Homeschool Laws by State: Notice, Testing & Requirements

Homeschooling is legal in every state. What varies enormously is the regulatory burden — two families doing identical work can face entirely different legal obligations depending on which side of a state line they live on.

This guide covers the homeschool laws in all 50 states and DC: the four regulation tiers, the states that ask for nothing at all, what each state requires you to file, teach, and prove, and how the spread of education savings accounts is changing the picture.

The short version

• Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states and DC; the paperwork is what varies.
• Ten jurisdictions require no notice to anyone before you begin.
• Several states offer more than one legal route, with genuinely different rules for each.
• A no-notice state is not necessarily unregulated — some still mandate subjects or records.
• Many ESA states now fund homeschool curriculum and tutoring, sometimes with strings attached.

No-notice state

A state where a family may begin homeschooling without notifying any government agency.

Notice of intent

A filing, usually annual, telling the local district or state that you are homeschooling.

Evaluation

A review of a child’s progress by a certified teacher or other qualified person, in place of or alongside a test.

Legal option

One of several statutory routes to homeschool in a state — for example a home-education statute versus operating as a private school.

Legal everywhere, regulated unevenly

HSLDA groups states into four tiers:

Tier	What it requires
No notice	Nothing — no notification to any agency
Low	Notice to the local school district
Moderate	Notice plus test scores and/or professional evaluation
High	Notice, testing or evaluation, plus curriculum approval or home visits

At the heavy end, a small group imposes the most requirements:

Families in these states homeschool successfully all the time. It takes more documentation and planning, not more permission.

The ten no-notice states

Ten jurisdictions require no notice at all — Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Wyoming — where a family may simply begin.

A further four states are commonly listed as no-notice but are not, quite: Alaska, Florida, Iowa and Michigan each offer several legal routes, and only the least regulated one skips notification. Which rules apply to you depends on the option you file under, and that distinction is exactly where families get caught out.

Homeschool requirements in all 50 states

Here is the detail for all 51 jurisdictions — what you must file, what you must teach, whether anyone tests your child, and whether you personally need a credential:

Find your state

All 51 states and DC

Homeschool legal requirements for all 50 states and the District of Columbia: notice, required subjects, testing or evaluation, parent qualifications, and immunization.

