Florida asks for one notice at the start, one evaluation each year, and a portfolio you keep at home for two years. What trips families up is a scholarship program that quietly replaces your homeschool status entirely.
Verified against primary sources August 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
What Florida requires, in short
File a notice of intent with your district within 30 days of starting; it is one time, not annual. Keep a contemporaneous log of activities naming reading materials by title, plus work samples, for two years. Once a year, choose one of five evaluation methods and file the result with the district. There is no required curriculum, no hours requirement, and no mandatory testing.
NoticeOnce, within 30 days of starting
Annual filingEvaluation, filed with the district
Records you must keepActivity log with reading titles, plus work samples
RetentionTwo years, producible on 15 days' notice
TestingOptional (one of five evaluation methods)
Compulsory ages6 to 16
Your legal options in Florida
Home education program (the standard route)
You register with your district and run your own program. This is what the rest of this page describes.
Notice of intent within 30 days of starting
Portfolio kept two years
Annual evaluation filed with the district
Keeps you eligible for dual enrollment, Bright Futures, and interscholastic sports
Enroll in a private umbrella school
Your child becomes a private school student. The school files the state survey and holds the records; you file nothing with the district.
No district notice, portfolio, or evaluation
The school sets its own requirements
Immunization rules apply, since your child now attends a private school
Personalized Education Program scholarship (PEP)
A state scholarship for students not enrolled full-time in any school. Important: PEP is legally NOT home education. Registering for it means ending your district home education status.
Register with a scholarship funding organization instead of the district
Submit a student learning plan each year and an annual norm-referenced test result to the organization
You cannot hold PEP and home education registration at the same time
What the law actually requires
File a notice of intent within 30 days
Send a written, signed notice to your district superintendent's office within 30 days of establishing your home education program. It must include the full legal names, addresses, and birthdates of each child. This is a one-time notice, not an annual renewal. Each district provides its own form or portal; the statute requires only the content, not a particular form.
Florida Statutes 1002.41(1)(a)
Keep a portfolio: an activity log with reading titles, plus work samples
The statute is specific. You keep a log of educational activities made contemporaneously with the instruction (meaning as you go, not reconstructed in June) that designates by title any reading materials used, along with samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials the student used or developed.
Florida Statutes 1002.41(1)(b)
Keep it two years and be ready to produce it on 15 days' notice
The portfolio stays with you for two years. The superintendent may request to inspect it with 15 days' written notice. In practice this is rare, but the two-year clock and the 15-day response window are both statutory.
Florida Statutes 1002.41(1)(c)
File an annual evaluation with the district
Once a year you choose one of five methods and file the result with the superintendent's office: a certified teacher reviews the portfolio and discusses progress with the student; the student takes any nationally normed achievement test administered by a certified teacher; the student takes a state assessment administered by the district; a licensed psychologist evaluates the student; or you and the superintendent agree on another valid measurement tool. You pick the method, not the district.
Florida Statutes 1002.41(1)(f)
File a termination notice when you finish
When the program ends, whether because the student graduates or enrolls elsewhere, send written notice of termination to the superintendent within 30 days, along with the final annual evaluation.
Florida Statutes 1002.41(1)(g)
Your compliance calendar
Within 30 days of starting
File the notice of intent with your district superintendent.
All year
Keep the activity log current, listing reading materials by title, and collect work samples.
Once a year
Complete the evaluation and file it with the district. Most districts expect it around the anniversary of your notice; note that the annual timing is district practice, since the statute says only "annually."
Within 30 days of ending the program
File the termination notice plus the final evaluation.
Records to keep
Contemporaneous activity log. Dated entries of what was studied, with reading materials named by title. Contemporaneous is the operative word: build it as you go.
Work samples. Writings, worksheets, workbooks, and creative materials the student used or produced. No required quantity.
Evaluation results. Each year's evaluation, since it is both your compliance record and your evidence of continuous enrollment.
Copies of what you filed. Notice of intent, each annual evaluation, and any termination notice. Bright Futures requires proof of home education enrollment during grades 11 and 12.
Transcript and course descriptions (high school). Not required by Florida, but required by colleges and dual-enrollment programs, and Florida dual enrollment involves a signed agreement with a graduation date you cannot change later.
No days or hours requirement, no attendance log, and no school calendar.
No required subjects or curriculum approval. You choose what to teach.
No teaching credential or degree.
No standardized testing, unless you choose testing as your evaluation method.
No submission of the portfolio itself: the evaluation is filed, the portfolio is kept.
No immunization records for home education students (immunization rules attach to school attendance, so umbrella-school and dual-enrolled students are different).
No notarization on anything, including a parent-issued transcript or diploma.
Questions Florida families ask
Do I have to refile my Florida notice of intent every year?
No. The notice of intent is filed once, within 30 days of establishing your home education program. What repeats annually is the evaluation, which you file with the district.
What are the five evaluation options in Florida?
A certified teacher reviews the portfolio and discusses progress with the student; any nationally normed achievement test administered by a certified teacher; a state assessment administered by the district; an evaluation by a licensed psychologist; or another valid measurement tool you and the superintendent agree on. You choose the method, not the district.
Can the school district ask to see my portfolio?
The superintendent may request an inspection with 15 days written notice. The portfolio is inspected, not surrendered, and nothing else about your program is subject to review.
Is the PEP scholarship the same as homeschooling in Florida?
No. Florida law makes students registered in a home education program ineligible for the PEP scholarship, so joining PEP means ending your district home education registration. PEP families report to a scholarship funding organization instead, with a learning plan and an annual test.
Common myths about Florida homeschool law, corrected
The notice of intent has to be renewed every year.
It is a one-time notice. What repeats annually is the evaluation, filed with the district.
Your evaluation is due by the anniversary of your notice of intent.
That is district convention, and worth following to avoid friction, but the statute says only that the evaluation is filed annually.
The district can ask to see your portfolio whenever it wants.
It requires 15 days' written notice from the superintendent, and the portfolio is inspected, not surrendered. Nothing else in your program is subject to review.
PEP scholarship families are homeschoolers.
Legally they are a separate category. Florida law makes students registered in a home education program ineligible for the PEP scholarship, so joining PEP means ending home education registration with your district. Different accountability, different paperwork.
Homeschooled students cannot get Bright Futures.
There is an explicit home education path. It substitutes test scores for the GPA requirement and requires that the student was in a home education program during grades 11 and 12, which your filed evaluations prove.
Recent and pending changes
The home education statute itself has not been amended since 2018.
The 2023 school choice law created the PEP scholarship category, which sits alongside home education rather than inside it. Scholarship rules have been amended repeatedly since, so verify current requirements with your funding organization each year.
Free tools for Florida families
Transcript builder: Florida requires no transcript, but dual enrollment agreements lock in a graduation date and Bright Futures has a home education path that depends on your filed records.
GPA calculator: weighted and unweighted, computed the way colleges do it.
Reference information reviewed August 2026 against primary sources (statutes, NCAA and Common App published requirements). This is general information, not legal advice; requirements change, so verify anything load-bearing for your family against your state's current law.