According to the Home School Legal Defense Association website, you must apply to the State of Louisiana as a home school. This must be done within 15 days after you begin schooling your child at home. As the A to Z Home's Cool website points out, you must also submit a list of books and materials you will use in teaching your child. You must also provide the state with a complete outline of subjects you taught your child during the previous year.
The Louisiana state law also requires copies of standardized tests. You must also forward copies of statements by those who have observed your child's progress. The board will then make a decision as to whether or not you can continue home schooling your child. While a teaching certificate is not necessary for you to do this, you must still prove that, without teacher certification, you are a capable teacher.
The same laws apply to your child's attendance as it would if he were attending public school. According to the A to Z Home's Cool website, you must send your child to school from the time he is between the ages of 7 and 18. The requisite time per year is 180 days.
According to the A to Z Home's Cool website, the Department of Education shall, upon the request of you, the student's parent/teacher, provide standardized testing for your child. The law dictates that the department shall administer these tests, usually in May or September, under the same conditions that your child would have to submit to if he were in public school. That would mean using no open books or notes. A professional, certified teacher administers the examination.
According to the Home School Legal Defense Association website, your home can qualify as a private school if it has a "physical plant" in which you and your child can carry on the business of teaching and learning. Also, it must have instructional staff members. Parents do qualify. The operational time frame requirement of 180 days still applies. Also, the institution must not receive federal or state monies, either directly or indirectly.
Moreover, should you choose to exercise this option, the Home School Legal Defense Association website points out that satisfactory test scores from the previous year, instead of the submission of curriculum materials, will suffice for approval for continuation as a private school.