For families leaving an IEP behind

Homeschooling a child who had an IEP

Parents usually arrive at this question after a bad year: the plan was written, the plan was not followed, and homeschooling starts to look like the only lever left. The part nobody explains clearly is what happens to the IEP itself when you withdraw, so here it is first, and the product second.

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What happens to the IEP when you withdraw

An IEP is a public school document. It exists under IDEA because a public school is responsible for educating your child, and in most states withdrawing to homeschool ends that responsibility and the IEP with it. What replaces it varies enormously: some states offer a services plan, some allow part-time enrolment or related services through the district, and some offer nothing at all. This is a state and district question, and it is worth asking in writing before you withdraw rather than after.

Two things that usually survive

The district generally keeps its Child Find duty, which means it must still identify and evaluate children with suspected disabilities who live in the district, including homeschooled ones. And the evaluations and reports already in your child's file are yours to request and keep. Get copies before you leave, because they are harder to obtain afterwards and they are what any future provider will ask for.

What a curriculum can carry, and what it cannot

Some of what an IEP specifies is instructional: extended time, work at the student's own pace, repeated instruction, immediate corrective feedback, reduced distraction, breaking work into smaller pieces. Those live in how a curriculum is built. The rest of an IEP is services and legal process: speech, occupational therapy, a one-to-one aide, evaluations, goals, annual review. No curriculum provides those, and any that implies otherwise is selling you something.

The instructional side, specifically

Work is self-paced and scored on mastery, so a skill can be revisited as many times as it takes. The optional learning games have timers, and the "No timers" Learning Support hides them; it is the switch the accommodations "extended time" and "untimed tests" map to. Lessons can be read aloud, and answers tapped or spoken, if you switch those supports on. Clara explains what went wrong in a wrong answer rather than marking it, which is the same idea as immediate corrective feedback. Lessons are units rather than weeks, so there is no schedule to fall behind. The page is uncluttered and there is nothing on it competing for attention.

The paperwork you will want later

Instructional hours log automatically, mastery is tracked per skill as a portfolio record, and a transcript prints in one click. If your child ever re-enrols, or you request a district evaluation, the question is always what has actually been taught and learned, and that record already exists instead of having to be written from memory.

You can read what the teacher said to your child

From the parent side you can open any lesson and read the entire conversation, in order, with no summarising in between. For a parent who has spent years unable to see how their child was actually spoken to during the school day, this tends to matter more than any feature on the list.

What this is not

  • This is not an IEP and it does not replace one. It is a curriculum. It writes no goals, holds no meetings and provides no services.
  • No speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, behavioural support, aide or evaluation. Nothing here substitutes for any of them.
  • It is not special education and no part of it was designed by a special educator. The features above are how the product is built for everyone, and they happen to overlap with some common accommodations.
  • Read-aloud is a text-to-speech voice, not a human reader. Some interactive pictures and games are hard or impossible to use with a screen reader alone, and we would rather say so.
  • Nothing here is legal advice. What happens to your child's IEP depends on your state and district, and you should confirm it with them directly, in writing.

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Before your child starts: what we collect and why

We collect only what it takes to teach your child: the first name and sign-in you choose, their answers and progress, and their chat with Clara (written by Anthropic's AI, read aloud by OpenAI). Nobody trains AI on it or sells it, and you can see or delete it any time. You create your child's account yourself. Paying by card is how you give consent.

Read what we collect and why

Your consent is needed before we collect anything from your child, and we collect nothing without it. You create your child's account yourself; they never sign up alone.

  • What we collect from your child: the first name and sign-in you choose, their answers, time on lessons and progress, and their chat with Clara. Used to run the lessons, build their transcript and show you how they are doing.
  • Who else handles it: Anthropic (an AI company) receives the chat text and the lesson, with your child's first name but no last name or account details, to write Clara's replies. That is how Clara works, so it is part of the service. If you switch on answering out loud for a child, their voice is turned into text on our own server and then discarded; it is never sent to another company. OpenAI turns lesson text and Clara's replies (which can include your child's first name) into the read-aloud voice. Our email provider sends you reports about your child. Nobody trains AI on your child's data, and nobody sells it.
  • Your rights: see everything collected from your child, have it deleted, or stop further collection at any time, from your account or by emailingour support address. If you refuse the AI sharing above, Clara cannot teach, so the service cannot run. Chats are deleted after 30 days.
  • Safety: if your child writes something suggesting they may be hurt or in danger, we email you and Clareza's owner the same day.

Paying by card is how you give consent. Full details, including how long we keep each thing: Privacy Policy (version 2026-10-05).

By continuing you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

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Questions parents ask

Does my child keep their IEP if I homeschool?

In most states, no. An IEP exists because a public school is responsible for your child's education, and withdrawing generally ends both. Some states offer a services plan or allow part-time enrolment or related services instead, and some offer nothing. Confirm with your district and state before you withdraw. This is not legal advice.

Can I still get an evaluation from the district?

Districts generally retain a Child Find obligation to identify and evaluate children with suspected disabilities living in the district, including homeschooled children. How that works in practice varies, so ask your district in writing.

Should I get copies of the school records first?

Yes. Request the evaluations, reports and the current IEP before you withdraw. They are harder to obtain afterwards and they are what any future provider or evaluator will ask to see.

Does Clareza Academy provide IEP services or accommodations?

No. It is a curriculum, not a service provider. It provides no therapy, no aide, no evaluation and no legal plan. What it does offer is self-paced work, mastery-based practice, Learning Supports a parent switches on (such as read-aloud and "No timers"), and a teacher that explains mistakes rather than marking them.

Is there text-to-speech for a child who needs a reader?

Yes. The "Read everything aloud" Learning Support reads lessons, questions, answer choices (not in K-2 reading, where reading them is the skill) and feedback in a natural voice, with each word highlighted. It is a text-to-speech voice, not a human reader.

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This page is a plain-language summary and is not legal advice. Special education law is federal, but what is available to a homeschooling family is decided by your state and your district. Confirm your own situation with them directly.