Online School & Homeschool in Brazil

Live online Cambridge IGCSE, A-Level, Pearson Edexcel, IB Diploma, and American AP for corporate, energy, technology, and Brazilian families across São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, and Florianópolis. Brazilian law is settled: the STF held in 2018 that there is no right to home education, and educação básica is compulsory from four to seventeen. So we teach alongside your school — never instead of it — on a six-hour offset that puts our classes in your morning or early afternoon.

From USD 423/month. Small live classes 4-6 students, Cambridge / IB / American AP through to A-Level — alongside your Brazilian school, with Portuguese kept intact.

Where our Brazil families are

Smartious Brazil families concentrate across São Paulo (Latin America's financial capital and the deepest international and bilingual school market in South America, at regional-record fees), Rio de Janeiro (the pre-salt energy capital, with the offshore-services belt running north to Macaé), Brasília (one of the largest diplomatic communities in the Southern Hemisphere, defined by three- and four-year postings), Belo Horizonte and Minas Gerais (the iron-ore and metallurgy heartland with thinner provision than its size suggests), and Florianópolis and Santa Catarina (the technology and remote-work capital, and the state whose homeschooling law was struck down). One settled legal position, one supplementary configuration, and a timezone that actually works.

Homeschool laws and regulation in Brazil

Brazil is the most judicially settled country in our entire coverage on this question, which makes it one of the easiest to describe honestly and one of the easiest to describe dishonestly. Here is the ruling, exactly.

The obligation: four to seventeen

Educação básica in Brazil is compulsory from the age of four to the age of seventeen. That is a long compulsory range by international standards — longer than almost every country in our European coverage — and it means Brazil has no post-compulsory window before eighteen. Any provider offering a full-time programme to a sixteen-year-old resident in Brazil on the basis that compulsory schooling has ended is describing another country's law.

Tema 822: the thesis, quoted

In September 2018 the Plenary of the Supremo Tribunal Federal decided Recurso Extraordinário 888815 with repercussão geral, and fixed the thesis for Tema 822: there is no subjective public right of the student or their family to home education, which does not exist in Brazilian legislation. The case had come from a family in Canela, Rio Grande do Sul, who sought permission to educate their daughter at home. The recurso was denied, and the thesis binds.

The nuance that must always accompany it

The Court did not hold homeschooling unconstitutional in principle, and an honest account has to say so. It held that the modality could be created and regulated only by federal law enacted by the National Congress — and it indicated what such a law would have to contain: compliance with the four-to-seventeen obligation, respect for the solidary duty of family and State, a core of academic subjects, supervision, evaluation and inspection by the public authorities, measures to avoid school dropout, and guaranteed socialisation through family and community life. Bills have been debated in Congress; none has produced an enacted federal law. Until one does, the position is as the thesis states.

The state laws families read about — and why they do not help

This matters practically, because several states and the Distrito Federal have passed their own homeschooling laws and the reporting travels further than the outcomes. Santa Catarina's law was held unconstitutional and the STF upheld that in ARE 1459567; a Distrito Federal law met the same fate, upheld by the First Panel in RE 1492951. The reasoning is consistent: legislating on the directives and bases of national education is within the União's exclusive competence, so state, municipal, and district laws creating this modality are unconstitutional. If you have seen a local law reported, it is not a route, and we would rather tell you now than have you discover it through an enforcement conversation.

What that leaves — one configuration, stated honestly

For a child resident in Brazil, the arrangement we offer is supplementary and it runs from four to seventeen without exception. The school carries the enrolment, the national curriculum, and the route toward ENEM; Smartious teaches the Cambridge or IB track live alongside it, in a Brazilian morning or early-afternoon block, toward external examinations. Smartious is not an authorised Brazilian school and does not claim Brazilian official validity for the studies it delivers — those carry Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel, IB, or AP validity instead. It is a narrower offer than we make in most countries and we would rather state it plainly than blur it.

