Homeschool Requirements in Kentucky

Kentucky asks for a few specific things. A handful of real requirements. None of them hard on their own. The dates are the part that catches people, so put them in a calendar the week you start. Here is the whole list.

What you file, and by when

Annual written notice to the superintendent of the local board of education in the community where you reside, within the first two weeks of the start of the public school year, or within two weeks of withdrawing the child from public school. The notice must be resubmitted every year. Contents, per the Kentucky Department of Education: the names, ages, and home address of each child attending the homeschool. It is a notice, not a request for approval, and KDE states that a district is required to accept a homeschool notification letter. Note where the two-week timing comes from: it is KDE guidance. KRS 159.030(1)(b) itself sets no deadline and puts the duty on the school, saying it is “the duty of each private, parochial, or church regular day school to notify the local board of education of those students in attendance at the school,” and that if the school declines to do so the duty passes to the parent. Kentucky has no dedicated homeschool statute; a homeschool operates as a private school.

Days or hours

Kentucky sets no minimum term for an ordinary homeschool, and this used to be the murkiest point in Kentucky guidance. KRS 158.080 was amended effective June 27, 2025 and now applies only to “private and parochial schools certified in accordance with KRS 156.160(2)”, requiring those schools to operate on a calendar meeting the minimum school term and student instructional year defined in KRS 158.070. Certification under KRS 156.160(2) is voluntary and most homeschools do not seek it. KRS 158.070(1) defines the student instructional year as at least 1,062 hours of instructional time delivered on not less than 170 student attendance days, and the minimum school term as not less than 185 days counting student attendance days, teacher professional days and holidays. KDE says plainly that there is no minimum school term required for non-certified homeschools, and recommends meeting the 1,062-hour and 170-day standard anyway. Some districts and third-party guides state it as required. It is not. Plan and log at least 1,062 hours across at least 170 days and the question never arises.

Meeting those hours and turning them into credits are two different jobs. How to count a high school credit when you never used a textbook.

Subjects you must cover

No subject list applies to an ordinary Kentucky homeschool. KRS 158.080(1) requires instruction in the English language and in “the several branches of study required to be taught in the public schools of the state”, but since the 2025 amendment that section reaches only private and parochial schools certified under KRS 156.160(2). Under Rudasill, KDE may not prescribe curriculum for homeschools, and its own guidance says so. Families supply their own curriculum and materials; KDE suggests the Kentucky Academic Standards as a reference rather than a mandate.

Records you keep

Kentucky is record-heavy for a low-notice state. KRS 159.040 requires attendance at private and parochial schools to be kept “in a register provided by the Kentucky Board of Education”, requires those schools to make attendance and scholarship reports in the same manner required of public school officials, and makes the schools “at all times open to inspection by directors of pupil personnel and officials of the Department of Education”. This is a duty the statute places on the school directly. KDE does not enforce the paper register: it allows attendance records in any form, digital or paper. Scholarship reports should document the courses the student completed and the grade awarded. Records stay with the parent but must be produced on request.

Those are the pages underneath the transcript rather than the transcript itself. The Records Pack has the attendance and hours log and the portfolio index as editable forms.

Testing or evaluation

None. Kentucky requires no standardized testing, portfolio review, or state evaluation of homeschooled students. The recordkeeping duty above is the substitute for testing. KDE also notes it may not prescribe curriculum, teacher certification, or accreditation standards for homeschooling, following Kentucky State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education v. Rudasill, 589 S.W.2d 877 (Ky. 1979).

Diplomas and transcripts

No state rules governing homeschool credits, transcripts, or diplomas; the parent issues the diploma. KDE puts it this way: Kentucky does not recognize a statewide diploma, diplomas are issued by the school a student attends, so homeschools issue their own, and KDE is unable to verify a homeschool diploma with higher education or workforce institutions. For that reason KDE itself recommends students consider taking a high school equivalency exam. Keep the scholarship and report-card records from 9th grade forward: they double as the transcript and are documentation Kentucky law already requires you to keep. KEES base awards are calculated from a GPA reported by a certified high school, so homeschool graduates generally qualify through the ACT or SAT based award instead; confirm current rules with KHEAA. On transferring back in, 704 KAR 3:307 has the district place the student in the grade best suited and award prior credit from a non-accredited secondary school either by examination or by successful performance at a higher level of a sequential course. Compulsory attendance is ages 6 through 16 under KRS 159.010(1)(a), and ages 6 through 18 in districts that have adopted the extended policy under KRS 159.010(1)(b), so check your district. The parent-consent withdrawal process in KRS 159.010 applies only in districts that have not adopted the age-18 policy, and it requires a conference with the principal, written parental notification, and a counseling session.

A diploma you signed yourself gets read against the transcript behind it. What a college actually does with a homeschool transcript.

Where this comes from

Statute: Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 159.030(1)(b) (private, parochial or church school exemption and notice duty); § 159.040 (attendance register; attendance and scholarship reports; inspection); § 158.070(1) (definitions: 185-day minimum school term; 1,062 hours on 170 student attendance days); § 158.080 (certified private and parochial schools only, as amended eff. June 27, 2025); § 156.160(2) (voluntary certification); § 159.010 (compulsory attendance ages); 704 KAR 3:307 (placement and credit on transfer).

Source: https://www.education.ky.gov/federal/fed/documents/kentucky%20homeschool%20information%20packet.pdf

Last reviewed: July 2026, on the 26th.

Homeschool law changes, and a page like this goes stale without saying so. Before a filing deadline, read the statute above for yourself. If we are behind, we would rather hear it from you than have you find out at the district office.

All fifty states and DC, each with its statute cited.

Filing is one half of it. Keeping the records is the other, and that is what our Records System is for: the editable transcript with the GPA already wired, 131 course descriptions, and this same statute-cited summary for all fifty states and DC. Thirty-nine dollars, one household, however many children you have.