State	Notice	Required subjects	Testing / evaluation	Parent qualifications	Immunization
AlabamaAges 6–17 · three legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 3	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 2
AlaskaAges 7–16 · four legal optionsHSLDA source	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 4	Not required: No	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 4	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 2	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 4
ArizonaAges 6–16HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
ArkansasAges 5–17HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
CaliforniaAges 6–18 · three legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 3	Not required: No
ColoradoAges 6–17 · three legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 3	Required: Yes
ConnecticutAges 5–18HSLDA source	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
DelawareAges 5–16 · three legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
District of ColumbiaAges 5–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Not required: No
FloridaAges 6–16 · three legal optionsHSLDA source	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 1	Not required: No	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 1	Not required: None for parents	Not required: No
GeorgiaAges 6–16HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No
HawaiiAges 5–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No, but see other curriculum requirements	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No
IdahoAges 7–16HSLDA source	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
IllinoisAges 6–17HSLDA source	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
IndianaAges 7–18HSLDA source	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
IowaAges 6–16 · five legal optionsHSLDA source	Depends on which legal option you use: Yes, except options 1 and 2	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 1	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 4	Not required: No	Depends on which legal option you use: Yes, except options 1 and 2
KansasAges 7–18HSLDA source	Required: First year only	Not required: No	Required: Periodic	Not required: No	Not required: No
KentuckyAges 6–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
LouisianaAges 5–18 · two legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes for option 1	Required: Yes for option 1	Not required: No	Required: Yes for option 1
MaineAges 6–17 (with exceptions) · two legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes for option 1	Required: Yes for option 2	Not required: No
MarylandAges 5–18 · four legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
MassachusettsAges 6–16HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No
MichiganAges 6–18 · two legal optionsHSLDA source	Depends on which legal option you use: Option 2 only	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Depends on which legal option you use: Option 2 only	Not required: No
MinnesotaAges 7–17HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes
MississippiAges 6–17HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
MissouriAges 7–17HSLDA source	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No
MontanaAges 7–16 (with exceptions)HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
NebraskaAges 6–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Required: Yes
NevadaAges 6–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
New HampshireAges 6–18 (with exceptions)HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No
New JerseyAges 6–16HSLDA source	Not required: No	Not required: No, but see instruction requirements	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
New MexicoAges 5–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Required: Yes
New YorkAges 6–16/17HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No, just competent instructor	Not required: No
North CarolinaAges 7–16HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes
North DakotaAges 7–16 · two legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes, with exceptions	Required: Yes	Required: Yes
OhioAges 6–18 · two legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
OklahomaAges 5–18HSLDA source	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
OregonAges 6–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No
PennsylvaniaAges 6–18 · four legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 1	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 1	Required: Yes
Rhode IslandAges 6–18 (with exceptions)HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
South CarolinaAges 5–17 · three legal optionsHSLDA source	Not required: No, but see option 1 approval process	Required: Yes	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 1	Required: Yes	Not required: No
South DakotaAges 6–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
TennesseeAges 6–17 · three legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except options 1 and 2a	Required: Yes	Not required: No
TexasAges 6–19HSLDA source	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
UtahAges 6–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
VermontAges 6–16HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No
VirginiaAges 5–18 · four legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Depends on which legal option you use: No, except option 1	Not required: No	Not required: No
WashingtonAges 8–18 · two legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No
West VirginiaAges 6–17 · three legal optionsHSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Required: Yes for Options 2 & 3	Required: Yes	Not required: No
WisconsinAges 6–18HSLDA source	Required: Yes	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No
WyomingAges 7–16 · two legal optionsHSLDA source	Not required: No	Required: Yes	Not required: No	Not required: No	Not required: No

What the columns mean

Notice:

Whether you must tell any government body that you are homeschooling before you begin.

Required subjects:

Whether state law names subjects the instruction must cover.

Testing / evaluation:

Whether the child must be tested or professionally evaluated, and how often.

Parent qualifications:

Whether the teaching parent must hold a credential or meet a defined standard.

Immunization:

Whether immunization rules reach homeschooled children, and whether records are filed.

Multiple legal options: Several states recognise more than one legal way to homeschool, and the requirements differ between them. Where a cell reads “varies”, the rule depends on which option a family files under — open that state’s page before relying on it.

Every cell is transcribed from HSLDA’s own “At a Glance” summary for that state, retrieved 2026-09-12; each row links to the page it came from so you can check any single answer. These are statutory facts and are separate from the FreedomRankings scores shown elsewhere in this article, which are our own editorial assessment. Requirements change — confirm with your state before you file.

Two things in that table are worth reading twice. "Varies" is not a hedge — it means the state offers more than one legal way to homeschool and the requirements genuinely differ between them; Pennsylvania's four options range from an annual evaluation with a portfolio review to almost nothing at all. And a no-notice state is not necessarily an unregulated one: Missouri asks nobody for permission but still requires recordkeeping and mandated subjects.

Homeschooling with an ESA

Homeschooling historically meant giving up your share of public education funding. As universal education savings accounts spread, more homeschooling families can be reimbursed for curriculum, tutoring, and materials — which changes the economics substantially. Our school choice by state guide covers which states have gone universal and what that word conceals.

Getting started

1. Find your state's tier in the table above, and if the state lists "varies", pick the legal option that fits your family before filing anything.
2. File any required notice on time — many states tie it to the start of the school year or to withdrawing a child from school.
3. Cover the mandated subjects, if your state names them.
4. Keep records — attendance, samples of work, and any required test or evaluation results — even where no one asks for them.
5. Check your state's ESA to see whether homeschoolers qualify, and what they must report if they do.