Homeschool Requirements in Mississippi
Mississippi asks for very little. Start with the first section: what you file, if anything, and the date it is due. The rest is short. Every claim here is cited at the foot of the page, so you can check it against the code rather than take our word for it.
What you file, and by when
Annual certificate of enrollment filed with the school attendance officer for the area where the child resides, on or before September 15 of each year (Miss. Code § 37-13-91(3)(c)). School attendance officers are employed by the State Department of Education under § 37-13-89, not by the local district, and State Board Rule 30.7 is explicit that the Office of Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement is the only entity authorized to distribute and collect the certificates and that district personnel may not complete one. The statute says the form is designed to obtain the following information only: the child’s name, address, telephone number, and date of birth; the parent, guardian or custodian’s name, address, and telephone number; a “simple description of the type of education the child is receiving”; and the signature of the parent, guardian or custodian, with the date. One thing to watch: the Mississippi Department of Education’s own home school page tells parents to complete enrollment by August 15, while the statute and Rule 30.7 both say September 15. File by August 15 if you can, so the point never has to be argued. If you miss it, the statute gives a cure: after written notice of noncompliance from the school attendance officer you have ten days to comply.
Days or hours
None. Mississippi sets no minimum days or hours for home instruction programs. The only limit is that the program must not exist “for the purpose of avoiding or circumventing the compulsory attendance law.”
Subjects you must cover
None. Mississippi mandates no subjects and imposes no parent qualification requirements. MDE recommends reviewing the Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards, which is guidance and not a requirement.
Records you keep
No state-mandated recordkeeping and nothing to submit beyond the annual certificate of enrollment. Keep a copy of each filed certificate, and any receipt or stamp, as proof of legal status. MDE recommends, as advice rather than requirement, keeping a portfolio for each child with samples of activities, assignments, projects and assessments plus a log of books and materials used. Attendance and grade records are prudent but not required.
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
None. No standardized testing, portfolio review, evaluation, or progress reporting.
Diplomas and transcripts
No state regulation of homeschool credits, transcripts, or diplomas; parents issue their own. Because Mississippi requires no testing or records, homeschool graduates should expect Mississippi public universities and the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid (MTAG and MESG scholarships) to rely on ACT or SAT scores and a parent-prepared transcript, so build a detailed transcript with course descriptions from 9th grade. Compulsory attendance covers a child who has attained or will attain age 6 on or before September 1 and who has not attained age 17 on or before September 1, so the last covered year is normally age 16. Under Rule 30.7 a certificate of enrollment will be accepted past compulsory age only for a student already in a home instruction program; MDE will not accept a first-time home school enrollment for someone who has aged out. Mississippi has no universal ESA for homeschoolers as of mid-2026 (only a special-needs ESA program for eligible students with IEPs, a separate program with its own rules); several universal-choice bills have been introduced but check current status.
A diploma you signed yourself gets read against the transcript behind it. What a college actually does with a homeschool transcript.
If the transcript is the piece you are missing, it is free on its own: The Transcript Template, with the weighted and unweighted GPA already wired.
Where this comes from
Statute: Miss. Code Ann. § 37-13-91 (Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law), esp. § 37-13-91(2)(f), (2)(g), (2)(i) and (3)(c); § 37-13-89 (school attendance officers); 7 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 3, R. 30.7 (Home School Guidelines).
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.