Homeschool Requirements in Florida

Florida 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

File a written, signed notice of intent to establish and maintain a home education program with the district school superintendent of the county of residence within 30 days of establishing the program. It must include the full legal names, addresses, and birthdates of all children in the program. A written notice of termination must be filed within 30 days of ending the program. No annual re-filing of the notice of intent is required - the annual evaluation serves as the recurring filing.

Days and hours

None. Florida sets no minimum instructional days or hours for home education programs.

Subjects the law names

None. Florida mandates no subjects or curriculum for home education programs.

What you keep

Maintain a portfolio consisting of (1) a log of educational activities made contemporaneously with the instruction, designating by title any reading materials used, and (2) samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed by the student. The parent determines the content and must preserve the portfolio for 2 years. The portfolio must be made available to the superintendent upon 15 days’ written notice.

The log is easy to keep and easy to invent in June, and only one of those survives a reader. Writing down a morning hour while it is still happening.

Those are the pages beneath the transcript rather than the transcript itself. The Records Pack has the attendance and hours log and the portfolio index, editable, in both editions.

Testing and evaluation

An annual educational evaluation documenting progress commensurate with the student’s ability, filed with the district superintendent’s office (due on the anniversary of the notice of intent). Parent selects among five methods: (a) a Florida-certified teacher evaluates the portfolio and interviews the student; (b) a nationally normed student achievement test administered by a certified teacher; (c) a state student assessment test administered at a local public school; (d) evaluation by a licensed psychologist or a school psychologist certified by the state; or (e) any other valid measurement tool mutually agreed upon by the parent and the superintendent. If progress is not demonstrated, the program goes on probation for one year with a remediation plan.

The diploma and the transcript

Florida issues no diploma or credits; the parent issues the diploma and transcript. Florida expressly recognizes home education completion for Bright Futures Scholarships (Fla. Stat. 1009.53 et seq.) - homeschool applicants must have been registered as a home education student with the district during grades 11 and 12, submit a parent-prepared transcript documenting the required academic units and volunteer/work hours, and meet the SAT/ACT score thresholds; keep the transcript detailed and credit-bearing. Home education students are also eligible for dual enrollment at state colleges under a home education articulation agreement. Note: a student funded through the Personalized Education Program (PEP) under the Family Empowerment Scholarship (Fla. Stat. 1002.394, created by 2023 HB 1) is not a home education program student under 1002.41 and follows PEP’s separate rules and reporting - the two are distinct legal statuses and must not be conflated.

One label on that transcript is not yours to write, whatever Florida allows. What does not belong on a homeschool transcript.

Where this comes from

Statute: Fla. Stat. 1002.41 (home education programs); Fla. Stat. 1003.21 (compulsory attendance, ages 6-16); Fla. Stat. 1002.394 (Family Empowerment Scholarship / PEP)

Source: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2024/1002.41

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.