How to Register to Homeschool in Louisiana

Take a deep breath. Don’t panic.

Homeschooling your kids isn’t that hard and no matter what your anxiety is telling you, you aren’t going to ruin them.

You don’t have to have all of the answers before starting. In fact, you can learn as you go, starting out with none of the answers, and you and your kids will be just fine. There’s no timer or stopwatch. There are no officials who are coming to check up on you. You are the parent, teacher, principal, lunch lady/man, coach, and everything in between.

Do not let that scare you.

You don’t have to have a degree or any formal training to successfully homeschool your child. There are programs, books, online curriculum, tutoring, and plenty of other resources available to you that will help you or even teach your students for you.

Homeschooling can be as hands-on or hands-off as you want, as far as the actual teaching is concerned. You can teach them every step of the way, or monitor their progress and learning while they use a full-curriculum online or in a book.

So take a deep breath, you can definitely do this!

Three Steps to Homeschool Registration in Louisiana

There are three steps you need to take to withdraw your child from public school in Louisiana in order to homeschool.

Step One: Withdraw your student from their current public school.

When you approach your child’s school to withdraw, the school must withdraw your child. You do NOT have to apply or register for homeschooling before this. You do NOT have to fill out any other paperwork, including the Home Study sheet they will probably ask you to fill out. By registering using the Home Study option, they can still keep track of your students and will require materials and paperwork at the end of the school year. If you want to register using the private, non-public school option, you can do this online with no input or help from a public school.

You can withdraw your child before you make any other plans – just as if your family is moving to a different state. You ask to withdraw your child and they withdraw your child. Period.

Many public schools aren’t aware that there are two ways to register to homeschool (the private, non-public option and the home study option). Another reason they may push you to register home study is the code that they use to drop your student looks better for them if it’s the home study option. (Hint: it’s all about money!)

Step Two: Register to homeschool.

There are two homeschooling options in the state of Louisiana:

Home Study and Registered Non-Public

Home Study

Most families don’t use the Home Study option until high school. With this option, you will have to reapply each year and submit paperwork to the state. In Louisiana, your student can apply for the TOPS scholarship program ONLY if they are registered through the Home Study option at least the last two years of high school.

Click here to register using the Home Study option.

Registered Non-Public

The non-public option is usually called the private option. You will register yearly, but the only information you will give to the state is the number of students in your private school (the number of children in your family that you are homeschooling). You will give no names or other information about the students. This option does not require any further paperwork. You keep attendance and all records, but you don’t have to show that information to anyone.

With each of these homeschooling options, you as the parent will grant a high school diploma. If your student registers using the Home Study option the last two years of school, they will have the same privileges as any BESE-approved private school and can qualify for the TOPS program.

Click here to register using the non-public option.

Step Three: Enrollment Notification Letter

The last step to register to homeschool in Louisiana is sending a letter to the school your child last attended. This is required by law if you are using the private option. The Enrollment Notification Letter must be received by the school within 10 days of withdrawing your student from the school. Most parents choose to mail the letter using the Certified Receipt option with the post office. This allows you to have a receipt of proof that the school received your letter, but you don’t have to go into the school to deliver it yourself.

The following is the only information you need to include in your Enrollment Notification Letter:

Name of your school (you will need to create a name for your private homeschool – anything goes!)

Your full mailing address

Today’s date

School you are withdrawing your student from

School address

Your student’s full legal name

Student’s date of birth

A sentence to the principal advising him or her that your student is now enrolled in your private school and a request for the principal to send all records to your address.

Your signature

Your printed/typed name

That’s all that is required.

Those are the three steps that you need to follow when registering to homeschool in the state of Louisiana. Other states vary since each state has their own laws and rules on homeschooling.

If you’re in Louisiana and have any questions, please let me know if I can help!