Log each school day as you go: hours, subjects and the books you read. The log is set up for your state's rules, keeps a running total against what the state asks for, and prints filled in or blank. One log for each of your children.
A free parent account comes with a Home class. Add your children as students and see every project they make and every lesson they finish. See what they can make, by age.
Make a free parent accountFrom our state guides, each written from that state's statutes and dated. Open your state's guide for the citations and everything else it requires.
| State | What to keep | |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Church schools keep an attendance register of enrollment and every absence of a half day or more. Only the private tutor route sets time: 3 hours a day for 140 days, logged daily in a register of work. | Log · Guide |
| Alaska | Nothing, by law: Alaska's home education exemption sets no days, hours, subjects or records. A simple log of what you taught helps if your child later enrolls in a school or a correspondence program. | Log · Guide |
| Arizona | Arizona sets no day or hour count for homeschools and requires no attendance log. Keep your date-stamped affidavit and a copy of the proof of age you filed; a record of the five required subjects is optional but helps with transcripts. | Log · Guide |
| Arkansas | Arkansas sets no day or hour count and requires no records while you homeschool. Keep a copy of each year's Notice of Intent, plus a transcript and a portfolio of curricula, tests and finished lessons, which a public school asks for if your child enrolls. | Log · Guide |
| California | An attendance register that shows every absence of a half day or more. It is required by statute and is the record most often wrongly called optional. | Log · Guide |
| Colorado | At least 172 days of instruction averaging four hours a day, which comes to 688 hours. Keep attendance data, test and evaluation results, and immunization records permanently; the district can ask to see them only with probable cause and 14 days' written notice. | Log · Guide |
| Connecticut | Nothing, by statute. The State Department of Education lists as best practice an attendance log of days and hours and a portfolio of work samples, assessments, and books used, which is also what a district portfolio review looks at. | Log · Guide |
| Delaware | Delaware sets no day or hour minimum, but the July 31 attendance report asks how many days your school was open and how many days each child attended, so keep a running count. The state keeps no academic records and recommends a portfolio of grades, attendance, and test scores. | Log · Guide |
| District of Columbia | A portfolio for each child with current work, such as writings, worksheets, workbooks, creative materials and assessments, kept at least one year for OSSE to review if it asks in writing. The District sets no day or hour count, only thorough, regular instruction. | Log · Guide |
| Florida | A log of educational activities made as you go, naming reading materials by title, plus work samples. Keep it two years; the district may ask to see it on 15 days' notice. | Log · Guide |
| Georgia | Instruction equal to 180 days at 4.5 hours a day. Georgia never collects it, but you attest to it every year on the Declaration of Intent. | Log · Guide |
| Hawaii | A record of the planned curriculum: program start and end dates, hours per week of instruction, subjects, how you judge mastery, and a list of materials. Hawaii sets no hour or day minimum for home schooling. | Log · Guide |
| Idaho | Idaho sets no days or hours and requires no records. The Idaho Department of Education recommends keeping your own records of attendance and work completion, since the state keeps none, and they help with grade placement if your child returns to school. | Log · Guide |
| Illinois | Illinois sets no number of days or hours and requires no records. Keep a simple log of which of the six required subject areas you taught and when, plus your withdrawal letter, so you can show your child is being taught if a truant officer asks or your child re-enrolls. | Log · Guide |
| Indiana | An accurate daily attendance record, shown to the Secretary of Education or your local superintendent if they ask. The Department of Education says 180 days a year, July 1 to June 30, with no hours-per-day rule. | Log · Guide |
| Iowa | The statute sets 148 days a year, 37 each quarter, for competent private instruction with a licensed teacher, and Form A asks for your day count. IPI and non-reporting CPI families have no required records, but a log and work samples help with a portfolio review or a return to school. | Log · Guide |
| Kansas | Kansas asks for a school term substantially equal to the local public school term, and the state education department points to 186 days of at least 6 hours, or 1,116 hours, for grades 1 to 11 (181 days or 1,086 hours in grade 12). No log is required, but keep one, plus your registration letter and progress records for transfers and college. | Log · Guide |
