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Homeschooling in Iowa

What Iowa actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.

United StatesFiling required

Who is in charge

Resident school district (Competent Private Instruction); no filing at all for Independent Private Instruction

Who actually reviews your child

The district receives Form A. Under Independent Private Instruction there is no reviewer at all.

What you must file

Report of Competent Private Instruction (Form A)

By 1 September, or within 14 days of commencing CPI

Goes to: Resident school district

Includes an outline of the courses of study, the subjects covered, lesson plans and time spent on each course. Required only for the CPI routes.

Not required, but often assumed

Independent Private Instruction information
Not required. IPI families file nothing routinely; on request they name the primary instructor, the responsible authority and location, and the enrolled students.

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 app is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the real curriculum for Iowa and builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.

Start your record

Other places in United States

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinois
Not yet confirmed at the government's own source. The requirements above agree across the sources we could reach, but we have not read them on the authority's own page. Treat them as a guide and confirm before you file.
Last read at the source on 2026-08-11: educate.iowa.gov. That is the date we read it, not the date the rule last changed.