Pulling your child out of school.

Deep breath. This is the whole road, in order: the paperwork, the first morning, the first month. It is more paperwork than drama, and thousands of families did it this year. You do not need to figure out curriculum tonight. You need the sequence, and it is short.

The road

Five steps, in order. Everything on this page hangs off them.

Today or tomorrow: learn your state's sequence. One state-specific step has a legal clock. Do that one first.

This week: file your notice of intent, if your state requires one, in the order your state requires.

Tomorrow morning: run a simple day. No curriculum. Rhythm, not rigor.

Weeks one to four: deschool. This is a real phase with a name, not a gap you are failing to fill.

Week four and later: choose curriculum, once, calmly, after you have watched how your child actually learns at home.

That is the whole road. The sections below walk each step.

Step one: your state's rules and the clock

Withdrawal is legal in every state, but the sequence differs: some states require a notice of intent before your child stops attending, others after, a few not at all. Getting the order right is the difference between a clean exit and a truancy letter. This is the only step on this page with a legal deadline attached, which is why it comes first, tonight, before the gentler parts.

Step two: the notice of intent

The notice of intent is a short form or letter telling your district you are assuming responsibility for your child's education. It is a notification, not a permission request. The district does not approve or deny it. File it in your state's sequence, keep a dated copy, and send it by a method you can prove. If your child is currently enrolled, do not simply stop sending them before the paperwork lands; that gap is where truancy letters come from.

Step three: tomorrow morning

Day one does not need a curriculum. It needs three things: breakfast at the usual time, one thing to read together, and a walk. The structure your child needs this week is rhythm, not rigor. Then tomorrow afternoon, one more thing: a short, honest conversation with your child about what is happening and why. Not a sales pitch. A sentence or two, and then you listen.

Step four: the first month has a name

The strange, unstructured feeling of the first weeks is called deschooling, and it is supposed to happen. The working rule of thumb many families use is roughly one month of decompression for each year your child spent in school, adjusted to your child. During this phase your job is not to teach six subjects. It is to watch: when your child is alert, what they reach for, what they avoid, how long they can sit. Those observations are the data that make step five easy instead of terrifying.

What not to do in the first month: do not buy a boxed curriculum this week. Panic purchases in week one are the single most common regret experienced homeschoolers report. The money will still spend in week four, and by then you will know what you are buying for.

Step five: curriculum, once, calmly

Around week three or four, patterns emerge and the curriculum question becomes answerable instead of overwhelming. When you get there, this site's reviews are tested, secular, and free of affiliate money, so the recommendation is the recommendation. Until then, the library card and the observations from step four are doing the real work.

If money is part of the question

In a growing number of states, the same government that ran your child's school will now help pay for their education at home: education savings accounts, tax credits, and scholarship programs, with real dollar amounts and real deadlines. Whether your state is one of them, and what the clock looks like, is here: ESAs in 2026: Which States Pay You to Homeschool