South Dakota Homeschool Requirements: One Form, Thirty Days, and the Season a Mid-Year Switch Costs

South Dakota's home education law is among the shortest in the country. Most of it lives in chapter 13-27 of the codified laws, and the rest in one section of the activities chapter. Below is what both say, in the Legislature's own text and the Department of Education's own words.

The short version

• File one Alternative Instruction Notification within 30 days of the first time your child begins alternative instruction while of school age, with either the Department of Education or your local district.
• That's once, not every year. You file again only within 30 days of a transition: your child enrolls in a public or nonpublic school, or moves to a different school district.
• The form can only ask what the statute lists, and the notification is confidential by law.
• Teach the basic skills of language arts and mathematics, in a way that leads to mastery of the English language. No teaching certificate is required. No one person may instruct more than 22 children.
• No testing requirement appears anywhere in the chapter for alternative instruction students.
• Compulsory attendance runs until 18, graduation, or an excuse or withdrawal the chapter allows.
• Your district shall let your child take part in athletics, fine arts, and activities, but you owe a transcript you issue yourself before each season, and a student who leaves school mid-year sits out the rest of the current season.

The notification, and what it can ask

SDCL 13-27-3 is the whole of the basic rule:

Upon a filing of a notification with either the Department of Education or the local district from the parent, or guardian, or other person having control of a child, the Department of Education or the local district has been notified that the child is being provided with alternative instruction in the basic skills of language arts and mathematics. The person providing instruction is not required to be certified.

Notice the shape of that sentence. Filing the notification is what makes the state "notified." It is not an application, and nothing in the chapter says anyone approves it.

SDCL 13-27-7 says what goes on the form: the child's name, birthdate, resident district, and open enrolled district if applicable, signature of the parent, guardian, or other person having control of the child and information for the return of the form. Then three sentences that protect you:

• The Department or district shall provide you with a signed or stamped copy of the notification as proof of notification. Keep it.
• The notification shall be kept confidential.
• The form is provided by the Secretary of Education but may not require more details than set forth by this section.

That last line means the state can't add a curriculum question, a reason box, or a teacher-qualification question to the form. If a district hands you something that asks for more, the statute is on your side.

Once, unless something changes

The same section sets the timing:

The notification shall be filed within thirty days from the first time the child begins an alternative instruction program while the child is of school age as defined in § 13-27-1 and is not required thereafter unless one or more of the following transitions occur:

The two transitions are a child who enrolls in a public or nonpublic school and a child who moves to a different school district. After either one, you submit the standard form again within 30 days. The Department of Education's homeschooling page puts it plainly: Individuals are only required to submit a notification one time for each child, unless a transition has occurred. Some national guides say South Dakota requires an annual renewal. The statute and the Department both say it doesn't.

One timing note worth reading twice: the 30 days run from when you begin. Filing up to a month after your first day is lawful. If your child is leaving a school, though, file first. Under SDCL 13-27-15 the superintendent reports enrolled students of compulsory age who aren't attending to the district's truancy officer, and a stamped notification in the school's hands is the simplest way to show your child isn't one of them.

What you teach, and who can teach it

The statute names two subjects, the basic skills of language arts and mathematics, and adds two rules:

No person may instruct more than twenty-two children. All instructions shall be given so as to lead to a mastery of the English language.

There is no required number of days or hours in the chapter for alternative instruction, no required subject list beyond those two, and no teaching credential. The chapter also contains no testing requirement for a child receiving alternative instruction, and the Department's page doesn't mention testing at all.

Ages, and leaving early

SDCL 13-27-1, last amended in 2025, covers a child who is not younger than five or older than six by the first day of September, or any child who, by the first day of September, is at least six years old. That child must attend school or receive alternative instruction, as set forth in § 13-27-3, until the child is eighteen years old, has graduated, or is excused or withdraws as provided in this chapter. The same section says Each child shall attend kindergarten prior to age seven. The Department's homeschooling page doesn't say how that sentence applies to a child receiving alternative instruction, so if you have a five- or six-year-old, ask the Department before you plan around it.

Two 2025 additions changed the edges. Under SDCL 13-27-1.3, A child may withdraw from attending a school at the age of seventeen if the child has the written consent of a parent, guardian, or other custodian. Under 13-27-1.4, a child of at least sixteen with written parental consent may enroll in a school-based high school equivalency preparation program or take the high school equivalency test. A narrower religious exemption in 13-27-1.1 covers a child who has completed eighth grade and whose family belongs to a recognized church or denomination that objects to public high school and runs its own supervised program.

