Homeschool laws differ by state and all 50 allow it

Yes. Homeschooling is legal in all fifty US states. What changes between states is the paperwork. Some ask for nothing at all, and some want a yearly notice, records, and testing.

So the real question is what your state asks of you, and the answer takes about an hour to find.

The kinds of things a state might ask for

Every state writes its own law, but the requirements tend to come from the same short list:

• a notice that you're homeschooling, sent once or every year to the district or the state;
• a number of days or hours of instruction;
• certain subjects to be taught;
• records, like attendance or a portfolio of work;
• a standardized test or an evaluation by a teacher at certain grades;
• in a few places, something about the parent, like a diploma.

Some states ask for none of that. Some ask for nearly the whole list. Some let you choose between a few different legal ways to homeschool, each with its own rules. Your neighbor across the state line might be living under completely different ones.

Where to look up your state

Go to the source first, which is your state's department of education website. Search for your state's name and "homeschool". The state's own page will link to the statute and to any forms.

HSLDA, the Home School Legal Defense Association, publishes a summary of every state's law on its website, written for parents. A statewide homeschool organization or a local co-op can tell you how the rules work in practice, like when the notice is due and who actually reads it.

We don't encode any state's law in Arbor, and I'd be careful about any blog post that tells you your state's rules from memory. Laws change. Read the current one.

Compulsory school age matters too

Each state sets the ages when a child must be in school, and the homeschool rules usually apply only inside that range. If your child is four, there may be nothing to file yet. If you're pulling a child out of a school they're already enrolled in, look up the withdrawal steps as well, because in many places a child who just stops coming is marked absent.

If you're outside the United States

The rules vary much more between countries than between states. Homeschooling is common and legal in Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, each with its own requirements. In a few countries, Germany among them, it's generally not allowed at all. Check with your country's education ministry.

What to keep, even if nobody asks

If your state asks for no records, keep a few anyway. A list of what each child studied this year, some samples of their work, and the books you read. It takes minutes a week. If you ever move to a stricter state, or your child goes back to school, or a high schooler needs a transcript, you'll be glad the year is written down somewhere.

Look it up once, do what it asks, and then get back to teaching.