Homeschool Sports Eligibility in South Dakota
Yes. South Dakota law requires your resident school district to let a child in alternative instruction, the state's term for homeschooling, take part in its athletics, fine arts, and other activities.
How homeschool participation works
SDCL 13-36-7 covers activities sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA) as well as the district's own. A child in alternative instruction meets the same requirements as enrolled students, including local training rules, grades and attendance reporting, and SDHSAA transfer rules.
No district can require a homeschooler to take a number of its classes first. The parent issues the transcript the school uses to judge last semester's work, and the parent tells the school if the child becomes ineligible during the season.
Rules that decide participation
Papers before each season
You give the school a transcript of the previous semester's coursework that you issued, proof of age, the SDHSAA eligibility checklist for alternative instruction students, and a physical form where needed.
Leaving school mid-year
A student who leaves an accredited school during the year is ineligible for the rest of that sport's current season.
Before the season
First step
Ask your district's activities office for the SDHSAA alternative instruction checklist and the physical form, and prepare last semester's transcript.
When to start
Hand in the papers before each season begins, every season your child plays.
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.