Homeschooling in Louisiana

Route One: BESE-Approved Home Study Program

This is the route where the state affirmatively confirms that your child is meeting compulsory attendance. A child who participates in an approved program is considered in attendance at a day school and compliant with Louisiana’s compulsory attendance law.

Applying. Submit your initial application to the Department no later than fifteen days after your home study program begins, with a certified copy of your child’s birth certificate. The application is approved when you certify that your program will offer a sustained curriculum of quality at least equal to that offered by public schools at the same grade level.

Renewing. Approval lasts one year for the grade level shown on your application. The statutory renewal deadline is October first of the school year or within twelve months of your initial approval, whichever is later. LDOE also instructs parents to renew when the student is ready to advance to the next grade level. Renewal is supported by evidence that your program has offered the required sustained curriculum. Follow the Department’s current renewal instructions for the ways you may show it.

What Louisiana does not ask of you here. You choose the curriculum; the Department does not maintain a list of approved programs. You determine your child’s grade level. The Department’s guidelines state that retroactive grade-level changes are not allowed. A parent or tutor may provide the instruction, and there are no teaching-certification requirements. State testing is not required.

Timing to expect. The Department reviews applications in up to fourteen business days.

Withdrawing from public school. The Department says no documentation is required to withdraw a child and that a public school cannot refuse to let you withdraw. It suggests applying for home study before withdrawing when possible, and you may withdraw before your approval arrives.

How compliance is handled. The Department administers Route One compulsory-attendance compliance through the application and annual approval process. Its current Route One guidance identifies no separate attendance-submission form.

Route Two: Nonpublic School Not Seeking State Approval

Under this route, you operate a Nonpublic School Not Seeking State Approval and submit enrollment information to LDOE each year.

Submitting. Submit enrollment information annually through the Department’s online attendance-submission form. You will receive a confirmation letter valid for one year. Your school reports its total attendance as of the thirtieth day of its school term.

Instructional time. Schedule 57,750 instructional minutes across the year. The number of instructional days and minutes per day may vary, provided the annual total is scheduled.

A ten-day notice, when it applies. If your child withdrew from a public school during the school year, or attended public school at the end of the previous year, your school gives written notice of enrollment to that public school within ten days of enrollment. The notice may take the form of a transcript request, and it includes your child’s legal name, date of birth, gender, and race.

Testing. LDOE states that students under this route are not required to take state testing.

Records and state oversight. The Department does not approve, oversee, or maintain a student’s educational records under this route. Families or school administrators therefore need to retain the records they may later need to provide to a college, employer, military branch, or another school. The Department also states that attending a Nonpublic School Not Seeking State Approval does not by itself confirm that students are meeting compulsory attendance law.

Withdrawing from public school. The Department says no documentation is required to withdraw a child and that a public school cannot refuse the withdrawal. Complete the withdrawal procedure, submit the annual enrollment information, and provide the former-school notice when R.S. 17:221.3 applies.

Diplomas

This is the difference families most often ask about.

The Department states that a high school diploma awarded by a BESE-Approved Home Study Program is deemed to have all the rights and privileges afforded to a diploma awarded by a state-approved nonpublic school.

The Department states that a student in a Nonpublic School Not Seeking State Approval does not receive a diploma carrying the same weight as a state-issued diploma, though the student may receive one in accordance with that school’s own policies.

LDOE does not issue the diploma under either route. Under Route One, the parent is responsible for issuing it. Under Route Two, the school may issue a diploma according to its own policies.

Your home base: SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Whichever route you choose, you will need a curriculum and dependable records. Route One also asks you to provide evidence of educational progress when you renew.

One online family membership gives every child unlimited access to hundreds of online, self-paced courses from preschool through twelfth grade, all from a Biblical worldview, with graduation and college-preparation resources.

You will also find Virtual School Boxes, self-grading iST courses, World Book Online, and thousands of family-friendly videos.

The Homeschool Records & Compliance Center gives you the tools to plan the year and keep your own copies together:

• Education Plan Builder for mapping each child’s year and course sequence
• Custom Schedule Builder for laying out your instructional year
• Gradebook and report cards for tracking work as you go
• Portfolio Builder for gathering samples of your child’s work in one place
• Transcript tools for organizing the high school years
• Applecore recordkeeping for grades, attendance, courses, and credits
• Certificates of Completion for documenting finished courses

One family membership. Every child in your HOME. No fee per child. No fee per course. No limits.