New Mexico asks for three things: tell the Public Education Department when you start and again every year by August 1, keep your child's immunization record or waiver, and make sure whoever teaches has at least a high school diploma or equivalent. There is no testing and no curriculum approval.
Verified against primary sources November 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
Notify the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) within 30 days of starting your home school, then again on or before August 1 of every year it continues, using the PED's online Home School System or its paper form. Teach at least reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. Keep a record of your child's immunizations or a waiver, and make sure the person teaching has at least a high school diploma or its equivalent. New Mexico requires no testing, no curriculum approval, and no filing of records.
Anyone operating or intending to operate a home school must submit the home school registration form the PED makes available on its website within thirty days of establishing the home school. The PED offers two ways: its online Home School System, where you add each child and click Notify for each one, or a paper Notification of a Home School form mailed to the PED in Santa Fe. The online system gives a Parent Notification Report with a 5 digit registration number for each child each school year, which is your proof of notice. For a paper form, the PED recommends certified mail with return receipt.
For each later year the home school operates, notify the PED on or before August 1. The PED says the yearly notification period begins on June 1 and that the online system lets you renew each year. Some older guides give an April 1 date; the current statute says August 1.
The legal definition of a home school is a home study program that provides a basic academic educational program, including reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. The PED does not approve or recommend curriculum, and you choose the materials.
Keep a record of your child's disease immunizations, or a waiver of that requirement. The PED points to New Mexico Health Form 454 for the waiver. You keep this at home; it is not sent with your notice.
Instruction must be provided by a person who has at least a high school diploma or its equivalent. On the paper form, the parent signs an affirmation that the person teaching meets this rule. The PED says the operator must be the parent or legal guardian, but a parent may hire someone else to teach a particular subject.
A school-age person must attend public school, private school, home school, or a state institution until at least age 18, unless the person has graduated from high school, received a high school equivalency credential, or withdrawn on a hardship waiver. The PED describes a school-age person as one who is at least five years old before 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year, has no diploma or equivalent, and has not turned 22 by the first day of the school year.
Among its general duties, the PED must enforce requirements for home schools. If it finds a home school is not in compliance with the law, it may order that the student attend a public school or a private school.
| Within 30 days of starting | Notify the PED through the online Home School System or the paper form. Print or save the Parent Notification Report for each child. |
| From June 1 | The PED opens the yearly notification period for the coming school year. |
| On or before August 1 | Renew your notice for every year after the first, for each child. |
| During the year | Nothing is filed. Teach the five core subjects and keep the immunization record or waiver on hand. |
| If your child graduates, transfers, or you move away | The PED says you can disenroll your child from home schooling in the online system. |
Yes. The law asks for a notice within 30 days of establishing the home school and another on or before August 1 of each year after that. The PED says the yearly notification period opens on June 1.
No. The PED says home school students are not required to take annual standardized tests. You may choose to test through a private testing company.
The home school must be run by the parent or legal guardian, and instruction must come from a person with at least a high school diploma or its equivalent. The PED says a parent may hire someone else to teach a particular subject, and the parent stays responsible for notice, immunization records, and the diploma rule.
Yes, according to the PED: a family using an out-of-state program is operating a home school that has hired that program to teach, so it must notify the state. A child enrolled in a New Mexico online public school is not a home school student and does not register.
State law makes a home school student eligible for up to three school district activities at the public school in the attendance zone where the student lives, under New Mexico Activities Association guidelines, and lets home school students take one or more public school classes if they are eligible to enroll. The district verifies eligibility.
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 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.