What are my state's homeschooling laws?

If you're new to homeschooling, you might be wondering what the legal requirements are in your state. Homeschooling laws vary from state to state, with some being very relaxed and others requiring homeschoolers to submit to all sorts of oversight and regulation.

One of the easiest ways to learn about your state's homeschooling laws is to visit the website for your statewide homeschool support group. Statewide homeschool groups are not only the first to alert members about proposed laws, but they also work to actively inform legislators about homeschool issues and to rally opposition against bad legislation.

Another way to inform yourself about your state's laws, or to learn about regulations in other states is to visit HSLDA, the Home School Legal Defense Association, where current laws and proposed legislation for each state are analyzed in detail. It may be a good idea to join both your statewide group and HSLDA to stay up-to-date on proposed changes to existing laws and to give yourself some protection, especially if you live in a more highly regulated state.

For your convenience, you can also click the the name of your state below to go directly to its legal page from HSLDA. They are grouped according to the level of regulation you can expect to face, with those under the green heading being least restrictive, and those under the red heading the most regulated.

Least regulation; no notice required

Alaska     Connecticut     Idaho   

Illinois     Indiana     Iowa     Michigan

Missouri     New Jersey     Oklahoma

Texas

Low regulation; notification required

Alabama     Arizona     California   

Delaware     Georgia     Kansas   

Kentucky     Mississippi     Montana   

Nebraska     Nevada     Utah

Wisconsin     Wyoming

Moderate regulation; notification, testing and/or evaluation required

Arkansas     Colorado     Florida   

Hawaii     Louisiana     Maine   

Maryland     Minnesota     

New Hampshire     North Carolina   

North Dakota     Ohio     Oregon   

South Carolina     South Dakota   

Tennessee     Virginia     Washington   

Washington D.C.     West Virginia

Highest regulation; notification, testing and/or evaluation and more requirements

Massachusetts     New York

Pennsylvania     Rhode Island     

Vermont




NOTE: This post was also featured on the July 8 "List It Tuesday" post on Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. If you haven't checked them out, you ought to have a look. Tell them the Unplanned Homeschooler sent you!