Field guide · Confirm with the authority before you file
Homeschooling in California
Private School Affidavit (PSA), between October 1 and 15, if you run your own home private school. Without it, your child has no exemption from public school. A family in a private school satellite program files no affidavit; the program files it. If you start after October 15, you file when you start (the online system is open until June 30), then every October after that. Nobody reviews what you teach. Also kept, at the address the affidavit names: attendance register and school records.
Notify, level 2 of 4
What California actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
You tell
California Department of Education, online
By
October 15
Statutory window 1-15 October; the filing system is open 1 August - 30 June for new schools and home schools
Who reviews it
No one
No one reviews what you teach. The district's attendance supervisor, or someone the school board names, checks that the affidavit was filed; the law says neither that check nor the filing is an evaluation or approval of your school (Education Code 33190 and 48222).
If you skip it
No exemption from school
Without a filed affidavit, your child is not exempt from public school attendance: the exemption is valid only once the district's attendance supervisor, or someone the school board names, has checked that the affidavit was filed (Education Code 48222).
Who is in charge
California Department of Education (private school affidavit) or the private school satellite program the family enrols in
Who reviews your child is set out at the top of this page, in the authority's own terms.
The year
What you must file
October 15You file
Private School Affidavit (PSA)
Statutory window 1-15 October; the filing system is open 1 August - 30 June for new schools and home schools
Goes to: California Department of Education, online
A family enrolled in a private school satellite program (PSP) does not file its own affidavit; the program files for it. The affidavit is signed under penalty of perjury (Education Code 33190).
No fixed dateYou keep
Attendance register and school records
n/a
How often: continuous
Goes to: KEPT BY THE PARENT for a home-based private school (a satellite program keeps its own), not filed
Education Code 33190(f) and 48222. The affidavit states that these records are kept, true and accurate, at the address it names: an attendance register showing every absence of half a day or more, the courses of study, and the names, addresses and qualifications of the teachers. The law does not say they are sent to anyone.
The words a reviewer uses
The affidavit is administrative. Instruction must be in English and in 'the several branches of study required to be taught in the public schools'.
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for California, which today are English (326 of 383), Mathematics (490 of 574), Science (516 of 604), Social Studies (205 of 1631), Physical Education (6 of 106) and Arts (1 of 115). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of California's published standards. A further 127 Social Studies topics are matched only to the national C3 Framework, which is guidance, not California's own standard. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Sources
- Checked 11 Aug 2026
- CDE, Private School Affidavit InformationRead on an archive copyChecked 5 Oct 2026
- CDE, Private Schools and Schooling at HomeRead on an archive copyChecked 5 Oct 2026
- Cal. Educ. Code 33190 at leginfo.legislature.ca.govRead on an archive copyChecked 9 Oct 2026
- Checked 6 Oct 2026
- Cal. Educ. Code 48222 at leginfo.legislature.ca.govRead on an archive copyChecked 9 Oct 2026
Sources last checked on 2026-10-09: Cal. Educ. Code 33190 at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. That is the date we checked, not the date the rule last changed.
Check it yourself: the source we used.
Guidance, not legal advice. Rules change and districts vary: confirm with the authority named above before you file.