Law & compliance

Homeschool laws by state, without the legalese

Homeschooling is legal in all fifty states. The only real question is how much paperwork your state wants — and for most families the honest answer is far less than they feared. Here are the four things that actually vary, for every state, in one table.

states where you tell nobody anything

states with no testing requirement at all

states asking nothing about your own education

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Home education requirements for each US state and the District of Columbia
State	Notice	Assessment	Subjects set	Parent	Load
Alabama Most families enrol in a church school cover, which handles the paperwork for you.	One-time notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Alaska One of the freest states; state-funded correspondence allotments are also available.	No notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Arizona File one affidavit of intent with the county within 30 days of starting.	One-time notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Light
Arkansas Standardized testing was repealed in 2015 — notice is now the only real requirement.	Annual notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
California Most families file a private school affidavit each October or join a PSP.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Moderate
Colorado Test or a qualified evaluation in grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11; results are kept, not filed.	Annual notice	Test in some grades	Yes	No qualification	Moderate
Connecticut A notice of intent form exists but is voluntary, not mandatory.	No notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Delaware An annual enrolment/attendance report is filed with the state.	Annual notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
District of Columbia Portfolio may be reviewed; OSSE can request a visit.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	Diploma or GED	Heavy
Florida Annual evaluation by a teacher, a test, or a portfolio review — your choice of five methods.	One-time notice	Annual assessment	No	No qualification	Moderate
Georgia Test every three years from grade 3; results are retained by you, not submitted.	Annual notice	Test in some grades	Yes	Diploma or GED	Heavy
Hawaii Assessment reported in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10.	One-time notice	Test in some grades	No	No qualification	Light
Idaho No notice, no testing, no subject list — among the least regulated in the country.	No notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Illinois Home schools are private schools; branches of education must be taught in English.	No notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Light
Indiana Keep attendance records for 180 days of instruction; report enrolment only if asked.	No notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Iowa Independent private instruction requires no notice; other options add reporting.	No notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Kansas Register as a non-accredited private school; the instructor must be "competent".	Annual notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Kentucky Notify the local board within two weeks of the school year starting; keep attendance and scholarship records.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Moderate
Louisiana The home study programme is renewed annually with evidence of a sustained curriculum.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	No	No qualification	Moderate
Maine Annual assessment by test, portfolio review, or a local advisory board.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	No qualification	Heavy
Maryland Portfolio reviewed up to twice a year — or use an approved umbrella and skip the county review.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	No qualification	Heavy
Massachusetts Your plan must be approved by the local superintendent before you begin each year.	District approval	Set by district	Yes	No qualification	Heavy
Michigan No notice under the home school statute; subjects are named but nothing is filed.	No notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Light
Minnesota Annual standardized test required; results are generally kept rather than submitted.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	No qualification	Heavy
Mississippi A one-page certificate of enrolment filed with the attendance officer each year.	Annual notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Missouri No notice, but log 1,000 hours a year with 600 in core subjects.	No notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Light
Montana Annual notice plus attendance and immunization records kept at home.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Moderate
Nebraska File an exemption request each year before the school year starts.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Moderate
Nevada One notice of intent with an educational plan, then nothing further.	One-time notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Light
New Hampshire Annual assessment is required but kept in your own records.	One-time notice	Annual assessment	Yes	No qualification	Moderate
New Jersey No notice, no testing, no reporting — the lightest regime on the east coast.	No notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
New Mexico Notify the state each year; the instructing parent needs a high school diploma or GED.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	Diploma or GED	Moderate
New York The heaviest paperwork in the US: letter of intent, IHIP, four quarterly reports and a year-end assessment.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	No qualification	Heavy
North Carolina Annual nationally standardized test, kept for one year and available on request.	One-time notice	Annual assessment	No	Diploma or GED	Moderate
North Dakota Testing in grades 3, 5, 8 and 11; qualifications affect how much monitoring applies.	Annual notice	Test in some grades	Yes	Diploma or GED	Heavy
Ohio Since 2024 the annual notification is a simple form — the old assessment filing was removed.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	Diploma or GED	Moderate
Oklahoma The only state with a constitutional right to home educate; nothing to file.	No notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Oregon Notify the ESD once; test in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10 and keep the results.	One-time notice	Test in some grades	No	No qualification	Light
Pennsylvania Affidavit, objectives, a portfolio and an annual evaluator review; tests in grades 3, 5 and 8.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	Diploma or GED	Heavy
Rhode Island Each district sets its own approval process, so requirements vary town to town.	District approval	Set by district	Yes	No qualification	Heavy
South Carolina Three legal options; most families join a Section 3 association, which is the lightest.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	Diploma or GED	Heavy
South Dakota Testing was repealed in 2021; only language arts and math are specified.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Moderate
Tennessee Independent filers test in grades 5, 7 and 9; umbrella school families follow the school instead.	Annual notice	Test in some grades	No	Diploma or GED	Moderate
Texas Home schools are private schools. Teach a bona fide curriculum including good citizenship; file nothing.	No notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Light
Utah A single signed affidavit exempts you for the rest of the child’s schooling.	One-time notice	No testing	No	No qualification	Light
Vermont Enrolment notice each year plus an end-of-year assessment report.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	No qualification	Heavy
Virginia Qualify one of four ways; submit evidence of progress by 1 August each year.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	No	One of several options	Heavy
Washington Meet one of four qualification routes; test or assess annually and keep the result.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	Yes	One of several options	Heavy
West Virginia Annual academic assessment; a portfolio review by a certified teacher is the usual route.	Annual notice	Annual assessment	No	Diploma or GED	Heavy
Wisconsin File form PI-1206 each October; 875 hours of instruction a year.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Moderate
Wyoming Submit a basic curriculum outline to the local board each year.	Annual notice	No testing	Yes	No qualification	Moderate