| Kentucky | Attendance records and scholarship reports (courses completed and grades awarded), open to inspection by your district's director of pupil personnel. Only certified schools must meet 1,062 hours on 170 days; the Department of Education recommends those numbers for every homeschool. | Log · Guide |
| Louisiana | Louisiana law sets no hour count for families. The department's guidelines speak of 180 days in the school year, and say a nonpublic school not seeking state approval keeps attendance records. Home study families keep each approval letter and what they sent for renewal. | Log · Guide |
| Maine | Copies of everything you filed, kept until home instruction ends and shown to the commissioner on request. Maine has no hour rule; a day count helps you back the 175 day assurance. | Log · Guide |
| Maryland | A portfolio showing regular, thorough instruction in English, math, science, social studies, art, music, health, and physical education, reviewed by the school system each semester. Maryland sets no days or hours; a log is optional and can help show the instruction was regular. | Log · Guide |
| Massachusetts | State law names no records. Keep your approval letter and whatever your approved plan promises, such as progress reports or dated work samples; the public school structured learning time rules do not apply to home schooling. | Log · Guide |
| Michigan | Michigan sets no day or hour count and no law requires home school records. Keep a simple log of your organized program in the nine required subjects, with progress notes and work samples, in case a district asks or your child returns to school. | Log · Guide |
| Minnesota | Minnesota sets no days or hours for a homeschool. The law asks you to keep class schedules, copies of your instructional materials, a description of how you assess your child's work, and proof the annual test was given. | Log · Guide |
| Mississippi | Mississippi law requires no records for home instruction. The Department of Education recommends a portfolio of work samples and a log of books and materials, and a copy of each year's certificate of enrollment. | Log · Guide |
| Missouri | An hours ledger for a school year that runs July 1 to June 30: 1,000 hours, 600 of them core, and 400 of those core hours at your regular home school location. | Log · Guide |
| Montana | Attendance records, made available to the county superintendent on request, and enough instruction to reach the yearly minimum hours: 720 in grades 1 to 3, 1,080 in grades 4 to 12, counted over a fiscal year that runs July 1 to June 30. | Log · Guide |
| Nebraska | Nebraska's minimum school term is 1,032 hours in grades K to 8 and 1,080 in grades 9 to 12, between July 1 and June 30. No log is filed, but the department advises keeping attendance data and a transcript with grades. | Log · Guide |
| Nevada | Nevada sets no day or hour count and requires no attendance log. Keep the district's written acknowledgment, your notice and educational plan, and proof of your child's identity, since you must be ready to show the plan and identity to a court if asked. | Log · Guide |
| New Hampshire | Nothing, by law. The portfolio rule (a reading log and work samples kept two years) was repealed July 1, 2026, and your calendar need not match the district's. Keep a copy of any declaration you file and your certificate of completion. | Log · Guide |
| New Jersey | Nothing, by law. The legal standard is instruction academically equivalent to the public schools, so a simple log of subjects, materials, and days taught, with some work samples, is the easiest way to show it if your district ever has a reason to ask. | Log · Guide |
| New Mexico | The law asks you to keep a record of your child's immunizations or a waiver. The PED encourages, but does not require, records of your notices, instructional hours, materials, and work samples. | Log · Guide |
| New York | Attendance records, produced if the district asks, and an hours total for each quarterly report: 900 hours a year in grades 1 to 6, 990 in grades 7 to 12. | Log · Guide |
| North Carolina | Annual attendance records for each student, for a school that runs on a regular schedule at least nine calendar months a year. A daily register is the easiest way to show it. | Log · Guide |
| North Dakota | Instruction of at least four hours a day on at least 175 days. The law asks you to keep a yearly record of the courses your child took and progress assessments, including any standardized test results. | Log · Guide |
| Ohio | Ohio sets no day or hour count and requires no attendance log. Keep copies of each yearly notice and every superintendent acknowledgment letter, plus a simple record of teaching the six required subjects in case anyone asks. | Log · Guide |
