Rhode Island homeschooling needs approval from the school committee of the town where your child lives, before you begin. Approval is local: the state education department does not supervise it, and each district runs its own process within the rules in state law.
Verified against primary sources November 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
Before you take your child out of school, present an at-home instruction plan to the school committee of the city or town where your child lives and wait for its approval. State law says the committee may approve the plan only if the time spent in school is substantially equal to public school, you keep an attendance register like the public schools' and return it to school officials, and you teach the required subjects in English, thoroughly and efficiently. You and the committee agree on how progress will be checked. No teaching certificate is needed. If the committee refuses, you can appeal to the Rhode Island Department of Education for a free hearing.
The route Rhode Island law provides for teaching your child at home: a course of at-home instruction approved by the school committee of the town where your child lives. This is what the rest of this page describes.
A child may instead attend a private day school approved by the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education. This is a school, not home instruction, and it has its own approval process.
Every child from age 6 (by September 1) until age 18, or a younger child enrolled in kindergarten, must attend public school. A parent is not penalized if the child attends a course of at-home instruction approved by the school committee of the town where the child resides. The Commissioner of Education has said prior approval is a prerequisite to meeting the attendance law.
The state education department does not directly supervise at-home instruction, and approval happens only at the local school district level. Districts set their own steps, such as where to send the plan, so ask your superintendent's office. RIDE says the process may begin with a letter of intent to the superintendent's office.
The period of attendance must be substantially equal to what the law requires in public schools. Public school districts must run at least 180 days a year, or the equivalent through longer and shorter days with at least 1,080 school hours. RIDE says home instruction does not have to follow the public school calendar exactly, and it can start at any point in the year.
You must keep registers of your child's attendance, made the same way as public school registers, and return them to the school committee, the superintendent of schools, truant officers, and the state education department. The statute sets no due date; RIDE says regular reports go to your superintendent or whoever your district names.
Reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, the history of the United States, the history of Rhode Island, and the principles of American government must be taught in English, substantially to the same extent as in public schools, and the teaching must be thorough and efficient. Separate statutes add civics and health and physical education to what an approved program must include. You may also teach any subject in another language in addition to English.
There is no state test. RIDE says the parent and the school committee should agree on a way to evaluate progress in all the required subjects, which may include testing at regular intervals, and that the testing site is also agreed. The Commissioner has said committees approve and monitor home instruction, and in most cases measure progress against public school peers.
No teaching certificate is required. But in a 2000 decision the Commissioner held that a program made almost entirely of computerized instruction, with no person teaching the core subjects, did not meet the law: a live instructor is an implied part of home instruction. RIDE says any online program in your plan must be approved by your school committee.
Any interested resident aggrieved by the school committee's decision to approve or refuse at-home instruction may appeal to the Rhode Island Department of Education. After notice to the parties, the department holds a hearing and decides the appeal at no cost to them. The Commissioner hears these appeals fresh, on the record made at the hearing.
| Before you begin | Contact your superintendent's office, ask for the district's process, and present your at-home instruction plan to the school committee. Keep your child in school until it is approved. |
| If you are moving | Register and enroll your child in the new district first. Approval must come from the school committee of the town where your child lives. |
| When the committee decides | If it approves, start your program and your attendance register. If it refuses, you may appeal to the Rhode Island Department of Education for a hearing. |
| During the year | Keep the attendance register and send regular reports to your district as your approved plan says. State law sets no statewide filing dates. |
| Evaluation | Whatever you and the committee agreed on, such as tests at set intervals or progress reports, on the schedule in your plan. |
The school committee of the city or town where your child lives. The state education department (RIDE) says it does not directly supervise at-home instruction and that approval happens only at the local district level. Your superintendent's office can tell you how your district's process works.
No. The law accepts at-home instruction only when it has been approved by the school committee. RIDE says you may start the process with a letter of intent to your superintendent's office, but if you remove your child and start before approval, your child may be treated as not attending school under the compulsory attendance law.
No. RIDE says you only have to show that the instruction will be thorough and efficient, and there is no minimum education requirement for the parent. Commissioner of Education decisions have also rejected the idea that the parent must be a certified teacher.
The law says the period of attendance must be substantially equal to public school. Public school districts must provide 180 days a year, or the equivalent of at least 1,080 school hours. RIDE describes that as about a five and a half hour day for at least 180 days, and says your schedule does not have to match the public school calendar.
Anyone aggrieved by the committee's decision to approve or refuse at-home instruction may appeal to the Rhode Island Department of Education. The department holds a hearing and decides the appeal at no cost to the parties. RIDE's Legal Office answers questions about appeals.
Yes. The Commissioner of Education has ruled that Rhode Island law does not stop parents from homeschooling a child just because the child receives special education services. The school committee must consider how those services will be provided when it reviews your plan, and progress may be watched more closely.
RIDE says approval has to come from the school committee of the town where your child lives, so your child must first be registered and enrolled in the new district before that district can approve a homeschool plan.
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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.