The penalty for neither enrolling your child nor providing alternative instruction is set in SDCL 13-27-11: a Class 2 misdemeanor for a first offense, and a Class 1 misdemeanor after that. The notification is what keeps you on the right side of that line, which is why the stamped copy is worth keeping.

Activities: the guarantee, the transcript, and the season

This is the section most families should read before they decide when to start. SDCL 13-36-7 opens with a guarantee:

Each public school district shall allow participation in athletics, fine arts, or activities for a child being provided alternative instruction pursuant to § 13-27-3 within the district in which the child resides.

"Shall" means the district doesn't get to say no to the category. It isn't a promise of a roster spot: the same section says it doesn't confer any vested right to be selected for competition, and the Department calls participation a privilege, not a right. The guarantee is to the district you live in, and the Department adds that a student may not participate in activities in multiple districts or school systems outside a cooperative agreement. Then come the conditions.

A transcript you write, before every season. The statute says that before the current season of the sport or activity, the parent shall provide the appropriate school official with a copy of a transcript of the previous semester's completed coursework that is issued by the parent, guardian, or other person in control of the child. You issue it, not a testing service and not the state. But it has to exist, it has to cover the previous semester, and it has to be in the school's hands before the season starts. You also have to tell the school if your child becomes ineligible under association or local rules.

The same rules as everyone else. A participating child shall be held to the same local training rules and South Dakota High School Activities Association transfer and non-academic eligibility rules as enrolled students, and the parent shall submit proof of age. The Department's page says families also complete the SDHSAA eligibility checklist for alternative instruction students, plus an athletic physical where it applies.

The season a mid-year switch costs. The section's last sentence:

However, any enrolled student who leaves an accredited program during the course of the school year and who will be provided alternative instruction is ineligible for participation in interscholastic activities for the balance of the current season of the sport or activity the student is participating in at the time of notification of alternative instruction.

Read it slowly. It applies to a student who leaves school during the school year, and it takes the rest of the season of whatever they're playing at the time you file. A student who switches between school years isn't covered by that sentence, though the association's own transfer rules still apply, and we haven't read those. So if your child is mid-season in a sport they care about and you're thinking about homeschooling, the calendar matters: finishing the season, or the year, before you file can be the difference between playing and sitting. We won't tell anyone what to choose. We'd just rather you knew before the form went in, not after.

Birth certificates and proof of age

Chapter 13-27 requires a certified birth certificate (or the Department of Health's affidavit when the original can't be obtained) from anyone required to cause any child to attend any public or nonpublic school, at enrollment or within 30 days. The Department's homeschooling page notes that a birth certificate or affidavit in lieu of a birth certificate may be required as proof of age for many activities, and 13-36-7 requires proof of age for participation. If your family receives TANF, SNAP, or county poor relief, SDCL 13-27-3.4 says the certified copy is provided at no cost.

Going back to school later

If your child later enrolls in a South Dakota public school, SDCL 13-27-29 says they shall be placed at the child's demonstrated level of proficiency as established by one or more standardized tests. At the secondary level, English and math placement comes from one or two standardized tests, and every other subject from a review of transcripts according to the policy formally adopted by the school board. A parent who disagrees with the placement may appeal it to the secretary of the Department of Education. Remember to file the notification again within 30 days, because enrolling in a school is one of the two transitions.

What this actually means for your week

South Dakota asks for one form and an honest education in reading, writing, and math, taught toward real command of English. The state doesn't review your curriculum, doesn't test your child, and doesn't ask you to renew. What it does ask, if your child plays a sport or joins an activity, is a transcript of last semester that you write yourself, every season.

That is what we built for. Mrs. M teaches your child the core subjects one on one, at their level, and keeps a record of every session as a byproduct of teaching it: which subject, which lesson, what your child worked on, and how they did. When the coach needs last semester's transcript, the semester is already written down, and you're the one who issues it. We don't promise your child will hit any particular mark. Nobody honest does.

Curious how this works day to day with your own curriculum? Here's the honest guide to teaching your own curriculum with us, written for every out-of-state family, South Dakota included. Since a transcript is what the activities statute asks for, homeschool record keeping is the natural next read. Or see the requirements for every other state.