Homeschooling in California
What California actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
United StatesFiling requiredWho is in charge
California Department of Education (private school affidavit) or the private school satellite program the family enrols in
Who actually reviews your child
No one. The CDE records the affidavit; it does not approve or review private schools.
What you must file
Private School Affidavit (PSA)
Statutory window 1-15 October; the filing system is open 1 August - 30 June for new schools and home schools
Goes to: California Department of Education, online
A family enrolled in a private school satellite program (PSP) does NOT file its own PSA, the PSP files on their behalf.
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for California, which today are Mathematics (487 of 496) and Science (525 of 535). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of California's published standards. We do not hold California's own standards for English and Social Studies yet, and they are being added. Physical Education is not in the app for California yet. A moment in any of those subjects is kept on the general map for your child's age and named that way in the record, so the record never cites California's curriculum where we hold none of it. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Other places in United States
Sources last checked on 2026-08-11: cde.ca.gov. That is the date we checked, not the date the rule last changed.