Homeschooling in South Dakota

What the notification covers

The statutory form covers your child’s name, birth date, resident district, open-enrolled district if applicable, your signature, and information for returning your proof copy. The Department’s paper form also identifies whether a prior notification was submitted and provides update choices for changed information, ending alternative instruction, enrolling elsewhere, and moving districts or out of state.

The form includes affirmations that the child is receiving alternative instruction, that required transition updates will be submitted, and that the signer has legal custody or control of the child. The statute prohibits the standard form from requiring more details than SDCL § 13-27-7 allows.

Instruction and instructor rules

Provide instruction in the basic skills of language arts and mathematics. South Dakota also requires instruction to lead to mastery of the English language.

The instructor does not need South Dakota teacher certification. One person may not instruct more than twenty-two children.

Testing, records, and returning to school

The South Dakota Department of Education states that alternative-instruction students are not required to take nationally standardized achievement tests or submit test results. A parent may arrange optional testing at the parent’s expense.

South Dakota’s alternative-instruction statutes do not prescribe a portfolio or a particular attendance-log format. The Department recommends keeping detailed academic records, including attendance, courses, grades, work completed, and transcripts. Those records can support activities, dual credit, postsecondary applications, scholarships, and later school placement.

If your child returns to public school, the district may use standardized testing, transcripts, and district policy to determine placement. South Dakota law provides an appeal process for a disputed placement decision.

Textbook loans

Resident public-school districts must lend qualifying nonsectarian textbooks to eligible alternative-instruction students without charge. The law covers qualifying print or digital textbooks, but it does not require the district to provide the related electronic hardware.

Your home base: SchoolhouseTeachers.com

South Dakota keeps its baseline subject requirements focused, while families still need a complete educational plan and dependable records. SchoolhouseTeachers.com gives you curriculum and organizational tools in one HOME BASE.

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 tools to plan the year and keep your own documentation together:

• Education Plan Builder for mapping each child’s subjects and courses
• Custom Schedule Builder for organizing your instructional year
• Gradebook and report cards for tracking academic progress
• Portfolio Builder for collecting work samples
• Transcript tools for high-school planning and later opportunities
• 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.