Homeschool Requirements in Arkansas
Arkansas asks very little of you. You did not bring your children home for the sake of a form. Here is the form anyway. Begin with the first heading: what you send in, if anything, and the day it is due. There is not much after that. Every claim is cited at the foot, so you can hold it against the code rather than take our word for it.
What you send in, and when it is due
Written Notice of Intent (NOI) to the superintendent of the local school district, filed at the beginning of each school year but no later than August 15; or five school days before withdrawing a child from a public school mid-year; or within 30 days of establishing residency after a move. DESE’s NOI form opens June 15. Submission by online form, email, mail, or in person. Contents (A.C.A. § 6-15-503): each child’s name, sex, date of birth, and grade level; name and address of the last school attended (if any); the homeschool mailing address and telephone number; a statement of the parent’s assumption of responsibility; whether the family is interested in public-school interscholastic activities; whether the student plans to seek a high school equivalency diploma; and the parent’s signature. Note: NOIs submitted on/after August 15 may trigger a five-school-day waiting period during which the child must still attend the district school (waivable by the superintendent or board).
Days and hours
None. Arkansas sets no minimum instructional days or hours for homeschools.
Subjects the law names
None. Arkansas law specifies no required subjects or curriculum for homeschools, and no parent qualifications.
What you keep
No records must be submitted to or retained for the state. Keep a copy of each year’s filed NOI (and the district’s acknowledgment) as proof of legal status. Families in the Educational Freedom Account program have separate expense-documentation obligations to DESE.
Testing and evaluation
None. Arkansas repealed its homeschool standardized-testing mandate in 2015; no state test, portfolio, or evaluation is required. Important exception: students funded through the LEARNS Act Educational Freedom Account (EFA) must take a nationally recognized norm-referenced test annually as a condition of the funding, so an EFA-participating homeschooler is effectively subject to annual testing.
The diploma and the transcript
No state regulation of homeschool credits, transcripts, or diplomas; parents issue their own. The NOI asks whether the student intends to pursue a high school equivalency diploma (GED). Arkansas law entitles homeschool graduates to be considered for state scholarships (including Arkansas Academic Challenge) on a nondiscriminatory basis, generally on test scores. Recent change: the LEARNS Act (Act 237 of 2023) EFA program became universally eligible in 2025-26 (about $6,800-$7,200 per student for 2026-27); enrolling in EFA adds testing and expense-reporting duties that plain homeschooling does not have.
A Christian college and a public university read the same page for different things. What each one asks a homeschooler for.
A diploma you signed yourself rests on the transcript behind it and on nothing else. What does not belong on a homeschool transcript.
If the transcript is the piece you are short of, it is free on its own: The Transcript Template, with the weighted and unweighted GPA already working.
Where this comes from
Statute: Ark. Code Ann. §§ 6-15-501 through 6-15-509 (esp. § 6-15-503, prerequisites/notice); Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-201 (compulsory attendance); Act 237 of 2023 (LEARNS Act), Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-2501 et seq. (Educational Freedom Accounts).
Last reviewed: July 2026. The day is not recorded.
Homeschool law changes, and a page like this goes quietly out of date. Before a filing deadline, read the code above yourself. If we have fallen behind we would much rather hear it from you than have you find out at a district office.
All fifty states and the District of Columbia, each one citing the law it came from.
Filing is one part of it. Keeping the record is the other, and that is what our Records System is for: the editable transcript with the GPA already working, 131 academic course descriptions, the Bible and theology descriptions, and this same cited summary for every state and DC. Protestant and Catholic editions. Thirty-nine dollars, one household, however many children you teach.