Homeschooling means educating a child at home instead of sending them to a public or private school. A parent — or sometimes a hired tutor, a co-op, or an online programme — takes responsibility for the child’s learning, choosing the curriculum, setting the schedule, and keeping the records. It is legal in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, and it has grown from a small movement into a mainstream option chosen by families for reasons that range from faith and values to a child’s health, a family’s travel, or dissatisfaction with the local school.
But “legal everywhere” does not mean “the same everywhere.” There is no federal homeschool law. Each state writes its own rules, and those rules differ widely — from states that ask for nothing at all to states that require annual approval of your teaching plan. This guide explains how homeschooling works in practice, how the rules differ by state, how families handle curriculum and assessment, and how homeschooled students apply to college.
The legal foundation
Homeschooling in the United States rests on two Supreme Court decisions and fifty different state laws. In Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), the Court established that the state cannot force every child into a public school. In Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), it recognised the parental right to direct a child’s education. On that foundation, every state has built its own framework.
The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) sorts states into four regulation tiers, and that classification is the clearest way to understand the landscape:
- No notice. No notification to any government body is required. Thirteen states fall in this tier.
- Low regulation. Parents send a notification to the local school district, and that is essentially the extent of it. Twenty-two states fall here.
- Moderate regulation. Parents send a notification, plus test scores and/or a professional evaluation of the student’s progress. Eleven states fall here.
- High regulation. Notification or test scores and/or evaluation, plus other requirements such as curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualifications for parents, or home visits. Four states — Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island — fall in this tier.
Recent changes show why you must check your own state
Homeschool law is not frozen. Several states have loosened their rules in the last two years, and a family relying on an old guide could do unnecessary paperwork — or miss a new requirement. New Hampshire dropped its notice and annual evaluation requirements in July 2026 under HB 1268. Wyoming stopped asking for letters of intent in 2025, after repealing its annual curriculum submission to the local board. Ohio removed testing, its 900-hour rule, and portfolio review, and cut the list of required subjects. Utah replaced its affidavit with a one-time notice of intent in May 2025, and Missouri abolished its declaration of enrollment. Connecticut is moving the other way: it passed new rules (Public Act 26-37) introducing a declaration, screening, and waiting-period requirements that take effect on 1 July 2027. Tennessee broadened the standardised tests it accepts in 2026.
The lesson is simple and non-negotiable: check your state. Before you withdraw a child from school or begin homeschooling, read the current rules on your own state department of education website, and confirm any deadline against the statute itself.
How to start: the practical steps
1. Find out your state’s requirements. This determines everything else. Your state department of education website is the authoritative source, and HSLDA’s legal map is a useful cross-check.
2. Notify, if your state requires it. In most states that require notification, this means filing a letter of intent or notice with your local school district — sometimes once, sometimes every year. In a few states, the route is different: California families, for example, commonly file a Private School Affidavit with the state superintendent between 1 and 15 October. Only two jurisdictions — Massachusetts and Rhode Island — require you to get permission before you start.
3. Withdraw your child from their current school, if enrolled. This is usually a short written notice to the school. Keep a copy, and keep proof of your homeschool filing alongside it.
4. Choose a curriculum, and keep records from day one. See the curriculum section below. Even in states that ask for nothing, keep attendance records, samples of work, and a list of what was covered — you will need them for college applications and for any future return to school.
Choosing a curriculum
There is no single official homeschool curriculum in the United States. Families choose — or build — their own, and the range is enormous.
Traditional textbook curricula mirror school subjects with graded workbooks and teacher guides. Classical education follows the trivium — grammar, logic, and rhetoric — with an emphasis on great books and structured reasoning. Charlotte Mason methods emphasise short lessons, living books rather than textbooks, and nature study. Unit studies organise learning around a theme, such as the ocean or the American Revolution, folding reading, writing, science, and history into one topic. Unschooling takes the opposite approach: learning follows the child’s interests, with no set curriculum. Online and hybrid programmes have grown rapidly — some are full accredited online schools that provide teachers, grades, and a diploma; others are subject-by-subject courses a family mixes with its own teaching. Co-ops — groups of families who meet weekly, share teaching, and run group classes — fill the gap between home and school, and many families use them for subjects like science labs or foreign languages.
