Homeschool Requirements in South Dakota

South Dakota asks for very little. Start with the first section: what you file, if anything, and the date it is due. The rest is short. Every claim here is cited at the foot of the page, so you can check it against the code rather than take our word for it.

What you file, and by when

One-time Alternative Instruction Notification filed with the SD Department of Education (online system or paper form), within 30 days of beginning alternative instruction. Only one notification per child unless a “transition” occurs (moving to a different resident district, stopping homeschooling, or enrolling in a public/nonpublic school), in which case an updated notification is due within 30 days. No annual renewal. SDCL 13-27-3.

Days or hours

No statutory hour requirement. SDCL 13-27-3 requires instruction “for at least the same length of time as students in the public schools”, commonly read as roughly 175 days. This is one of the softer points of SD law; there is no reporting mechanism verifying it.

Subjects you must cover

Only language arts and mathematics are required, and instruction “shall be given so as to lead to a mastery of the English language.” No other mandated subjects. SDCL 13-27-3.

Records you keep

No records required to be submitted or maintained by statute. No portfolios, no periodic reports. Keeping your own attendance log, curriculum list, and transcript is strongly recommended (especially for high school) but is not legally mandated.

Nothing goes to a district, so the only account of the four years is the one you write. Writing the counselor letter when the counselor is you.

Testing or evaluation

None. South Dakota’s 2021 overhaul (SB 177, 2021) removed the prior standardized-testing requirement for grades 4, 8, and 11. No state assessment, portfolio review, or progress report is required.

Diplomas and transcripts

No state rules on homeschool high school credits, transcripts, or diplomas. Parents issue their own diploma and transcript; South Dakota does not accredit or validate them. An active alternative-instruction notification on file is required to access reduced-tuition dual credit (plus a Memorandum of Understanding), and to participate in public-school athletics/activities, so families with a high schooler doing dual credit should confirm the notification is active in the DOE system.

A diploma you signed yourself gets read against the transcript behind it. What a college actually does with a homeschool transcript.

If the transcript is the piece you are missing, it is free on its own: The Transcript Template, with the weighted and unweighted GPA already wired.

Where this comes from

Statute: S.D. Codified Laws § 13-27-3 (as amended by 2021 S.B. 177); see also SDCL 13-27-1 (compulsory attendance, ages 6-18) and 13-27-3.1.

Source: https://doe.sd.gov/oatq/homeschooling.aspx

Last reviewed: July 2026. The day is not recorded.

Homeschool law changes, and a page like this goes stale without saying so. Before a filing deadline, read the statute above for yourself. If we are behind, we would rather hear it from you than have you find out at the district office.

All fifty states and DC, each with its statute cited.

Filing is one half of it. Keeping the records is the other, and that is what our Records System is for: the editable transcript with the GPA already wired, 131 course descriptions, and this same statute-cited summary for all fifty states and DC. Thirty-nine dollars, one household, however many children you have.