Massachusetts homeschooling needs approval in advance from the school district where you live. The rules for that approval are local, but the state's highest court has set limits on what a district may ask, and a home visit is not one of them.
Verified against primary sources November 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
Before you start, notify your school district (in writing is best) and submit a home education proposal for approval by the superintendent or school committee. Each district has its own policy. Under Supreme Judicial Court decisions, a district may look at your curriculum, the length of your school year and hours of instruction, your qualifications, and your teaching materials, and may ask for standardized testing or, with your agreement, progress reports or dated work samples. It may not require teacher certification, a college degree, or home visits as a condition of approval.
The route Massachusetts law provides for teaching your child at home: instruction approved in advance by the superintendent or school committee of the district where you live. This is what the rest of this page describes.
A child may instead attend a day school approved by the school committee. The committee approves a private school when its instruction in the required studies equals the public schools of the town in thoroughness, efficiency, and progress, and may not withhold approval because of religious teaching. This is a school, not home education.
A child of compulsory school age must attend a public school or an approved day school unless being otherwise instructed in a manner approved in advance by the superintendent or the school committee. The court has read this to mean approval comes before the child is removed from school and before home schooling begins.
The state education department says the first step is to notify the district where you live, preferably in writing. The district must then give you its home schooling policy and approval process and ask for your proposed plan. It reviews the plan and approves it, asks for changes or more information, or disapproves it, and must tell you its decision, preferably in writing, within a reasonable period.
The parents carry the burden of showing that the instruction will equal that of the town's public schools in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made. The district's review focuses on that same standard from the statute.
A district may insist that the subjects the law requires in public schools are taught: orthography (spelling), reading, writing, the English language and grammar, geography, arithmetic, drawing, music, the history and constitution of the United States, the duties of citizenship, health education, physical education, and good behavior. It may also consider other subjects it finds expedient.
The district may consider the length of your school year and the hours of instruction in each subject, may ask about the teaching parent's academic credentials or other qualifications, and may see your textbooks, workbooks, lesson plans, and teaching manuals. That access is only to compare subjects and grade level with the public schools: the district may not use it to dictate how you teach.
A district may require periodic standardized testing. In consultation with the parents it may decide where the testing happens and which test is used, and a neutral party should give the test where practical. Other methods, such as periodic progress reports or dated work samples, may be used instead if the parents agree.
A school committee cannot, without the parents' consent, require home visits as a condition of approving a home education plan that meets the other standards. The court left open whether visits could be required when a child is not making satisfactory progress, when the home is used to teach children from other families, or when other circumstances make them essential.
| Before you begin | Notify your district, preferably in writing, and ask for its home schooling policy. Keep your child enrolled until the plan is approved. |
| After the district sends its policy | Submit your home education proposal in the form the policy asks for. |
| Within a reasonable period | The district approves the plan, asks for changes or more information, or disapproves it. If it rejects the plan, it must give reasons and let you revise it. |
| During the year | Follow the approved plan. Massachusetts law sets no statewide filing dates; any testing or progress report dates come from your district's policy and your approved plan. |
| Each new plan | State law sets no renewal schedule. Your district's policy says how often to submit a new plan. |
Yes. The compulsory attendance law excuses a child who is being otherwise instructed in a manner approved in advance by the superintendent or the school committee. The state education department says notification alone does not authorize you to begin, and that taking a child of compulsory school age out of school without an approved plan would make the child truant.
Your town or city school district. Each school committee has its own approval policy. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education does not approve plans, oversee district policies, or review a district's decision. Charter schools, Commonwealth Virtual Schools, school choice districts, and vocational technical programs do not approve home schooling plans.
In Care and Protection of Charles (1987), the Supreme Judicial Court said a district may consider your proposed curriculum and the hours of instruction in each subject, the length of your school year, the academic credentials or other qualifications of the parent who will teach, and your textbooks, workbooks, lesson plans, and teaching manuals. It may also require periodic standardized testing, or accept other ways of measuring progress, such as progress reports or dated work samples, if you agree. Approval must not depend on anything that is not essential to making sure your child is educated.
Not as a condition of approving a plan that meets the other standards. In Brunelle v. Lynn Public Schools (1998), the court ruled that a school committee cannot, without the parents' consent, require home visits to approve their home education plans. The court left open whether a visit could be required if a child is not making satisfactory progress, if the home is used to teach children from other families, or in other circumstances that make it essential.
No. The court in Care and Protection of Charles said certification should not be required of parents, and parents do not need college or advanced degrees. The district may ask about the parent's academic credentials or other qualifications.
The court said the district must give you a chance to explain your plan and present witnesses, for example at a school committee meeting, and if it rejects the plan it must give its reasons and let you revise it. The state education department does not hear appeals of district decisions.
The state education department says home-schooled students have a right to special education services under Massachusetts law, and districts must evaluate students suspected of having a disability. Joining district courses, programs, sports, or other activities is up to each 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.