Forms
Which forms do you need to fill out? Where can you get them? Here is a list of useful forms for homeschooling in Iowa.
Useful Forms for Iowa Homeschoolers
Certificate of Immunization Exemption
This document must be filed with your CPI form if you intend to use the exemption for immunizations. Those using IPI or CPI Option 2 with Opt-Out do not need to file immunization records.
Home School Supervising Teacher Visitation Log
This optional easy-to-use form is offered to help supervising teachers keep the required log of their visits with homeschooling families.
Privacy Form for Non-Enrolled Student
These option forms are recommended to protect your family's privacy. They inform school officials that you want protections afforded by federal and state laws. The form for non-enrolled students notifies school officials of that information about your child -- including directory information -- is confidential information protected by Iowa Code. Failure to have one of these forms on file with the district and the AEA (where your CPI forms are filed) can leave your child's information open to anyone who requests it.
Privacy Form for Dual-Enrolled or HSAP-Enrolled Student
These option forms are recommended to protect your family's privacy. They inform school officials that you want protections afforded by federal and state laws. The form for dual-enrolled or HSAP-enrolled Students notifies school officials that you are claiming federally mandated privacy protections, and that you do not want any information concerning your enrolled child -- including directory information -- to be released to anyone without your prior consent.
Optional Report Form for CPI Option 2 with Opt-Out (no reporting required)
This report form can be used by parents who are providing private instruction under the CPI Option 2 with Opt-Out. While all reporting is optional under this option, parents can file this form to notify their resident school district officials that they are providing private instruction to students of compulsory school attendance age.
CPI Student Eligibility Form
The Iowa Department of Education created this form for parents of CPI students to use when certifying that their students meet eligibility requirements set by state associations for participation in actvities accessed through dual enrollment.
Plan of Instruction Form-Lined
This "Plan of Instruction" form has been designed by HSLDA and NICHE. Plan of Instruction forms -- lined or unlined -- may be used to comply with the requirement on the Competent Private Instruction Form (Form A) for an attached outline of course of study. Please keep in mind that the Iowa law & rules are silent as to what subjects must be included on the Plan of Instruction. NICHE "Plan of Instruction" forms have been used and submitted by home educators all across Iowa, and have been accepted by school districts statewide. Choose the form style that works best with the curriculum you are using. If you use separate materials for each subject area, you will probably choose the lined form.
Necessary and Optional Forms and Resources
NICHE provides a wide variety of free materials that may be used by home educating families in Iowa.
Private Instruction Handbook: Home Schooling or Enrollment in a Non-Accredited "School"
This Department of Education publication is published annually to provide information for parents and school district officials on private instruction, including Competent Private Instruction (CPI) and Independent Private Instruction (IPI).
Report of Portfolio Evaluator Selection Form
If you will be using the portfolio evaluation method, you may find this simple optional form helpful. When filled out and submitted to your resident school district, it provides a mechanism to fulfill the legal requirement of seeking the school district superintendent's approval of your selected portfolio evaluator. This approval process is simply a check of the appropriateness of your evaluator's license.
Test Administrator Certification Statement Form
If you choose to arrange for private -- rather than public school or AEA -- standardized testing for annual assessment purposes, this form may be attached to the submitted test results to provide added assurance that the standardized test was administered by a qualified test administrator using proper testing protocol as dictated by the test publisher.
Contract for Home School Consultation
This optional contract is provided to help define and delineate the rights and responsibilities of both parties in a homeschool consultation arrangement: the parents and the teacher. Attorneys with HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) assisted in its production.
Plan of Instruction Form-Unlined
This "Plan of Instruction" form has been designed by HSLDA and NICHE. Plan of Instruction forms -- lined or unlined -- may be used to comply with the requirement on the Competent Private Instruction Form (Form A) for an attached outline of course of study. Please keep in mind that the Iowa law & rules are silent as to what subjects must be included on the Plan of Instruction. NICHE "Plan of Instruction" forms have been used and submitted by home educators all across Iowa, and have been accepted by school districts statewide. Choose the form style that works best with the curriculum you are using. If you utilize a unit study approach, the unlined form will probably be your choice.
Report of Portfolio Assessment Results Form
This optional form is offered to make the portfolio evaluator's job much easier. It provides an efficient tool to assure that all of the required information is included in the portfolio evaluation results report.
Contract for Home School Portfolio Evaluation
This optional contract is provided to help define and delineate the rights and responsibilities of both parties in a homeschool portfolio evaluation arrangement: the parents and the teacher. Produce with assistance by HSLDA.
Independent Private Instruction Form
This form may be used by parents using the Independent Private Instruction (IPI) option when contacted by either their resident school district superintendent or by the director of the Department of Education with a request for information about the IPI. Because parents are required by law to respond to this written request with specific information, NICHE has created this template form to expediate the process.
Receipt for CPI Form Filing
This form may be used by a parent using the Independent Private Instruction (IPI) option when filing an IPI Response Form. A signature of the school distirct official receiving the form is obtained, and the parent can retain this receipt with homeschool records.
Competent Private Instruction Report
The Competent Private Instruction Report is also published annually by the Department of Education. All homeschooling parents in Iowa using the Competent Private Instruction (CPI) Option 1 or Competent Private Instruction (CPI) Option 2 with Opt-In must file a Competent Private Instruction Report for every child of compulsory school attendance age (6-16) -- if your chid is age six or older on September 15 and younger than 16 on September 15.
How to File a Competent Private Instruction [CPI] Form A
Step-by-step instructions on how to complete & file a CPI Report Form.
Featured Resources

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Catholic Home Schooling: A Handbook for Parents
Mary Kay Clark, the director of the accredited and successful Seton Home Study School shows parents why and how to teach their children at home, giving scores of practical examples and setting forth the spiritual, moral and academic advantages. The book includes chapters by several experts and covers Catholic curriculum, textbooks, Catholic family life, legal aspects, discipline, socialization, home management, using computers, children with learning disabilities, single-parent home schooling, t...
Perrine's Sound & Sense: An Introduction to Poetry
Perrine's Sound and Sense is a fantastic book for studying poetry with your children. It is a great resource for high school students. It includes clear and thorough explanations of devices, forms, how to analyze poetry, and more, as well as a huge variety of poems, both classic and contemporary.
A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
Now you can realize the joy filled homeschool of your dreams! This modern classic is written by the homeschool mom who first carried Charlotte Mason's writings to America in her suitcase in 1987. Miss Mason's books were soon republished for a new generation. After ten years of intense study and successful application of Miss Mason s principles with her own children, Karen wrote A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on The Gentle Art of Learning ™. Today's parents can now see what a C...
Montessori Life
Designed to provoke thought, professional growth and provide a forum for discussion of major issues & ideas in education.
Flip Over Math Manipulatives
Grades 1-5. Tub of over 500 manipulatives includes Pattern Blocks, Connecting People, Cuisenaire Rods, Coins, and Bean Counters and can be used with the Flip Over Math Books. This 49 page book (others sold separately) is written to NCTM Standards and provide hands on activities from basic math skills to advanced problem solving.