Field guide · Confirm with the authority before you file
Homeschooling in Iowa
Report of Competent Private Instruction (Form A), by September 1, on the routes that use it. Independent Private Instruction files nothing unless the district superintendent or the Department's director asks in writing. Competent Private Instruction under the opt-out option files nothing, and neither the district nor the Department may ask who teaches, where, or which children. If you start partway through the year, the deadline is different; see below.
Notify, level 2 of 4
What Iowa actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
You tell
Resident school district
By
September 1
By September 1. If you take your child out of a public or accredited nonpublic school after September 1, file within 14 calendar days of the withdrawal, completed as fully as possible, and complete it fully within 30 calendar days. If you are filing only to join a district homeschool assistance program, the deadline is September 15.
Who reviews it
The resident school district reviews each Form A to check that the filing and reporting requirements were met. It records the date the form arrived, keeps a copy for five years and sends a copy to the Area Education Agency. Under CPI Option 2 with dual enrollment or optional reporting, the annual evaluation results go to the district and the Iowa Department of Education, and if they show the child has not made adequate progress, the Department or someone it designates tells the parent the child must attend school unless a remediation plan is approved. Under Independent Private Instruction no one reviews the child's progress, but the district superintendent or the Department's Director may ask in writing for a report naming the instructor, the location, the authority responsible and the students. Under Competent Private Instruction by a parent who uses the reporting exemption, nothing is reported, and the district and the Department may not ask who teaches, where, or which students.
If you skip it
A parent who does not follow the CPI or IPI law is subject to truancy prosecution. The law applies the compulsory attendance rules and the penalties in Iowa Code section 299.6, and the Iowa Supreme Court has upheld truancy convictions both for failing to file Form A at all and for not filling it in fully or accurately, on the routes that require it. If an annual evaluation shows the child has not made adequate progress, the child must attend an accredited public or nonpublic school from the start of the next school year, unless before then the child passes a retake of an approved evaluation, a portfolio evaluator finds adequate performance, or the Department approves a remediation plan.
Who is in charge
Resident school district, on the routes that file Form A. Nothing is filed routinely under Independent Private Instruction, or under Competent Private Instruction by a parent who uses the reporting exemption.
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
September 1You file
Report of Competent Private Instruction (Form A)
By September 1. If you take your child out of a public or accredited nonpublic school after September 1, file within 14 calendar days of the withdrawal, completed as fully as possible, and complete it fully within 30 calendar days. If you are filing only to join a district homeschool assistance program, the deadline is September 15.
Goes to: Resident school district
Form A gives the child's name, date of birth, address and grade, the parent's name and address, and the number of days of instruction (at least 148). The law also calls for an outline of the course of study (subjects covered, lesson plans and time spent on the areas of study), the texts used, and the instructor's name and address; the department's form asks for the course of study from families who dual enroll or whose homeschool assistance program requires it. Form A is filed under CPI Option 1 (a licensed Iowa teacher, or a district homeschool assistance program) and under CPI Option 2 (a parent without an Iowa teaching license) who dual enrolls or chooses to report. It is not filed under CPI Option 2 with the reporting exemption, or under Independent Private Instruction, and it is not required for a child younger or older than compulsory attendance age. File one for each child each year and keep a copy.
May 31You file
Baseline and annual evaluation
On CPI Option 2 with dual enrollment or optional reporting: evaluate by May 31 each year, and make sure the results reach the district and the Department of Education by August 1.
Goes to: Resident school district and the Iowa Department of Education
Applies to a child of compulsory attendance age taught by a parent without an Iowa teaching license who dual enrolls or chooses to report. It does not apply under CPI Option 1 (though a homeschool assistance program may require a test), under the reporting exemption, or under Independent Private Instruction. A child who is seven, or who is placed under this instruction for the first time, is given a baseline evaluation. Choose one: a standardized test from the Department's approved list, which the district or Area Education Agency gives free if you ask in good time; a portfolio of the child's work reviewed by a licensed Iowa teacher you choose and the district superintendent approves; or a report card from an accredited correspondence school. To use a test that is not on the list, ask the Director of the Department of Education for permission before testing.
No fixed dateYou file
Proof of immunization or an exemption, and a blood lead test for an elementary-age child
With the first Form A you file for the child, and again the first time you file in a new district
Goes to: Resident school district
The law asks for this when a child is placed under Competent Private Instruction for the first time, and the department's form asks for it the first time you file in your current district. An exemption may be medical or religious and does not need a notary. The district checks blood lead tests for young children against the state's blood lead database. Not needed under Independent Private Instruction or under Competent Private Instruction by a parent who uses the reporting exemption.
No fixed dateYou file
Detailed instruction plan (course of study and texts)
No more than 30 days after you file Form A
Goes to: Resident school district
The department's handbook says the plan must include an outline of the courses of study (subjects covered, lesson plans and time spent on the areas of study) and the titles and authors or publishers of the texts to be used. It applies on the routes that file Form A.
No fixed dateYou file
New Form A after a move to a new district
When a dual-enrolled family moves to a new school district during the school year and wants to keep dual enrolling
How often: when it happens
Goes to: New resident school district
File a new copy of Form A with the new district of residence. Attach proof of immunization or an exemption, since it is the first time you file in that district.
No fixed dateYou file
Revoke consent for special education services (child with an IEP)
When a child with an IEP starts Independent Private Instruction or Competent Private Instruction by a parent who uses the reporting exemption
How often: when it happens
Goes to: Resident school district or Area Education Agency (the child's IEP team)
On these two routes the child can no longer receive special education services. Contact the district or the Area Education Agency to convene the IEP team, revoke consent for services and close the IEP. To keep services, choose a Competent Private Instruction route, file Form A and dual enroll.
Not required
Often assumed. None of it is asked of a family homeschooling in Iowa.
Independent Private Instruction informationNot required. IPI families file nothing routinely; on request they name the primary instructor, the responsible authority and location, and the enrolled students.
The words a reviewer uses
'Course of study', 'subjects covered', 'lesson plans', 'time spent'. Iowa's Form A wants a plan, not an outcome.
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 Iowa, which today are English (326 of 383), Mathematics (490 of 574), Science (514 of 604), Social Studies (3 of 1631), Physical Education (10 of 106) and Arts (3 of 115). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of Iowa's published standards. A further 177 Social Studies topics are matched only to the national C3 Framework, which is guidance, not Iowa'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
- Checked 11 Aug 2026
- Checked 11 Aug 2026
- Checked 6 Oct 2026
- Checked 6 Oct 2026
Sources last checked on 2026-10-06: Iowa Code section 299.4, Reports as to private instruction. 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.