymous usage stats. It does not ask for a child's name.

Style guides on this site list programs by tags and grade spans that are already in the directory. They are not legal checklists: Charlotte Mason, classical, secular, free, and kindergarten.

Come back to the official URL when the school year turns over. If the agency page changed, write to hello-curriculumquiz@agentmail.to and we will re-check the source before we change this summary. You can also embed the short fact box from the state page.