Indiana Homeschool Laws
From age 7 to 18 (or until graduation), Indiana law makes school attendance compulsory. Homeschooling is a legal way to fulfill the attendance requirement, and homeschools are considered equivalent to non-accredited private schools in the state. Indiana has a minimum amount of regulations that homeschool families must follow. On this page, you will become better acquainted with the requirements for homeschooling in Indiana, learn how to register your homeschool, and find out what records you may want to keep for each homeschool student in your family.
- Indiana Homeschool Requirements
- How to Register for Homeschooling in Indiana
- Homeschool Record Keeping in Indiana
- Indiana Homeschool Graduation Requirements
- How to Transfer from Homeschool to Public School
- Additional Resources Related to Homeschooling in Indiana
*This should by no means be interpreted as legal advice. It is your responsibility to interpret and understand the laws that you will be homeschooling under.
Indiana Homeschool Requirements
While homeschool curriculum choice is completely up to parents, there are four things that are mandated by law for families educating at home in Indiana:
- A homeschool year should include 180 days of instruction.
- Homeschool instruction should be in the English language.
- Parents must keep attendance records, and these records should be made available to the superintendent of schools upon request.
- Instruction should be equivalent to that provided in the public schools (equivalent instruction is not defined, however, and does not require approval or oversight).
More information relating to the home education rules for Indiana can be found at A2ZHomeschooling.com.
Full Details of Indiana’s Homeschool Laws
How to Register for Homeschooling in Indiana
It is important to note that there is no legal requirement for families to register with the state before beginning to homeschool. However, the Indiana Department of Education provides a homeschool enrollment form on their website for families who wish to share information about their homeschool students with the state. To prevent any truancy confusion when switching from public school to homeschool in Indiana, it’s a good idea to send a formal letter to your current school’s principal stating that you are officially withdrawing your child from the school in order to begin homeschooling.
Homeschool Recordkeeping in Indiana
Although attendance records are the only files that Indiana homeschoolers are required by law to track, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t personally chronicle additional aspects of your homeschool experience. If you will be returning to school at any point, it will be helpful to have an account of what your student has accomplished while homeschooling. Record keeping can also be especially important in the high school years since you will likely need to provide specific information when applying to colleges or jobs in the future.
Items that you may want to track for each student in a homeschool portfolio include:
- Subjects covered each school year
- Examples of submitted work from each course taken
- Parent-administered or online school report cards or assessments
- Scores from any standardized tests taken
- High school transcript for any student in grades 9-12
Indiana Homeschool Graduation Requirements
As with most states, Indiana does not have specific laws related to graduation, but leaves the fulfillment of educational goals up to individual parents. Paths to homeschool graduation can include:
- A diploma issued by the parents upon successful completion of a customized homeschool course load
- A diploma issued by a private/online school upon successful completion of the school’s course requirements
- A passing score on an Indiana high school equivalency exam
However, you may be wondering how your homeschooler’s high school completion differs from traditional school graduation. The below chart outlines some of the comparisons between the two.
Public/Private SchoolHomeschool| Indiana diploma requirements | Indiana requires 1 of 4 distinct diploma paths. | Parents determine when their student has fulfilled graduation requirements and can issue their own homeschool diploma; students of private/online schools may receive diplomas from those institutions. |
| Indiana high school testing requirements | Beginning with the class of 2019, in order to graduate, students must demonstrate mastery of ISTEP+ Grade 10 English/Language Arts and Mathematics assessments (or have an acceptable waiver). | Homeschool students are not subject to testing requirements for graduation. |
| Indiana high school transcripts | Official transcripts of high school students in Indiana schools usually include GPA, attendance data, iSTEP scores, immunization info, and dual credit info. | Homeschool parents may create their own student transcripts, and may include any information they deem pertinent to colleges, military, and/or future workplace organizations. |
| Course credits | In Indiana, all pathways to graduation require 40 credit hours, although each path has different required levels of coursework for achieving those credits. | Parents determine when their student has fulfilled graduation requirements; for the purpose of creating transcripts, some homeschool parents do assign credits to individual courses. |
| High School Equivalency (formerly GED) | The High School equivalency exam is an alternate to an Indiana high school diploma. Students of at least 16 years of age are eligible for the test. | The High School equivalency exam is available to homeschoolers, as well. Any IN student of at least 16 years of age is eligible to take the exam. |
Homeschool High School Transcript Template
Track your homeschooler’s credits, courses, and accomplishments with this free homeschool high school transcript template.
How to Transfer from Homeschool to Public School
Most families approach homeschooling as a year-to-year endeavor. If, at any point, you decide that home education is no longer the right option for your student, you will need to know about enrolling in public school after homeschooling. Every school will have a different set of guidelines for assigning your homeschooled student into a designated grade level upon re-enrollment. Some schools may simply ask what grade you, the parent, feel is appropriate, while others may require information about your child’s homeschool curriculum and/or grades. Some may even require your student take placement tests. In addition, when re-enrolling during the high school years, it will be up to each individual school to decide whether to accept any credits your high schooler gained while homeschooling.
Additional Resources Related to Homeschooling in Indiana
Have other questions about homeschooling in Indiana? You may find the following pages helpful.
- Homeschooling in Indiana
- Indiana Homeschool Associations
- Indiana Homeschool Groups & Co-ops
- Homeschool Field Trips in Indiana
- Indiana Test Prep
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