How to Homeschool in Iowa

What Iowa homeschool law requires

The whole list for the 2026–2027 school year, from Iowa Code chapter 299A and the Department of Education:

Iowa DOE: homeschooling (private instruction) Iowa Code chapter 299A (PDF)

How to start homeschooling in Iowa

1. Choose your route: independent private instruction (nothing filed, no evaluation), competent private instruction reported to your district on Form A by September 1 (a yearly evaluation follows), or competent private instruction supervised by a licensed teacher, such as a district's home school assistance program.
2. Withdraw your child from the public school. On the reporting route, file Form A with the district by September 1.
3. Teach mathematics, reading and language arts, science and social studies at every grade. Faith Schooling covers the first two; you add science and social studies.
4. Plan the year. On independent instruction Iowa counts no days; on the reporting route it is 148 days, 37 a quarter. The free Homeschool Rhythm Builder turns either into a printable plan.
5. On the reporting route, arrange the evaluation by May 31 (a standardized test from the Department's list, or a lesson record and portfolio reviewed by a licensed Iowa teacher) and report the results to the district and the Department by August 1. A child placed under competent private instruction for the first time, or at seven, takes a baseline evaluation.
6. Keep the pages. On the independent route they answer the short written report a superintendent or the Department may ask for: the instructor, the place, who is responsible and the children taught.

How Faith Schooling covers Iowa's requirements

Iowa sets no days or hours for independent private instruction. Competent private instruction by a parent asks for 148 days a year, 37 in each quarter, with no hour count: 37 weeks of four days.

Iowa names four subjects for independent private instruction, and the law says a parent may teach them for private or religious reasons. Two of the four are ours in full: reading and language arts are Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency and Grammar Garden, mathematics is Building Number Sense, each a sequenced textbook with a teaching guide for every grade from Kindergarten to Grade 5. Science and social studies are yours to choose, and a family on the reporting route has, in the dated, finished pages, the lesson record and portfolio a licensed teacher reviews in place of a test.

Iowa asks for no records on the independent route; a reporting family keeps the evaluation it files each year. The dated, finished pages of each program are that record, and a HARVEST report is a placement note for the file.

Mathematics

Building Number Sense K–5 mathematics textbooks; Kindergarten to Grade 2 add practice workbooks and teaching guides

Reading and language arts

Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency K–5 reading textbooks in four quarterly volumes a year, with complete teaching guides

Science and social studies

Your choice Faith Schooling does not publish these subjects; choose what fits your family

Bible

The Apostolic Academy not something Iowa requires; free: Scripture memory, Bible study and printables for the family

The curriculum map Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency Grammar Garden Building Number Sense HARVEST placement Homeschool Rhythm Builder

Financial assistance for Iowa homeschoolers

Iowa's Tuition and Textbook Credit covers a dependent receiving private instruction (independent or competent private instruction, which the Department also calls homeschooling): 25 percent of the first $2,000 of qualifying tuition and textbook expenses paid for each dependent. Tuition for competent private instruction under chapter 299A counts; amounts for food, lodging or clothing, for the teaching of religious tenets, or for tutoring not paid to a school do not, and purchases made with Students First ESA funds are excluded.

• Taxpayers who have one or more dependents receiving private instruction in Iowa, as defined in section 422.12 (also referred to as homeschooling), may take the credit. Source: Iowa Department of Revenue, Tuition and Textbook Credit (K-12 only), expanded instructions, read 9 October 2026.
• The credit amount is 25% of the first $2,000 of qualifying expenses paid for each dependent for tuition and textbooks; tuition for any accredited K–12 school or for competent private instruction as defined in Iowa Code section 299A.2 qualifies. Source: Iowa Department of Revenue, Tuition and Textbook Credit (K-12 only), expanded instructions, read 9 October 2026.
• Amounts for food, lodging or clothing, amounts relating to the teaching of religious tenets, doctrines or worship, and amounts for tutoring not paid to a school are ineligible; purchases made from Students First Educational Savings Account funds are not eligible. Source: Iowa Department of Revenue, Tuition and Textbook Credit (K-12 only), expanded instructions, read 9 October 2026.

Tuition and Textbook Credit (Iowa Department of Revenue)

Public school access and other opportunities in Iowa

Iowa ties access to the reporting route: a family on independent private instruction files nothing with the district and has no claim on it, while a reported family has this:

• Dual enrollment lets a child reported under competent private instruction take part in district classes and activities. Source: Iowa Department of Education, Homeschooling (Private Instruction), read 8 October 2026.

What Iowa does not require, and you should still do

• Place your child. Independent private instruction has no test, and a reporting family's first evaluation is a baseline; HARVEST, the free placement check, names the grade and quarter to start in reading and math before either.
• Plan the year. The Homeschool Rhythm Builder turns your week into a printable plan, and on the reporting route it is the 148-day calendar with its 37 days a quarter.
• Keep the pages. On the independent route they answer the short report a superintendent may ask for; on the reporting route they are the portfolio option.

HARVEST free placement Homeschool Rhythm Builder The Apostolic Academy