A Kentucky homeschool is legally a private school. You name your school, tell your local superintendent each year which children attend, and keep attendance and scholarship records. No approval, no testing, and no state curriculum.
Verified against primary sources November 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
Set up your homeschool as a private school by giving it a name. Within the first two weeks of the school year, or within two weeks of withdrawing your child from public school, send the superintendent of your local school district the names, ages, and home address of the children who attend, and send a new notice every year. Keep attendance records and scholarship reports (the courses each child completed and the grades earned), open to inspection by the district's director of pupil personnel and the Kentucky Department of Education. There is no approval, no testing, and no state curriculum.
Your homeschool is a private school, and enrollment and regular attendance there satisfies compulsory attendance. This is what the rest of this page describes.
Any private, parochial, or church school, a homeschool included, may choose to meet the Kentucky Board of Education's curriculum, certification, and textbook standards and apply to be certified. It is voluntary and most homeschools do not.
A child enrolled and in regular attendance in a private, parochial, or church regular day school is exempt from public school attendance. The Department of Education says a homeschool is a private school under this law, and that you establish one by giving it a name, for example your family name followed by School or Academy. There is no requirement to register the name like a business.
The person in charge of any private school reports to the superintendent of the district where the school is located the names, ages, and places of residence of all pupils attending, within two weeks of the beginning of each school year. The superintendent may also ask for other facts needed to carry out the compulsory attendance laws. The Department of Education says to send it within the first two weeks of the school year or within two weeks of withdrawing from public school, to resubmit it every year, and that the district must accept it.
Private schools keep attendance in a register provided by the Kentucky Board of Education. The Department of Education says it does not enforce the paper register for homeschools and accepts attendance kept any way you like, digital or paper.
Private schools make scholarship reports in the same manner required of public schools. The Department of Education says, for a homeschool, these document the courses each child completed and the grade awarded.
Private schools are at all times open to inspection by directors of pupil personnel and officials of the Department of Education. For a homeschool, the Department of Education says that means the attendance records can be inspected by the director of pupil personnel of your local district and by department officials.
Private schools that choose to be certified must teach in English, offer the branches of study required in the public schools, and operate on a calendar of at least 1,062 hours of instruction on at least 170 student attendance days. Certification is voluntary. The Department of Education says no minimum term applies to homeschools that are not certified, though it recommends the same numbers.
| Before the school year | Name your homeschool if this is your first year. Nothing is filed for the name. |
| Within the first two weeks of the school year | Send the superintendent of your local school district the names, ages, and home address of each child attending. Do this every year. |
| Within two weeks of withdrawing from public school | If you start partway through the year, send the notice within two weeks of the withdrawal. |
| During the year | Keep attendance and the record of courses and grades as you go. Nothing is filed. |
| End of the year | Write up each child's scholarship report: courses completed and grades awarded. |
Yes. Kentucky law exempts a child from public school attendance while the child is enrolled and regularly attending a private, parochial, or church day school. The Kentucky Department of Education says a homeschool is a private school under that law, and that it may not prescribe curriculum, teacher certification, or accreditation standards for homeschools.
The names, ages, and home address of each child attending your homeschool, sent to the superintendent of your local school district. The statute calls this an attendance report and lets the superintendent ask for other facts needed to carry out the compulsory attendance laws. The Department of Education says the district must accept a homeschool notification letter and cannot reject it.
Within the first two weeks of the school year, or within two weeks of withdrawing your child from public school, and again every school year. The Department of Education says this applies once your child is six by August 1.
Only if your homeschool chooses to become a certified private school. Kentucky law ties that school calendar to private schools certified by the Kentucky Board of Education, and certification is voluntary. The Department of Education says there is no minimum term for homeschools that are not certified, but it recommends meeting the same day and hour numbers.
No. Kentucky law sets no test, evaluation, or portfolio review for homeschool students.
The Department of Education says extracurricular participation is decided by each local school district. Ask your district.
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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.