Most states require certain subjects to be covered, and the lists usually include reading, language arts, mathematics, science, history, and civics — though the exact list varies by state. No state requires a teaching licence for a parent to homeschool their own child under the standard homeschool option. A minority of states ask the teaching parent to hold a high school diploma or GED — Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee under its independent option are examples — and Washington asks for college credits or a qualifying course unless a certified teacher supervises.
Assessment: how do you know it is working?
How progress is measured depends on where you live. In low-regulation states, assessment is entirely up to the family. In moderate and high-regulation states, the state wants evidence each year — typically one of three things:
- Standardised testing. Some states require an annual standardised test, and some set a minimum score threshold — North Dakota, for example, applies the strictest test score threshold in the country. Other states accept a test but do not require one.
- Portfolio review. The family keeps a portfolio of the child’s work across the year, and a qualified evaluator reviews it. Pennsylvania requires an annual portfolio reviewed by a qualified evaluator, plus standardised testing in grades 3, 5, and 8.
- Evaluation by a certified teacher. Some states accept an annual evaluation by a certified teacher as an alternative to testing.
A typical homeschool day
There is no typical day, and that is the point. But most families settle into a rhythm. Younger children often finish formal lessons in two to three hours; older students may work four to five. Mornings tend to hold the core subjects — maths, reading, writing — while afternoons go to projects, reading, co-ops, sports, music, or work experience. Some families keep school hours; others school in the evenings because a parent works days.
How homeschooled students apply to college
Colleges across the United States admit homeschooled students, and the process is well established. Selective colleges now state plainly that they welcome homeschooled applicants and evaluate them the same way they evaluate everyone else. The application looks familiar, with a few homeschool-specific pieces:
The transcript. This is the spine of the application. A parent-issued transcript, organised by year, lists course titles, grades, credits, and a clear grading scale. It should also include course descriptions — what each class covered, which texts and materials were used, and how the work was evaluated — plus a short school profile explaining the family’s approach and any co-ops, online schools, or colleges used. Official transcripts from any outside institutions, such as a community college, should be sent separately.
The counselor role. On the Common Application, a parent or the adult who oversees the homeschool education usually serves as the counselor, submitting the transcript, a school report, and a counselor recommendation. Harvard, for example, notes that homeschooled applicants submit the same core materials as everyone else and are treated the same as all other applicants.
Test scores and outside validation. Because grades are parent-assigned, colleges look for independent evidence of ability: SAT or ACT scores — some selective colleges now require them, and some schools require homeschooled applicants to submit scores even when others are test-optional — as well as AP exams, dual-enrollment courses, and coursework through accredited online programmes. When registering for the SAT, homeschooled students use the homeschool code 970000.
Proof of completion. Many colleges accept parent-issued transcripts and diplomas. A GED is typically not required. Some colleges may ask for additional documentation, so check each college’s homeschool admissions page directly rather than relying on the general admissions homepage — policies change every year and can differ for homeschool applicants.
Is homeschooling right for your family?
Homeschooling works best when a family goes into it with clear eyes. It demands time, patience, and organisation from the teaching parent, and it asks a child to take more responsibility for their own learning than school usually does. It can be the right choice when a child needs a different pace, a different environment, or a curriculum that no nearby school offers — and the wrong choice when a family expects it to be school with a shorter commute.
Before deciding, talk to families in your state who are already doing it. Visit a co-op. Read your state’s rules in full. Try a trial period — a summer, or a single term — before committing to a whole year. And remember the decision is rarely permanent: many families homeschool for a few years and return to school, or the reverse.