Alaska Homeschool Requirements Checklist

This checklist covers Independent Home Education, the most common pathway. Alaska offers 4 different ways to homeschool, each with different requirements:

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  Independent Home Education(this checklist) : You teach your child at home as a parent or legal guardian. Alaska's compulsory attendance law does not apply to a child who is being educated in the child's home by a parent or legal guardian (AS 14.30.010(b)(12)). There is no notice to file, no required subject list, no testing, and no records the state requires you to keep.
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  Statewide Correspondence Study Program : You enroll your child full time in a correspondence study program approved by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, run by a school district or the department (AS 14.30.010(b)(10)(B)). Your child learns at home and is a public school student. Each student has an individual learning plan (AS 14.03.300), and an assigned certificated teacher reviews the student's work or progress at least quarterly (4 AAC 33.421). A program may give parents a fund account for instructional expenses that fit the learning plan, under written standards the district sets (4 AAC 33.422). Correspondence students take part in the statewide student assessment program (4 AAC 33.421(f)).
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  Private School Exemption : Your child is enrolled in a religious or other private school that elects to comply with AS 14.45.100-14.45.130. The parent files an annual notice of enrollment with the local public school superintendent on a department form, signed by the parent and the school's chief administrative officer. The school keeps monthly attendance records, operates on a regular schedule for at least 180 days a year, reports student counts by grade and the school calendar to the commissioner each year, gives a nationally standardized test to students in grades four, six, and eight, and keeps permanent student records. The chief administrative officer certifies to the department, under oath or by affirmation, that the records are kept (AS 14.45.110-14.45.130).
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  Religious or Other Private School Enrollment : Your child attends a religious or other private school. Under AS 14.30.010(b)(1), the attendance law does not apply if your child is provided an academic education comparable to that offered by the public schools in the area, either by attending a private school whose teachers are certificated under AS 14.20.020, or by attending a program operated in compliance with AS 14.45.100-14.45.200 by a religious or other private school. Tutoring by certificated personnel also qualifies. If the school elects AS 14.45.100-14.45.130, you file an annual notice of enrollment with the local public school superintendent (AS 14.45.110(a)); see the Private School Exemption pathway. Otherwise state law requires no notice from you. Testing, attendance and academic records are the school's duties (AS 14.45.030; AS 14.45.110-14.45.130).

Our wizard helps you choose the right one. Compare all pathways for Alaska