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🚀 How to Start Homeschooling in Kentucky

The first steps for a Kentucky family starting to homeschool: what to file, how to leave a public school, and where to find co-ops, classes and help — drawn from our Kentucky guide and articles.

Homeschooling in Kentucky: the basics

Legal route: Section 5 of the Kentucky Constitution lets parents choose the method of formal education for their child, and a homeschool is a private school under KRS 159.030 (KDE packet, May 2026). Citing the Kentucky Supreme Court's 1979 Rudasill decision, KDE says it may not prescribe curriculum, teacher certification or accreditation standards for homeschools, and it does not accredit them.
Step 1, name your school: KDE says to establish a bona fide school by giving your homeschool a name; many families use their last name. You do not register the name as you would a business.
Step 2, send the notice: write to the superintendent of the local board of education where you live within the first two weeks of the school year, or within two weeks of withdrawing your child from public school. The letter must include the names, ages and home address of each child (KRS 159.030, 159.160; KDE). Send it again each school year. KDE says the district can't reject it. KDE's packet includes a sample letter that also lists the school's name, the parents/teachers and the school's address.
Records: keep an attendance register and scholarship reports "in the same manner" required of public schools (KRS 159.040). KDE does not enforce a paper register and lets homeschools keep attendance any way they choose. Scholarship reports should document the courses completed and the grade awarded. Records must be open to inspection by the district's Director of Pupil Personnel and KDE officials.
School term and subjects: KRS 158.080 requires English-language instruction in the branches of study taught in public schools and a school calendar meeting KRS 158.070 (at least 1,062 hours of instruction on at least 170 student attendance days). As the statute now reads, those rules apply to private schools certified under KRS 156.160. KDE says a certified homeschool must meet the 1,062-hour, 170-day term, that there is no minimum term for a non-certified homeschool, and that it recommends all homeschools meet it. Certification of nonpublic schools runs through the Kentucky Non-Public School Commission (701 KAR 3:315, per KDE).
Curriculum: you choose and supply it. KDE suggests local homeschool co-ops and national homeschool groups for support, and the Kentucky Academic Standards as a reference.
Testing: KDE's homeschool packet lists no testing requirement, and we found no statute requiring state tests or reporting scores for a homeschool.
Compulsory age: KRS 159.010 sets ages 6 to 16 and lets each district raise the age to 18; when 55% of districts adopted that policy, all districts were required to. KDE's enrollment page says all children must attend school between 6 and 18. A 16- or 17-year-old leaving school early must have a conference with the principal and a counseling session (KRS 159.010(2)).
Home-based schools that teach children from several families in the instructor's home are different: KDE says they must also meet Department for Public Health, Cabinet for Health and Family Services, zoning and fire marshal rules.

Read the full section in our Kentucky guide

Official sources

Summarized from our Kentucky guide (as of October 2026) and articles. Rules change — confirm on the official pages before you act.

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