| Oklahoma | Nothing, by law. The statute asks for instruction during the full term your district's schools are in session, and the state suggests about 180 days of six hours. A daily log helps if your child returns to public school, where the state says you must show documentation of the instruction. | Log · Guide |
| Oregon | Oregon sets no days, hours or subjects for a child taught at home by a parent, and requires no attendance log. Keep your notice, the ESD's acknowledgment, and every test report, which you must submit if the ESD asks. | Log · Guide |
| Pennsylvania | A log made as you go that names reading materials by title, for your evaluator. Instruction is 180 days, or 900 hours at the elementary level and 990 at the secondary level: either one, not both. | Log · Guide |
| Rhode Island | An attendance register is required: kept the same way as public school registers and returned to the school committee, superintendent, truant officers, and the state education department. Time must be substantially equal to public school, which runs 180 days or 1,080 hours. | Log · Guide |
| South Carolina | At least 180 days of instruction under every option, and 4.5 hours a day under Option 1. Options 1 and 3 also keep a plan book of subjects and activities, a portfolio of work samples, and a semiannual progress report with attendance. | Log · Guide |
| South Dakota | Nothing, by law: South Dakota sets no days, hours, or records for alternative instruction. The state education department recommends a detailed record of learning, attendance, and grades, because you will need transcripts for activities, a later return to public school, dual credit, and college. | Log · Guide |
| Tennessee | For the independent pathway: attendance kept all year and submitted to the district at the end of it, at 4 hours a day for 180 days. Church-related and umbrella schools keep their own records. | Log · Guide |
| Texas | Nothing, by law. The driver license verification form asks you to attest to attendance over the prior 80 school days, which is much easier with a simple daily record. | Log · Guide |
| Utah | Utah requires no records, and the law bars a school district from requiring records of instruction or attendance. Keep your notification and the district's acknowledgment, and a transcript for high school. | Log · Guide |
| Vermont | The record of each year's end-of-year assessment, which the law requires you to keep; the Agency suggests keeping them until your child turns 18. Vermont sets no hour count, only the equivalent of 175 days of instruction, so a day log helps back that attestation. | Log · Guide |
| Virginia | Nothing specified by statute: Virginia sets no days, hours or record rules. A log still helps with the evaluator letter or a return to school. | Log · Guide |
| Washington | Washington asks for instruction equal to an annual average of 1,000 hours for grades 1 through 12, with no daily minimum and no day count, but no statute requires a log. Keep each year's declaration of intent and the annual test or written assessment, which the law makes part of your child's permanent records. | Log · Guide |
| West Virginia | West Virginia's notice route sets no day or hour count and requires no attendance log. Keep a copy of each child's academic assessment for three years, plus work samples if you use the certified teacher portfolio review. | Log · Guide |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin asks for at least 875 hours a year with no day count, and no statute requires a log. DPI recommends records of the instruction you provide, and says to keep every year's PI-1206 copy, since DPI keeps them for only seven years. | Log · Guide |
| Wyoming | Wyoming sets no day or hour count for home-based programs and names no records to keep. The law makes you responsible for a sequential curriculum in reading, writing, mathematics, civics, history, literature and science, so a record of what you taught by subject is the easiest way to show it. | Log · Guide |
Reference 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.
It depends on the state. California requires an attendance register, Missouri an hours ledger, New York attendance records and quarterly hour totals, North Carolina annual attendance records, and Tennessee independent home schools submit attendance at the end of each year. Pennsylvania and Florida require a log that names reading materials by title. Texas, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Arizona require no log at all, and Washington asks for an annual average of 1,000 hours without requiring a log.
Yes. Print a blank log for your state and fill it in by hand. What the states that ask for a log care about is that it is kept as you go, not reconstructed at the end of the year.
Usually it counts as instruction, but check your state guide. Missouri is the case to watch: co-op days count toward the 1,000 and the 600 core hours, but not toward the 400 core hours that must happen at your home school location.
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