Do you have to register or notify anyone to homeschool in South Dakota?

Alternative Instruction Notification (AIN). Within 30 days of beginning alternative instruction Submitted to: SD Department of Education or the resident district

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Homeschooling in South Dakota

What South Dakota 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

SD Department of Education or the local school district

Who actually reviews your child

No one. There is no review and no testing.

What you must file

Alternative Instruction Notification (AIN)

Within 30 days of beginning alternative instruction

Goes to: SD Department of Education or the resident district

SB 177, effective 1 July 2021, removed annual re-enrolment, the mandatory tests at grades 2, 4, 8 and 11, and the birth-certificate filing requirement.

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 South Dakota and builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.

Start your record

Other places in United States

Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois

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: doe.sd.gov. That is the date we read it, not the date the rule last changed.
Check it yourself: the source we used.