How to Start Homeschooling

Before you can officially start homeschooling, your child needs to be properly withdrawn from their current school. How you do this depends on your situation:

• Currently enrolled in public school: Contact the school office and request a withdrawal form. Some schools have a formal process; others just need a written or verbal notice. Either way, get something in writing confirming the withdrawal date.
• Currently enrolled in private school: Follow the school's withdrawal policy, which may include a notice period. Check your enrollment contract — some schools require 30 days' notice.
• Your child isn't currently enrolled anywhere: You may be starting from scratch (new baby, moved, never enrolled). In most states, you simply file your notice of intent (see Step 2) without needing to withdraw.

Keep a copy of the withdrawal confirmation. If your state requires proof that you've formally withdrawn, you'll need it. And if your child ever re-enrolls in public school, having a clear record of the withdrawal date helps the district place them correctly.

One thing to know: once you've officially withdrawn, your child's spot at the school is typically not held. If you decide homeschooling isn't for you after a semester, you'll re-enroll just like any other new student.

Many states require you to notify your local school district that you're homeschooling. This is called a "notice of intent" (NOI), "declaration of intent," or simply a "homeschool notification" depending on your state. Some states require it annually; others just require it the first time. A handful require nothing at all.

The notice is typically a short letter — your name, your child's name, grade level, address, and a statement that you're homeschooling. Some states have a specific form; most accept a simple letter sent to your district's superintendent.

Check your state's requirements before you send anything. Filing an NOI in a state that doesn't require one is harmless, but missing a required filing can create headaches later. The key things to look up:

• Is a notice required in your state?
• When does it need to be filed (within X days of starting, or annually by a set date)?
• Who does it go to (superintendent, school board, state department of education)?
• Does your state have a specific form?

This step comes before you pick curriculum. Before you plan a single lesson. The families who struggle with records are almost always the ones who told themselves they'd figure it out later — and then spent a frantic weekend in April trying to reconstruct five months of activities from memory.

What records do you need to keep? It depends on your state, but the baseline is almost always the same:

• Attendance log — a record of which days you held school
• Subject/activity log — what you covered and for how long
• Hour totals — how many instructional hours you've accumulated, by subject if required

The format is up to you. Some families use a paper planner. Some use a spreadsheet. Some use an app. Whatever system you choose, the only thing that matters is that you actually use it — which means it needs to be fast. If logging an activity takes more than 60 seconds, you'll stop doing it.

New homeschool parents almost universally over-plan. They buy a full year's curriculum before they've taught a single day. They create elaborate schedules with 45-minute periods and transition bells. They plan field trips through December before they've figured out what math program their kid actually likes.

Do the opposite. For week one, plan exactly three things:

1. One core subject per day. Pick one: math or reading. Do 30–45 minutes of focused work. That's it. You're building the habit of showing up, not checking off a full schedule.
2. Something your child loves. Science experiments, art, building, reading aloud — one thing that makes them excited to "do school." This is what they'll remember from month one.
3. A walk or outdoor time. Physical activity matters for focus. Build it in from the start.

Week one's goal is not to cover ground. It's to prove to yourself and your child that this works. The scope expands in week two and three once you have a rhythm.

A few things to expect, and a few things that will surprise you.

What to expect:

• It will feel short. When you're used to the public school day, a 2-hour homeschool morning feels like you've barely started. You haven't — that's how efficient one-on-one instruction is. Resist the urge to pile on more.
• Your child will test the structure. They're used to external authority setting the schedule. You're the teacher now, and they're going to push on that. Hold the line gently the first week; it normalizes quickly.
• Something won't go as planned. The lesson falls flat, a sibling interrupts, your child has a meltdown over a worksheet. This happens to everyone. Log what you did and move on.

What might surprise you:

• How much your child already knows — and how much they don't know that school said they did.
• How fast they move through material without 20 other kids to wait for.
• How quickly a rhythm forms — even a rough one.

At the end of each day, log what you covered. Three lines: subject, activity, duration. Five minutes. This habit is worth more than any curriculum choice you'll make in month one.

At the end of your first week, sit down for 20 minutes and answer three questions:

1. What worked? What did your child engage with? What felt natural? What time of day went smoothly?
2. What didn't? What caused friction? What were you dreading the night before? What activity was clearly the wrong fit?
3. What do you want to add in week two? One thing. Not five. One.

This weekly review becomes the engine of your homeschool. You're not following a script — you're iterating. The families who thrive at this are the ones who treat week one's curriculum and schedule as a hypothesis, not a commitment.

Also check your hours. After a full week, look at what you've logged. Are you on pace for your state's annual requirement? If you're short, you know to add 20 minutes somewhere. If you're ahead, you have margin for a lighter week when life gets busy. Seeing the numbers early is what keeps you out of panic mode in April.