Homeschool Requirements in Massachusetts

Massachusetts asks for more than most places do. There is more of it here than in most states, and the dates do not move. It is all doable once it is written down in one place, and that is what this page is. Read the deadlines first; the rest can wait until you have them in a calendar.

What you file, and by when

Massachusetts is one of a small number of states that requires approval in advance rather than notice. Parents submit an education plan to the local superintendent or school committee and must be approved before beginning. There is no statewide form or deadline; each district sets its own process and timeline. The rule is court-made, reading the “otherwise instructed in a manner approved in advance” clause of M.G.L. c. 76, § 1: Care and Protection of Charles, 399 Mass. 324 (1987), and Brunelle v. Lynn Public Schools, 428 Mass. 512 (1998). Charles gives parents procedure. The district must give the parents an opportunity to explain their proposed plan and present witnesses, and a hearing during a school committee meeting satisfies that. If the plan is rejected the district must detail its reasons, and the parents must be given an opportunity to revise the proposal to remedy its inadequacies. Charles also caps what a district may demand: approval must not be conditioned on requirements that are not essential to ensuring the children are educated, teacher certification may not be required of a parent, and “nor must the parents have college or advanced academic degrees.” A district may have access to textbooks, workbooks, lesson plans and teaching manuals for comparison with the public school curriculum, but “may not use this access to dictate the manner in which the subjects will be taught.” Under Brunelle, home visits are not presumptively essential and may not be required without parental consent as a condition of approval. Brunelle left open whether a visit could be required where a child is not making satisfactory progress or where the home teaches children from other families.

Days or hours

No statute sets a homeschool minimum. Under Charles the district may properly consider “the length of the proposed home school year and the hours of instruction in each subject,” measured against the public school standard: 900 hours a year of structured learning time for elementary students and 990 for secondary students under 603 CMR 27.04, across the 180-day school year required of cities and towns. Most approved plans reference those figures. They are the benchmark a district measures against, not a number the law imposes on the family.

Subjects you must cover

M.G.L. c. 71, § 1 subject list, which districts apply to homeschool plans: orthography (spelling), reading, writing, the English language and grammar, geography, arithmetic, drawing, music, the history and constitution of the United States, the duties of citizenship, health education (including CPR), physical education, and good behavior.

Records you keep

No explicit statutory recordkeeping mandate. In practice the approved plan usually specifies what the family will produce (progress reports, dated work samples, attendance log). Keep whatever the approved plan commits you to, since approval is annual in most districts.

Nothing goes to a district, so the only account of the four years is the one you write. Writing the counselor letter when the counselor is you.

Testing or evaluation

The plan has to say how progress will be measured, and this is the point most often stated backwards. Under Charles the superintendent or school committee “may properly require periodic standardized testing of the children to ensure educational progress and the attainment of minimum standards.” Charles then allows substitutes: “Other means of evaluating the progress of the children may be substituted for the formal testing process, such as periodic progress reports or dated work samples, subject to the approval of the parents.” In practice the method is negotiated and written into the approved plan. Where testing is used, the school authorities decide where it occurs and which instrument is used in consultation with the parents, and “where practical, a neutral party should administer the test.” The standard being applied is whether the instruction equals the public schools “in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made therein.”

What a test result or an evaluator gets attached to is the folder underneath the transcript. The Records Pack has the portfolio index with its evaluator summary as an editable form.

Diplomas and transcripts

No state-recognized homeschool diploma; districts do not issue diplomas to homeschooled students and are not obligated to grant credit for home study. Parents issue their own diploma and transcript. DESE disclaims any role: the Department does not approve home schooling plans, does not oversee school committee policies on home schooling, and does not review district decisions on home schooling proposals. Compulsory attendance runs ages 6 to 16. Some districts will accept partial re-enrollment or dual enrollment but credit-transfer policies vary district to district, so get it in writing before senior year. There is no state ESA or voucher for homeschoolers. Because approval is district by district, high school compliance is the least predictable part of Massachusetts homeschooling.

The AP label is a separate permission from anything Massachusetts asks of you, and it comes from one place. Why AP does not belong on a transcript unless you registered the Course Audit.

Where this comes from

Statute: M.G.L. c. 76, § 1 (compulsory attendance; “otherwise instructed in a manner approved in advance”); Care and Protection of Charles, 399 Mass. 324 (1987); Brunelle v. Lynn Public Schools, 428 Mass. 512 (1998); subject list at M.G.L. c. 71, § 1; public school hours at 603 CMR 27.04

Source: https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXII/Chapter76/Section1

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.