Homeschooling in Arkansas

Timing decides whether there is a wait. After August 15, a notice for a child enrolled in public school starts a waiting period of five school days before the school releases your child. Only the superintendent or the local school board can waive that wait; the online form has a box on its third page to request a waiver.

What the notice lists

• Your school district, county, and the date homeschooling starts
• Your name, street address, and phone number
• Each child's legal name, birth date, gender, and grade
• The type, name, and address of the last school each child attended
• Your signature and the date

Every field except email is required, and an incomplete form is not accepted. A Social Security number is asked only for children in the Education Freedom Account program.

Before the school releases your child

Return all school-issued property, such as a laptop or textbooks. A student under disciplinary action for breaking a written school policy, including excessive unexcused absences, cannot start homeschooling until that action is completed, the semester ends, or the board allows it; an expelled student can file right away.

Arkansas law requires no homeschool records and no reports beyond the yearly notice. A district may not ask for your child's work unless you are enrolling your child in its schools.

That one exception is why records help. To enroll or re-enroll in a public school, a homeschooled student must give the school a transcript listing every course taken with semester grades, plus a portfolio showing the curricula used, tests taken, lessons completed, and other signs of progress. The same records support a high school transcript and college applications.

Keep a copy of each year's notice, too. The state portal lets you print a completed notice, and it serves as a record that you met state law and of the grade you reported. It does not prove attendance or grades.

Arkansas repealed homeschool testing in 2015. Districts do not have to offer standardized tests to homeschoolers, and a test you arrange yourself is at your own expense.

When a test is required

• Education Freedom Account (EFA) participants: every student in kindergarten through grade 10 takes a nationally norm-referenced test each year and submits math and reading results. Grades 11 and 12 are exempt.
• School sports and activities, which ask for a minimum score to show academic eligibility.
• Re-enrolling in a public school, where a score helps decide grade placement.

The score each one asks for is in the sports and returning sections below.

Every Arkansas school district must identify and evaluate children ages 3 through 21 who live in its boundaries and may have a disability, homeschooled children included. This duty is called Child Find. To start, ask your resident district for a referral and evaluation; districts are told not to contact homeschool families first to offer services.

State law gives a homeschooled child with a disability the same consideration for special education as a private school child under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In practice that means equitable services funded by the district's share of federal money, which are limited and not guaranteed to every child. A child who had an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in public school is not entitled to keep those services after leaving.

Public school classes

Every district must have a policy letting a home school student who lives in the district enroll in at least one academic course at a public school or open-enrollment charter school there. The policy sets admission criteria, how many courses you may take, and limits such as class capacity. Classes are only at your resident district.

Arkansas sets no graduation requirements for homeschoolers, and the parent decides the high school course of study. The state, school districts, and education service cooperatives do not issue diplomas or transcripts to homeschooled students, and the public school community service requirement does not apply.

The parent prepares the transcript and any diploma. A district diploma is possible only if your child enrolls full time in a public school for at least nine months immediately before graduation and meets every public school graduation requirement; taking a class as a homeschooler does not count toward that time.

GED and driver's licenses

The notice form has an optional notary section for a family that needs a notarized copy, for example to enroll in a GED program, and a box to check if your child will enroll in one. Since 2019, a homeschooled student no longer needs a notarized notice to take the driver's test.

The Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship is open to homeschool graduates who start college the year after finishing high school. A student with a high school GPA of 3.00 or higher qualifies with any standardized test score on record; below 3.00, the student needs an ACT score of at least 19, an SAT of at least 990, or an Accuplacer average of at least 246. Awards start at $2,000 for the first year, and the application deadline is July 1.

High school students in grades 9 through 12 can take concurrent college courses. The ACCESS to Acceleration (A2A) scholarship pays $65 per credit hour, up to 15 hours a semester and $2,000 a year, and the college applies for it on the student's behalf. Beginning with the class of 2028, A2A hours above 29 reduce later Academic Challenge eligibility in 30-hour steps. A public school cannot charge a home school student for an endorsed concurrent course unless it charges its own students.

Homeschool dual enrollment in Arkansas

Homeschoolers can try out for Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) activities, sports, band, choir, and cheer included, at their resident district, or at another district with the superintendents' consent. A tryout is guaranteed; a roster spot is not, and a student can play for only one public school at a time.

Notify the principal in writing before the signup or tryout deadline and show a 30th percentile score on a nationally norm-referenced test from the last 12 months. The district enrolls your child in one nonacademic class period tied to the activity within the first 11 days of the semester, and the usual physicals, fees, and drug testing apply. A student who left a varsity sport in the previous 365 days must wait, and a student entering grades 7 to 10 who wants to play a varsity sport at a district other than the resident one must be approved by June 1.

Homeschool sports eligibility in Arkansas

Any homeschooled student in kindergarten through grade 12 may apply for an Education Freedom Account. For 2026-27 an account receives $7,208, or $8,011 for a Succeed Scholarship student, paid in four quarterly deposits through ClassWallet. The money covers approved expenses such as curriculum, tutoring, and educational therapies, and unused funds can carry over within program limits.

A homeschool EFA student still files the yearly notice, and the state checks it before funding the account. Families renew each year, and the 2027-28 application opens in March 2027. When requests exceed funding, returning participants come first, then students with disabilities, homeless or foster students, and students from D- or F-rated schools.

Homeschool tax breaks and funding in Arkansas

Placement depends on what you bring. When your child has the transcript and portfolio listed under records plus a score at or above the 30th percentile on a nationally norm-referenced test taken in the past year, the school must place your child at a grade and course level equal to or higher than the level in your home school. Otherwise, placement is set by agreement between you and the school.

A district cannot deny credit for homeschool courses when you produce the records the state rules list. Without them, the district alone decides which credits to award, and graduation can be delayed until the credits are made up.

A child of school age who is not enrolled in school and has no filed notice is not legally homeschooled. A district can then treat the absences as truancy and file a Families in Need of Services (FINS) petition with the court, and the state does not process a notice while that case is open.

Your district's home school liaison marks your notice as reviewed in the state system. If a field is missing or the wrong district was chosen, the liaison sends it to the state Home School Office to correct, and you may be asked for the missing information.