How to Homeschool in Nebraska: A Complete Getting-Started Guide

Nebraska is one of the easier states to homeschool in — especially after the 2024 legislative changes that stripped out most of the paperwork that used to slow families down. But the process is not obvious on first encounter, largely because Nebraska uses its own terminology that does not match what most people search for.

When you homeschool in Nebraska, you are not registering as a homeschooler. You are establishing a private exempt school. That distinction shapes everything: what forms you file, who has authority over your program, and what protections you have against overreach from your local school district.

This guide walks through the complete setup process from the first day you decide to start through your first full year of operation.

What "Exempt School" Actually Means

Nebraska Revised Statutes §79-1601 requires all private schools to meet state accreditation standards unless they formally elect not to. Families who choose to teach their children at home exercise that election by filing for exempt school status with the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE).

An exempt school is a legally recognized private educational institution. You are the administrator. Your child is the student. Your home (or whatever location you primarily teach in) is the school building. The state acknowledges your right to operate it but does not supervise, inspect, or approve your program.

This structure matters for several reasons:

• Your local principal and school board have no authority over your program
• You issue your child's transcript and diploma
• You choose your curriculum, teaching approach, and academic calendar
• You cannot be required to submit curriculum materials, testing results, or instructor credentials to anyone

The only entity with authority to acknowledge or challenge an exempt school is the Commissioner of Education at the state level. This means that if a local administrator ever pressures you about your homeschool program, the correct response is to refer them to the NDE.

The Two-Part Legal Process for Starting

Starting homeschooling in Nebraska involves two steps that often need to happen simultaneously, especially if you are pulling a child out of public school mid-year.

Part 1: Withdraw from the Current School

If your child is currently enrolled in a public or private school, you send a formal withdrawal letter directly to the school's principal and superintendent. This is a local notification — separate from the NDE filing — that immediately removes your child from the school's enrollment and stops the attendance tracking that could otherwise trigger a truancy investigation.

Send this letter via certified mail with return receipt requested. The date-stamped return receipt is your documentation that the school received notice before any truancy clock started running.

Keep the letter brief. State your child's name, the effective withdrawal date, and that your child will be enrolled in a private exempt school in compliance with Nebraska law. You do not need to explain your reasons, describe your curriculum, or request permission.

Part 2: File Rule 13 with the NDE

"Rule 13" refers to Title 92, Chapter 13 of the Nebraska Administrative Code — the rules governing how exempt schools establish and maintain their status. Filing Rule 13 is how you officially create your exempt school in the eyes of the state.

You submit two forms to the NDE:

Form A — Statement of Election and Assurances. This formally declares that you are declining state accreditation based on your religious beliefs or your fundamental right as a parent to direct your child's education. It includes a written assurance (added by LB 1027 in 2024) that the person monitoring instruction is qualified. You sign this assurance — no external credential verification takes place.

Form B — Authorized Parent Representative Form. This designates the primary adult contact for your school and establishes your school's dates of operation (your academic calendar).

If this is your first filing, attach a certified copy of your child's birth certificate. This is required once under the Nebraska Missing Children Identification Act.

The annual filing deadline is July 15. If you are starting mid-year, file "promptly" — as soon as possible after withdrawing from the previous school.

After the NDE processes your paperwork, you receive an acknowledgment letter. This document is important: save it permanently. You will need it for college applications, extracurricular eligibility, and as proof of legal operation if anyone ever questions your status.

What LB 1027 Changed in 2024

If you have read older blog posts, watched YouTube tutorials, or gotten advice from Facebook groups, assume that any guide written before mid-2024 is at least partially outdated. Legislative Bill 1027, passed in April 2024, was the largest change to Nebraska homeschool law in 40 years.

What was eliminated:

• The requirement to submit curriculum information to the NDE (the portal still shows a curriculum step, but it is no longer required — many families unknowingly volunteer this information based on outdated guides)
• The requirement to report the names and qualifications of instructional monitors
• The NDE's authority to conduct home visits or mandate standardized testing
• The requirement for both parents to sign paperwork (one parent can now file alone)

What this means practically: the state no longer cares what you teach, how you assess it, or who teaches it. You file two forms per year confirming you are operating an exempt school, and that is the extent of state oversight.

Instructional Hours: What Nebraska Actually Requires

This is the one substantive requirement that did not change with LB 1027. Nebraska mandates:

• 1,032 instructional hours per year for grades K-8
• 1,080 instructional hours per year for grades 9-12

The school year runs July 1 through June 30. You report your start and end dates when you file Form B — you set those dates yourself.

An instructional hour is 60 minutes of actual instruction. Nebraska law is reasonably broad about what counts: textbook lessons, structured educational games, library research sessions, science experiments, educational documentaries, supervised field trips, and community service with an educational component all qualify. Lunch, recess, and commute time do not.

Practically, most homeschool families find that 3-4 hours of focused daily work covers the elementary requirement easily. The student-to-teacher ratio at home is dramatically better than in a classroom, which means the same academic content takes far less time.

If you withdraw mid-year, prorate your hours. Calculate how many days remain in the school year after your withdrawal date, divide by 180 (the standard school year length), and multiply by 1,032 or 1,080. That gives you the hours you are responsible for from withdrawal through June 30.

Track your hours in a daily log. The NDE does not audit your records — but if DHHS or a county attorney ever opens an inquiry based on a complaint, your log closes that inquiry quickly.

The Five Subject Areas

Nebraska requires that home instruction lead to proficiency in five core areas: language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and health. The state does not specify curriculum, textbooks, teaching methods, or assessment formats. These five areas are a compliance requirement, not a constraint on how you teach.

Building Your Program: Practical Decisions

Once you are legally established, you face the actual work of designing an education. A few Nebraska-specific resources worth knowing:

Dual enrollment and dual credit. Nebraska homeschoolers have a statutory right to part-time enrollment and extracurricular participation at their resident public school under NRS §79-2,136. For high school students, community college dual-credit programs (Southeast Community College, Central Community College, and others) offer permanent college credits at significantly discounted tuition — and those college courses count toward your 1,080-hour state mandate.

Transcripts and diplomas. Nebraska does not issue diplomas to homeschooled students. As the administrator of your exempt school, you issue your child's diploma upon completion. When applying to colleges, your child presents a parent-prepared transcript. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln requires the transcript, a curriculum synopsis, your NDE acknowledgment letter, and standardized test scores (ACT 24+ or SAT 1180+) to offset the non-accredited status.

Extracurriculars. For NSAA-sanctioned sports at the high school level, your child must complete at least 20 credit hours per semester, with at least 5 of those taken through the public school. The district cannot require more than 5 credits from them.

Support organizations. NCHEA (Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association) runs the largest statewide support network and was instrumental in passing LB 1027. Nebraska Homeschool (NH-HEN) serves the Omaha metro with a secular/inclusive focus. Local co-ops in Kearney, Grand Island, Lincoln, and Omaha provide enrichment classes and field trip groups.

The Annual Renewal Process

Each year by July 15, you refile Form A and Form B with the NDE. This is not a new application — it is an annual renewal of your exempt school status. The process is the same as the initial filing minus the birth certificate.

Mark July 15 on your calendar at the start of each school year. Missing the deadline does not automatically result in prosecution, but filing late creates a gap in your documented compliance period that is worth avoiding.

Getting the paperwork right in the first weeks of homeschooling saves significant headaches later — especially if you are withdrawing mid-year or if your district has a history of being difficult about releases. The Nebraska Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers the complete filing checklist, the local withdrawal letter template, the hour tracker, and the mid-year proration calculation in one place, updated for the post-LB 1027 rules.

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