How to Homeschool in North Dakota

North Dakota is one of the more regulated homeschool states in the country, and the paperwork trips up families far more often than the actual teaching does. Before you pull your child from school or enroll a kindergartner at home, there is a specific form to file, a deadline to hit, and annual obligations to keep up with. Miss any of them and you are technically out of compliance — which matters in a state that does require periodic standardized testing.

The good news: once you understand the structure, North Dakota's system is predictable. Here is exactly what you need to know.

Who Can Legally Homeschool in North Dakota

North Dakota sets a minimum credential for the parent doing the teaching. You must hold a high school diploma or its equivalent (GED). That is the floor — no teaching certificate required for most families.

The exception works in your favor: if you hold a valid North Dakota teaching license, a bachelor's degree, or have passed a national teacher examination, you qualify as a "certified teacher" under state law. That classification matters primarily for the testing requirements discussed below.

Filing the Statement of Intent

Before you begin instruction, you must file SFN 16909 — Statement of Intent to Provide Home Education with your local public school superintendent. Two filing windows apply:

• New starters: File at least 5 days before you begin instruction.
• New residents: File within 14 days of establishing residency in the district.

This is an annual requirement. You re-file every year — it does not carry over automatically. The form asks for basic information: the child's name, grade level, the subjects you plan to teach, and the name of any curriculum you intend to use.

If you are withdrawing a child from public school mid-year, file the Statement of Intent before their last day. Some districts will ask to see it before processing the withdrawal; having it ready avoids unnecessary back-and-forth.

Required Subjects

North Dakota specifies the subjects that must be covered under NDCC §15.1-23. Your program must include:

• Reading
• Language arts and composition
• Mathematics
• Social studies — with required emphasis on North Dakota history and the history and cultures of Native American tribes within the state
• Science — including agriculture
• Health and physical education
• Computer science and cybersecurity

The agriculture component surprises families who have never lived on a farm. You do not need acreage to satisfy it — age-appropriate lessons on food systems, crop science, or land stewardship qualify. The computer science and cybersecurity requirement is a newer addition reflecting the state's updated curriculum standards.

Instructional Time

You are required to provide at least 175 instructional days per year, with a minimum of 4 hours of instruction per day. That works out to 700 hours annually — comparable to a standard public school year.

How you structure those days is entirely up to you. Year-round schooling, four-day weeks, and block scheduling all work as long as the total hours are met and your records reflect it. North Dakota does not require you to submit lesson plans or daily logs to the district, but maintaining them yourself is smart insurance if questions ever arise.

Testing Requirements

This is where North Dakota diverges most sharply from low-regulation states, and where the certified versus non-certified distinction matters most.

If you are a certified teacher (valid ND teaching license, bachelor's degree, or national teacher exam), you may file a philosophical, moral, or religious objection to testing. If that objection is on file, your child is exempt from the standardized testing requirement entirely.

If you are a non-certified parent, your child must be tested in grades 4, 6, 8, and 10. The tests must be administered by a state-certified teacher — you cannot administer them yourself.

You have two testing options:

1. ND A+ Summative Assessment — administered through the local public school district at no cost to you.
2. A nationally normed test (Iowa Assessments, Stanford 10, or similar) — at your own expense, still administered by a certified teacher.

Score thresholds determine what happens next:

• At or above the 50th percentile composite: no further action required.
• Below the 50th percentile: the child must be monitored by a certified teacher for the following year.
• Below the 30th percentile: a multidisciplinary assessment is required and you must develop a formal remediation plan.

One recent change to note: the testing year shifted from grade 11 to grade 10 when North Dakota updated its A+ assessment program. If you have older students who were planning around the old schedule, confirm the current requirements with your district or NDHSA.

If you are at the early stages and want a clear path through the paperwork — withdrawal letter, Statement of Intent instructions, subject planning checklists, and a testing-year tracker all built for North Dakota specifically — the North Dakota Legal Withdrawal Blueprint lays it out step by step.

Extracurricular Access

North Dakota's Tim Tebow law, codified at NDCC §15.1-23-16, allows homeschooled students to participate in public school extracurricular activities — sports, band, drama, clubs — at the school they would otherwise attend based on their home address. Students must meet the same eligibility requirements as enrolled students: academic standing, try-outs, fees, and activity rules all apply.

In a state where homeschool co-ops can be small or hours away, this access is meaningful. It gives kids competitive athletics and ensemble experiences without re-enrolling full time.

Records and Support Organizations

North Dakota does not require you to submit lesson plans, attendance logs, or portfolios to the district — but keeping your own records is worth the effort. If a testing year comes back with scores below the 50th percentile, documented evidence of what you covered and how much time you spent will support any monitoring conversations with the superintendent's office. A simple spreadsheet tracking subjects, hours, and dates is usually sufficient.

Two organizations are worth knowing:

North Dakota Home School Association (NDHSA) is the primary state-level organization. They publish guidance on current requirements, maintain a list of certified teachers available to administer standardized tests, and host an annual convention. For families who feel isolated in rural areas, the network is genuinely useful.

HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) offers membership-based legal coverage for homeschool families. Whether you need it depends on your comfort level with North Dakota's filing requirements, but their state-specific legal summaries are freely available and accurate.

High School and College

Parents may issue a valid high school diploma to their homeschooled graduates. There is no state-issued diploma process or required exit exam (outside the grade 10 standardized test for non-certified families).

For college, North Dakota's major public universities — NDSU, UND, Minot State, and Dickinson State — are all test-optional for homeschooled applicants. Admissions decisions lean on transcripts, portfolios, and sometimes an interview rather than ACT or SAT scores alone. Keeping thorough records from early on makes that process considerably smoother.

North Dakota's homeschool enrollment reached a record 5,953 students in 2025-2026 — up 73% since 2019-2020 and now representing nearly 6% of the total K-12 population. Families across the state are making the system work. The key is getting the initial filing right and knowing what the testing years require before they arrive.

For a complete walkthrough built around North Dakota's specific statutes — including every form, deadline, and compliance checkpoint — see the North Dakota Legal Withdrawal Blueprint.