South Dakota homeschool letters

The letters a family sends, addressed and ready to print. Nothing you type is saved or sent.

South Dakota asks for a notice: Within 30 days of starting, and within 30 days of a transition., to Your local school district or the Department of Education (the online form notifies both).. Below are that notice, the letter to the school your child is leaving, and the letters for when homeschooling ends or you move.

Checked October 27, 2026. Information, not legal advice: South Dakota's statute and education department are the final word.

State letters 0.1.0 · nothing you type is saved or sent

Which letter? Notice of intent to homeschool Letter to the school your child is leaving Letter when homeschooling ends Change of address

To: Your local school district or the Department of Education (the online form notifies both). · When: Within 30 days of starting, and within 30 days of a transition. · South Dakota has its own form: Alternative Instruction Notification (online, South Dakota Department of Education). Send that; this letter can go with it as a cover note.

What South Dakota's law asks the notice to give: File an Alternative Instruction Notification on the Department of Education's form with your local school district or the Department of Education. The online system sends it to both. The Department says it is required only one time for each child unless a transition happens: file within 30 days of first starting alternative instruction, and again within 30 days of enrolling the child in a public or nonpublic school or moving to a different district. The school board does not approve it. Put each item in the details box, one a line.

Your name Date Starting

Your address (it prints under your name) Children's names, one a line (they print on the letter only) Details the law asks for, one a line

________________

To: Your local school district or the Department of Education (the online form notifies both).

Re: Notice of intent to homeschool, South Dakota

I am writing to give notice that I will provide home education for ________________, beginning ________________, under South Dakota's homeschool law.

________________

Please confirm that you have received this notice. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Signed ______________________________

________________

Before you send it

Read what to file in South Dakota: the To and By lines there are the ones these letters use, each linked to the law.
Keep a copy, and send it a way you can prove: by hand with a dated receipt, by certified mail, or by email if the office accepts it.
Taking a child out of school mid-year? See the South Dakota checklist for the order of steps.