France’s Instruction en Famille: Authorisation Is the Story Now

English-language homeschool Twitter still talks about France as if you pop a letter in the post and buy a workbook. That was a different legal era. Since the 2021 law, instruction in the family is an authorisation regime with listed grounds, not a vibe.

I am a curriculum person, not a French avocat. If you live in France, you need current official guidance and likely a local association. This article exists so you do not follow a Texas blog into a préfecture problem.

Grounds, not hobbies

Authorisation is tied to reasons the law recognises: the child's health, intensive sport or art, itinerant families, and other specified situations. "We prefer a different pedagogy" is not a magic key. People still obtain authorisation. People also get refused. A refused family who continues anyway is in a different legal movie than a Texas family who never filed a notice that did not exist.

Inspections are not optional decorations

If you are authorised, you should expect academic checks. Have a plan. Have work in French if that is what is required of you. An English-only US programme may be a supplement. It may not satisfy a French inspector as the whole education. Do not find that out in the living room with an official on the sofa.

Fayferz in English can support a bilingual household. It is not a stealth collège.

If you are moving to France

Sort school. Then sort extras. The other order is how expatriates panic in August.

See the Europe-facing country list and then read the French government page, not a summary of a summary of a 2018 forum. Laws moved. Your download folder did not.