Homeschool Sports Eligibility in Arizona
Yes. Arizona law lets a homeschooled child try out for interscholastic sports at the public school whose attendance area the family lives in, in the same manner as an enrolled student.
How homeschool participation works
Section 15-802.01 of the Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS) covers interscholastic activities, sports included, and applies notwithstanding any other law. It gives your child the right to try out on behalf of the school. Making the team still depends on the tryout, as it does for every student.
The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) runs high school athletics. The same statute bars a school district from contracting with any private group that supervises interscholastic activities if that group keeps homeschooled children out of public, private, or charter school teams.
Once your child is trying out, the school's own policies apply exactly as they do for enrolled players: registration, age eligibility, fees, insurance, transportation, physical condition, event schedules, and standards of behavior and performance.
Rules that decide participation
Written grade verification
The person who gives your child's primary instruction submits written verification of two things. The first is whether your child is receiving a passing grade in each course or subject being taught; the second is whether your child is maintaining satisfactory progress toward advancement or promotion.
No mid-year switch
A child who was enrolled in a public, private, or charter school during the school year cannot play as a homeschooler for the rest of that school year.
Before the season
First step
Ask the athletic director at your attendance-area school for the registration packet and the form it uses for the written grade and progress verification.
When to start
The statute sets no separate homeschool deadline. Your child registers on the schedule the school sets for enrolled athletes, so start before the first official practice of the sport.
School that fits around the season
Lessons start at your child's level and go wherever practice and travel do. We grade the work as it is submitted and keep the grades and transcript a school or league may ask to see.
$149/month per child after the trial.