Colorado asks for a short written notice every year, 172 days of teaching, and a test or an evaluation in five grades. You keep the records yourself, and the district sees them only if it has a reason to.
Verified against primary sources November 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
Send written notice to a Colorado school district 14 days before you start your home-based program, and again each year you continue. The notice states only each child's name, age, place of residence, and number of hours of attendance. Teach at least 172 days a year, averaging four hours a day, and cover the subjects the law lists. In grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11, your child takes a nationally standardized achievement test or is evaluated by a qualified person, and you send the results to the district (or to a Colorado independent or parochial school). Keep attendance, test and evaluation results, and immunization records permanently. No teaching license is needed.
The standard Colorado homeschool, taught by a parent or an adult relative the parent designates. This is what the rest of this page describes.
The compulsory attendance law does not apply to a child enrolled for at least 172 days in an independent or parochial school that provides a basic academic education. A Colorado appeals court read this to require enrollment, not physical attendance, so some families teach at home while enrolled in such a school. That school sets its own rules.
The compulsory attendance law also does not apply to a child instructed at home by a teacher licensed under Colorado's educator licensing laws.
Give written notice of your program to a school district within the state 14 days before you establish it, and each year after that while it continues. You certify only a statement with each child's name, age, place of residence, and number of hours of attendance. Notice is not required until your child is six, the program does not have to be set up until your child is seven, and neither is required after your child is sixteen.
The program must include no less than 172 days of instruction, averaging four instructional contact hours per day.
Instruction includes, and need not be limited to, reading, writing and speaking, mathematics, history, civics, literature, science, and regular instruction in the Constitution of the United States.
When your child reaches each of those grades, your child takes a nationally standardized achievement test, or a qualified person evaluates your child's academic progress. A qualified person is someone you select who is a teacher licensed in Colorado, a teacher employed by an independent or parochial school, a licensed psychologist, or a person with a graduate degree in education. Send the results to the district that received your notice, or to a Colorado independent or parochial school, in which case you give that school's name to the district.
A composite test score above the 13th percentile keeps your child exempt from school attendance. At or below it, your child may first retest with an alternate version of the same test or a different nationally standardized test you pick from a state board list. If the results still fall at or below the line, or an evaluation shows your child is not making sufficient academic progress according to your child's ability, the district must require enrollment in a public, independent or parochial school until the next testing period.
Keep your child's records permanently. They include, and need not be limited to, attendance data, test and evaluation results, and immunization records. You produce them to the district that got your notice only on 14 days' written notice, and only if the superintendent has probable cause to believe the program is not following the law.
If your child was habitually truant at any time during the last six months the child attended school, you must send a written description of the curriculum along with your notice before your child can be enrolled in the program.
| 14 days before you start | Send written notice to a Colorado school district: each child's name, age, place of residence, and hours of attendance. |
| Every year after | Send the notice again for each year the program continues. The law sets no calendar date, so many families repeat it before their own school year starts. |
| During the year | Teach at least 172 days, averaging four hours a day, and keep attendance records. |
| Grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 | A nationally standardized achievement test or a qualified person's evaluation. Send the results to the district that got your notice, or to a Colorado independent or parochial school. The statute sets no deadline for this. |
| If a result is at or below the line | Your child may retest first. If the result holds, the district must require school enrollment until the next testing period. |
The law says a school district within the state, so it does not have to be the district you live in. The Colorado Department of Education advises that if you file somewhere else, you also notify the district where you live, to avoid truancy action. The state department itself does not collect notices.
No. The evaluation happens when your child reaches grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. In each of those years you choose either a nationally standardized achievement test or an evaluation by a qualified person, and you send the results to the district that got your notice, or to a Colorado independent or parochial school.
Someone you choose who is a teacher licensed in Colorado, a teacher employed by an independent or parochial school, a licensed psychologist, or a person with a graduate degree in education. The evaluation is an option in the testing grades, in place of the test.
A composite score above the 13th percentile keeps your child's exemption from school attendance. At or below the 13th percentile, your child first gets a chance to retest with another version of the test or a different nationally standardized test chosen from a state board list. If the result stays at or below that line, the district must require your child to attend a public, independent or parochial school until the next testing period. For an evaluation, the question is whether your child is making sufficient academic progress according to your child's ability.
No. A parent, or an adult relative the parent designates, can teach without any license. The law exempts them from the state educator licensing act.
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Make a free parent accountReference information reviewed August 2026 against primary sources (statutes, NCAA and Common App published requirements). This is general information, not legal advice; requirements change, so verify anything load-bearing for your family against your state's current law.