Withdrawing Your Student to Homeschool
Families in North Carolina choose to homeschool for many reasons. Some families come to the conclusion that they need to homeschool as a result of unpleasant experiences in public schools. Often that means figuring out what to do in the middle of a school year.
If you are withdrawing your student from a public school in order to begin a home education program, all you need to do in order to un-enroll your child in the school they are currently attending is follow the individual school’s procedure for withdrawing your child.
Here are some tips and recommendations from me, based on information from the NC Division of Non-Public education, the NC State Board of Education, and the experiences of seasoned homeschoolers.
The same procedures will apply if you are withdrawing your student regardless of whether you are withdrawing them in the middle of a term or at the beginning of the new year.
Students Under Seven
If you don’t have an open homeschool and your child is not seven years old, and will NOT be turning seven prior to June 1, of that school year, all you need to do to withdraw them is to follow their current school’s procedures for withdrawing them.
Your school officials may ask you for your home school code, or a copy of your NOI (Notice of Intent to Homeschool), or a copy of your confirmation email from the NCDNPE. You won’t have any of that just yet since your child has not reached the compulsory school age, but don’t panic, keep reading.
You can’t file a Notice of Intent to Homeschool with the North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education until the school year during which your child will turn seven. Visit the How to Homeschool page for all the details on this.
What can you do to avoid confusion on the part of school officials and social workers?
The state has provided the schools with alternative documentation; if you are withdrawing a student to homeschool them and do not have a NOI because of the child’s age, you may alternatively provide them with an email or letter signed by the parent/guardian.
- Contact the school administration and submit, in writing, (email or letter) the information that you are withdrawing your student to begin a home education program – include whatever information you feel comfortable revealing about your home education program.
- If they have questions, educate them on the homeschooling and compulsory attendance laws by sharing the document from NCDNPE that assures them the NOI is not necessary for children who are 5 and 6 years old (or younger).
- Keep copies of any documentation you receive from the school or that you send to the school
- Complete withdrawal forms if they request them and follow the local school’s policies for withdrawing your child
- Begin homeschooling!
Reminder: Do not send in your NOI to the Division of Non-Public Schools until the school year in which your child will turn 7. Then they request that you submit it at least 30 days before they will turn seven, so that you will be able to remain in compliance with NC’s compulsory attendance laws.
Students, Seven Years of Age and Older
If they are seven, or will turn seven this school year, you will need to visit the NC Division of Non-Public Education’s website to complete your Notice of Intent to Homeschool:
- If you have never opened a homeschool before, it is easy to complete the NOI online.
- You only have to complete one NOI to open your homeschool, even if you later add more children to your homeschool.
- Your homeschool stays open until you officially close it with the NCDNPE.
Steps to Complete the Notice of Intent to Homeschool
- Complete the form online, or print out and mail your copy to the DNPE from July-April
- You will get an email shortly from the DNPE detailing how you should submit your proof of high school graduation.
- You can use your GED, high school or college diploma, high school or college transcripts.
- You will receive an official acknowledgement of your completed NOI from DNPE by email, so make sure they have the email you want to use.
- You can submit a copy of your email acknowledgement to the school administration.
- Complete withdrawal forms if they request them, and follow the local school’s policies to withdraw your child
- Keep copies of all documentation you receive or send to the school
- Begin homeschooling!
Re-enrollment
If at some point your child needs to be re-enrolled in the local school, the local school should be able to use the records you have kept of your homeschooling and proper annual testing to determine your child’s grade placement. (see NC statutes below re: double testing of students)
§ 115C-288 …A principal shall not require additional testing of a student entering a public school from a school governed under Article 39 of this Chapter if test scores from a nationally standardized test or nationally standardized equivalent measure that are adequate to determine the appropriate placement of the child are available.
When your child re-enrolls in a school, if you have no other students attending your homeschool, you will need to close your homeschool with the NCDNPE.
Additional Information
Once you have set up your account online at the DNPE’s website, you can access other information there:
- Report Student Information
- Record Annual Testing Information
- Update Your address if it changes
- Print Out a Verification Record
- Close Your Homeschool
Before you leave our website, you might want to check out our other pages with simple explanations for other homeschooling requirements in our state.