Kentucky Homeschool Laws
The requirements to homeschool in Kentucky are some of the most straightforward and easy to follow in the country. Kentucky has no reporting requirements (aside from a yearly letter of intent to homeschool), no mandated standardized testing, and no portfolio review. Below, we will cover a summary of the main regulations regarding homeschooling as well as how to notify your local superintendent of your intention to homeschool, what records you may want to keep, and even how to return to public school if you bring your homeschool to an end prior to your child’s graduation.
- Requirements to Start Homeschooling in Kentucky
- Your Letter of Notification
- Homeschool Recordkeeping in Kentucky
- Kentucky Homeschool Graduation Requirements
- Returning to Public School after Homeschooling
- Additional Resources Related to Homeschooling in Kentucky
*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.
Requirements to Start Homeschooling in Kentucky
Under state law, all children between the ages of 6 and 18 must be enrolled in school. This can include enrollment in a public, private, church, or homeschool. Since Kentucky has no homeschool statute, homeschoolers fall under the “private schools” statute which makes the legal requirements simple. These are the basic Kentucky homeschool regulations to follow in terms of getting started:
- Each year, notify the board of education in your county within 10 days of the beginning of the school year of your intention to homeschool.
- Keep attendance records along with scholarships reports (these are not submitted, but rather are kept in your own portfolio).
- Teach a minimum school term of 1,062 instructional hours.
- Ensure you teach reading, writing, spelling, grammar, history, mathematics, and civics to your homeschooler (these are minimums…you can certainly teach any additional subjects you choose).
Also, if your child is currently enrolled in a public, private, or church school in Kentucky, it is a good idea to send your current school a formal withdrawal letter when you first begin homeschooling, to let them know that your child will no longer be attending.
More information relating to the home education rules for Kentucky can be found at A2ZHomeschooling.com.
Full Details of Kentucky’s Homeschool Laws
Your Letter of Notification
From the first time you begin homeschooling, whether it’s in kindergarten or in the middle of a school year, you have 10 days to file the initial letter of intention. Then, you simply continue to file it within the first two weeks of each school year as long as your homeschool stays active.
This letter is best sent by certified mail, and should be addressed to your local superintendent of schools. The letter should include the name of your homeschool, and the names, ages, and address of each child enrolled in your homeschool. For a sample letter of notification visit this link on the Christian Home Educators of Kentucky organization.
Homeschool Recordkeeping in Kentucky
Although Kentucky does not require that you submit any of your attendance or student performance records to the state, it does ask that you keep those records on file. Specifically, the records recommended include:
- Summarized or tabulated records of a student’s scholarship (there is no formal description of what this might entail)
- Attendance records
While these items are the minimum required of homeschooling families in KY, there are multiple benefits of keeping an organized homeschool portfolio. For instance, if you return to public or private school, having a record of your child’s progress can help administrators place your child into the proper grade level. In addition, if you homeschool during the high school years, all records that you keep will aid you in creating an accurate transcript that can be shared with potential colleges your child may wish to apply with.
Kentucky Homeschool Graduation Requirements
Parents of homeschooled high school students often wonder how their teen will receive a diploma. It’s good to remember that a high school diploma is simply an official document awarded by a school indicating that the student has successfully completed the necessary requirements for graduation. When a student is homeschooled, it is the school administrator (you!) who decides those requirements.
In general, the guidelines you lay out for your high schooler’s path should align with their post-secondary goals. If college is in your child’s future, for example, you can research the entrance requirements for schools of interest and make sure that your student’s coursework and transcript meet those. It can also be helpful to explore the Kentucky graduation policies for traditionally schooled students as a point of comparison.
Time4Learning offers this chart to clarify some of the similarities and differences between high school and homeschool graduation requirements.
| Public/Private School | Homeschool | |
|---|---|---|
| Kentucky diploma requirements | Students must have a minimum of 22 completed credits to graduate in Kentucky and receive a diploma. | 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. |
| Kentucky high school testing requirements | Students in KY high schools must pass a state-mandated civics test to graduate. | Homeschool students are not subject to testing requirements for graduation. |
| Kentucky high school transcripts | KY public school transcripts include identifying information, standardized test scores, attendance information, credit totals and a complete credit history by course including course titles, grades received each semester, and cumulative grade average for each. | Homeschool parents may create their own student transcripts, and may include any information they deem pertinent to colleges, military, and/or future workplace organizations. |
| Kentucky high school course credits | In order to graduate, KY high schoolers must have 4 English credits, 4 mathematics credits (two of which must include Algebra I & Geometry), 3 science credits, 4 social studies credits, ½ health and ½ physical education credits, and 6 additional credits aligned with the students ILP (individual learning plan). | Parents determine when their student has fulfilled graduation requirements; for the purpose of creating transcripts, some homeschool parents do assign credits to individual courses. |
| GED eligibility | Students who are at least 18 years old and have not earned a high school diploma from an accredited high school and are not currently enrolled in a public high school (or other students with a waiver from the local school superintendent) are eligible to apply to take the General Education Diploma test. | The same requirements for eligibility apply to homeschoolers as to public school students. |
Returning to Public School after Homeschooling
If your family decides to suspend your homeschool endeavors before your child has graduated, you will then need to know how to enroll a homeschooled child in public school. Homeschooling is a commitment, for sure, but it is also a commitment that needs to be reevaluated each year to determine if it is still working for your student and your family. To switch from homeschooling to public school, you do not need to notify your public school superintendent. Instead, you would simply not renew your intention to homeschool the next time it is due. Also, you would decide which school you will be transferring your student to and contact them to get their enrollment procedures.
Keep in mind that when enrolling in a school after homeschooling, each school will have different protocols for determining placement. Some schools will simply ask you to decide what grade level you want to place your child. Others may ask to review records relating to your child’s academic progress while homeschooling and some may even require assessment testing to determine proper placement.
Additional Resources Related to Homeschooling in Kentucky
Have other questions about homeschooling in Kentucky? You may find the following pages helpful.
- Homeschooling in Kentucky
- Kentucky Homeschool Associations
- Kentucky Homeschooling Groups & Co-ops
- Homeschool Field Trips in Kentucky
- Kentucky Test Prep
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