Summary last verified 24 August 2026. This is a plain-English overview of the core requirements, not legal advice — state legislatures change these rules most years, and several states offer more than one legal route with different obligations. Confirm the current rule with your state department of education, and read HSLDA’s state-by-state legal summaries before you file anything.

What the four columns actually mean

Notice

Whether you must tell anyone you are homeschooling, and how often. "One-time" means a single form for the whole of a child’s schooling. "District approval" means someone else has to say yes before you start.

Assessment

Whether the state expects proof of progress. Half of all states expect none. Where it applies, a portfolio review or a teacher’s written evaluation is usually accepted instead of a test — and the result is often kept by you rather than filed.

Subjects set

Whether the statute names subjects you must cover. In practice this is rarely a constraint: the lists are broad — reading, writing, math, science, social studies — and any normal curriculum satisfies them.

Parent

Whether you personally need a qualification. Around a dozen states ask for a high school diploma or GED. No state requires a teaching licence for your own children.

Do this once

The compliance afternoon

Nearly every family can finish the legal side in a single afternoon and then never think about it again until next year. In order:

1

Find your row above and note the four requirements.

Screenshot it. That is your whole compliance picture.
2

Open your state department of education’s home education page.

Search for "[your state] department of education home instruction". The official page has the current form and the current deadline — our table has neither on purpose, because both change.
3

If your child is currently enrolled in a school, withdraw them in writing.

This is the step families forget, and it is the one that generates truancy letters. Keep a dated copy of the withdrawal.
4

File whatever notice is required, and diary the renewal date.

If your state has a fixed window — many do — put next year’s date in your calendar the same afternoon.
5

Start a records folder on day one.

Attendance, a reading log, samples of work, and any test or evaluation. Ten minutes a week beats a frantic July.

Get the first-year checklist → Start here instead

Not in the US?

Homeschooling around the world

Legal in the UK and Canada with almost no paperwork. Permission-only in France. Effectively banned in Germany and Sweden. We track the status in 43 countries — including the ones most English-language sites ignore entirely.

See all 43 countries → UK guide

A stylised globe with pins marking home-educating families on four continents

Homeschool law questions parents actually ask

Is homeschooling legal in every US state?

Yes. Homeschooling is legal in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. What differs is the paperwork: eleven states ask for nothing at all, while New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island expect plans, portfolios or district approval.

Which states have the fewest homeschool requirements?

Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Texas require no notice to anyone. Idaho, New Jersey and Oklahoma are the lightest of all — no notice, no testing and no specified subject list.

Which state is the hardest to homeschool in?

New York, on paperwork volume: a letter of intent, an Individualized Home Instruction Plan, four quarterly reports and an annual assessment. Massachusetts and Rhode Island are harder in a different way — your plan needs approval from the local district before you start, and standards vary town to town.

Do I need a teaching degree or a diploma to homeschool?

In most states, no. Around a dozen states ask the teaching parent to hold a high school diploma or GED, and Virginia and Washington let you satisfy the requirement in several alternative ways, including working under a certified teacher or using an approved programme.

What happens if I move to another state mid-year?

You follow the new state’s rules from the date you establish residency. File whatever notice the new state requires straight away, keep the records you built in the old state, and check whether the new state has a fixed notification window — several do.

Do homeschoolers have to take standardized tests?

It depends on the state. Roughly half require no testing at all. Others accept an evaluation by a certified teacher or a portfolio review instead of a test, and in most testing states the result is kept in your own records rather than filed with anyone.

Still unsure about your state?

Every region in our forum has parents who have filed the exact form you are staring at. Ask in the Legal & Administrative Help space — it is the fastest way to get a straight answer from someone in your own district.

Ask in the forum →

We track the changes so you don’t have to

When a state changes its notification or assessment rules, it goes in the Sunday email — with what you actually need to do about it.

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