Why the clock is unusually kind here

One practical advantage worth stating after all that. Brazil ended daylight saving in 2019 and Kenya has never observed it, so the six-hour gap between our teaching base and Brazil's populated southeast is fixed year-round. A nine o'clock Brazilian class is three in the afternoon for us; a one o'clock Brazilian class is seven in the evening. Both are ordinary teaching hours. And because Brazilian schools very commonly run manhã and tarde shifts, most students have either a morning or an early afternoon genuinely free — so unlike some markets at this distance, the supplementary model fits the school day rather than fighting it.

Why Brazil families choose Smartious

The STF position stated exactly, both halves

No subjective right to home education, which does not exist in Brazilian law — and not unconstitutional in principle, creatable only by a federal law Congress has not passed. We give families the whole ruling.

The struck-down state laws, named

Santa Catarina and the Distrito Federal both passed laws and both were invalidated. We say so rather than letting a family act on reporting.

The A-Level route a large market lacks

Brazil is well served for the IB, the American curriculum, and bilingual schooling, and comparatively thin on Cambridge A-Levels — which is what UCAS reads most directly.

A six-hour offset that genuinely works

Fixed year-round since Brazil ended daylight saving, with Brazilian mornings and early afternoons both inside our teaching day — and manhã/tarde shifts leaving most students one free window.

Portuguese kept alongside

Cambridge Portuguese runs beside the English-medium core, protecting Brazilian and Portuguese university routes while adding UK, US, and Canadian ones.

Honest about what we are

Not an authorised Brazilian school, and no claim to Brazilian official validity. We work alongside the school that has it.

Fees and admission

From USD 423/month for Primary, payable termly; varies by curriculum and level. One-to-one tuition: USD 15/hour.

Frequently asked questions

Is homeschooling legal in Brazil?

No, as the law currently stands. In 2018 the STF fixed the thesis in Tema 822 (RE 888815) that there is no subjective public right of the student or their family to home education, which does not exist in Brazilian legislation. Importantly, the Court did not rule it unconstitutional in principle — it held that only a federal law enacted by the National Congress could create and regulate it, and no such law has been enacted. Educação básica remains compulsory from four to seventeen.

But my state passed a homeschooling law — can I use it?

No. Santa Catarina's law was struck down and the STF upheld that in ARE 1459567; a Distrito Federal law was struck down and upheld in RE 1492951. Legislating on this falls within the União's exclusive competence over the directives and bases of national education, so state, municipal, and district laws creating the modality are unconstitutional.

What would a future federal law have to include?

The STF indicated the conditions: compliance with the four-to-seventeen compulsory range, the solidary duty of family and State, a core of academic subjects, supervision, evaluation and inspection by the public authorities, measures against school dropout, and guaranteed socialisation. Bills have been debated without an enacted law, and we report that as unresolved rather than imminent.

So what can Smartious offer in Brazil?

One thing, done properly: live Cambridge or IB teaching alongside your Brazilian school, from age four to seventeen and beyond. The school keeps the enrolment and the national track toward ENEM; we add the internationally examined one.

Is Smartious an authorised Brazilian school?

No, and we say so plainly. The qualifications we teach carry Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel, IB, or AP validity rather than Brazilian official validity. We work alongside the school that holds the Brazilian one.

How does the timezone work?

Better than most of the Americas. Brazil ended daylight saving in 2019 and Kenya has never observed it, so the six-hour gap is fixed year-round — a nine o'clock Brazilian class is three in the afternoon for us, a one o'clock class is seven in the evening, and both are ordinary teaching hours. Brazilian schools commonly run manhã and tarde shifts, so most students have one window genuinely free.

Why Cambridge when Brazil has so many bilingual and IB schools?

Because bilingual is not the same as an international examination track, and Cambridge A-Level provision is comparatively thin here. Families applying through UCAS frequently find their school offers no A-Level route, and A-Levels are what UK admissions reads most directly.

Which parts of Brazil does Smartious cover?

São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belo Horizonte and Minas Gerais, and Florianópolis and Santa Catarina have dedicated pages. Live online delivery works identically anywhere in the country.

Guides for families in this country

What parents say

Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Google from 130+ reviews. Read our Google reviews

“I'm very much pleased by the teaching methods at Smartious eschool, the tutors are caring, they never fail to reach out to their students in any need. Highly recommend!” — Valentine M., Google review