Our grants are only offered to homeschooling families. To be eligible, the parent or legal guardian should:

• be privately funding their homeschool program (as opposed to it being paid for by public funds);
• conduct the majority of the schooling at home (as opposed to a daily drop-off co-op); and
• have the authority to choose their child’s studies (as opposed to having the curriculum chosen by a school).

Generally, yes. The Constitution protects the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children, which includes the right to privately teach one’s own children instead of sending them to public schools. That said, you should follow two basic steps when you decide to homeschool your child.

First, you need to comply with any legal requirements to set up your homeschool program. You can find homeschool laws (including any requirements to get started) for all 50 states and US territories on our interactive legal map. HSLDA members can also contact their state’s legal team with any questions about starting a homeschool program.

Second, if your child was previously enrolled in another school (whether public or private), you should formally withdraw your student from that school when you begin your homeschool program.

For more information about withdrawing, read our "How do I withdraw my child from public or private school?" FAQ.

There are several factors to keep in mind when answering this question.

The typical homeschool day—especially for elementary-age children—takes a lot less time than it does in a traditional school setting because of the concentrated, one-on-one instruction that you can give your children.

Homeschooling is also incredibly flexible, which gives you the opportunity to customize your homeschool schedule. You can organize your homeschool day (and week!) around your child’s learning pace, your family’s calendar, extracurricular activities, and even your work schedule.

However, homeschooling is still a big investment for you as a parent. It involves taking full responsibility for your child’s education—planning out their school year and field trips, arranging for testing or other assessments, recordkeeping, figuring out what subjects or lessons you will teach and which ones you might delegate to a tutor, a co-op, another parent, or an online or local course, and so on.