Getting started homeschooling in Florida

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 A summary can be wrong, incomplete, or out of date.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 Florida is Florida Department of Education. Florida Department of Education. Read it yourself before you buy a curriculum or file a form.

2. Notice or registration

The parent who establishes a home education program shall notify the district school superintendent in writing, signed by the parent, with the full legal names, addresses, and birthdates of the children enrolled. The notice is filed within 30 days of establishing the program. The parent files a written notice of termination, with the annual evaluation, within 30 days of finishing.

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

Not stated on official source

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

Section 1002.41(3) says a home education program shall be excluded from meeting the requirements of a school day. No hour minimum is stated in this section.

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

5. Assessment

The parent provides an annual educational evaluation showing progress commensurate with the student's ability, and files a copy with the district superintendent. The parent chooses one of the methods in the section, including a review by a Florida-certified teacher, a nationally normed achievement test given by a certified teacher, a state assessment, an evaluation by a person licensed under section 490.003(7) or (8), or another tool the superintendent and parent agree on.

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 parent is not required to hold a valid regular Florida teaching certificate. One of the evaluation options uses a certified teacher. That is an evaluation choice, not a requirement that the parent be certified.

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

The parent maintains a portfolio: a contemporaneous log of educational activities that designates reading materials by title, and samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials. The parent keeps it for two years and makes it available for inspection, if requested, on 15 days' written notice. The section says the superintendent is not required to inspect it.

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 Florida. 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 Florida 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.