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Missouri Homeschool Options — Home School Law, MOScholars and FPE Schools, Activities Access, MOCAP and College Aid

Missouri doesn't ask homeschool families to register with the state or to file anything with it. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) says it does not regulate or monitor home schooling. What the law does ask, in RSMo 167.012, is that you offer at least 1,000 hours of instruction, with at least 600 in reading, language arts, math, social studies and science (400 of those at your home school location), and keep records: a plan book or diary, samples of your child's work and a record of evaluations, or other credible evidence of the same. Missouri's education savings account, MOScholars, can't be used by a traditional home school. Since 2024, though, the law has recognized a second home-based option, the Family Paced Education (FPE) school. It follows the same rules as a home school but may enroll students who use MOScholars. A child still has to qualify on their own, through an IEP or a household income limit, so most families who already homeschool won't qualify. Since August 28, 2025, every home school and FPE student also has the right to try out for sports, fine arts and other activities at their resident public school or charter school.

What Missouri offers homeschool families, and what it doesn't

Missouri's home school law is short and leaves the parent in charge. There is no notice to the state, no testing and no approval. The law forbids any state department from dictating a statewide curriculum for home schools or FPE schools, and it says nothing in the attendance law requires a home school to teach anything that conflicts with its religious doctrine (RSMo 167.031). DESE says it provides no supplies, funding or information about home schooling.

The money program is MOScholars, the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program, run by the State Treasurer's office through nonprofit Educational Assistance Organizations (EAOs). Donors to EAOs get a state tax credit, and the EAOs fund student accounts. A student needs an IEP or must meet an income limit plus one more test. For 2026–27 the program funded 10,235 students with $68.7 million.

A traditional home school can't use MOScholars. Since 2024, Missouri law has also recognized the Family Paced Education (FPE) school, a home-based school that follows the same rules but may enroll MOScholars students. That is the route an eligible homeschooled child uses. Most families who already homeschool won't qualify, because outside the IEP route a child must have spent a semester in public school in the last 12 months, be starting kindergarten or first grade, or be the sibling of a current recipient, on top of the income limit.

What every home school and FPE family can use: the right to try out for sports, fine arts and other activities at the resident public school or charter school (RSMo 167.790, since August 28, 2025); MOCAP online courses if you pay the course fees; dual credit and dual enrollment at Missouri colleges, set by each college; Bright Flight and Access Missouri for college; and district special education services funded through the IDEA proportionate share.

We found no Missouri income tax credit or deduction for home school expenses.

Homeschooling in Missouri: the basics

• What a home school is: under RSMo 167.012 (as amended effective August 28, 2025), a home school is a school, incorporated or not, whose primary purpose is private or religious-based instruction. It enrolls children between 7 and the compulsory attendance age, no more than four of whom are unrelated to each other (within the third degree). It does not charge tuition or fees. It does not enroll MOScholars students and is not an FPE school.
• Compulsory age: 7 to 17, or until the student has completed 16 credits toward high school graduation (RSMo 167.031). For home schools and FPE schools, a completed credit means 100 or more hours of instruction in a course. Children 5 to 7 don't have to be in school, but if you enroll them in public school they must attend regularly unless you ask in writing that they be dropped from the rolls. Missouri's school year runs July 1 to June 30.
• Hours: offer at least 1,000 hours of instruction. At least 600 must be in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science or related academic courses suited to the child's age and ability, and at least 400 of those 600 must take place at the regular home school location.
• Records: keep (a) a plan book, diary or other written record of subjects taught and activities, (b) a portfolio of samples of your child's academic work, and (c) a record of evaluations of your child's progress — or other written or credible evidence equivalent to those three.
• Age 16 and up: the hours and records requirements don't apply to a pupil 16 or older (RSMo 167.012(3)). Most families keep records through high school anyway, because you'll need them to write a transcript.
• Your defense if questioned: a daily log showing a course of instruction that meets the law is a defense to a truancy prosecution or an educational neglect charge (RSMo 167.012(4)). Home school enforcement and records may be reviewed only by the local prosecuting attorney.
• If a report comes in: if a Children's Division investigation finds that the only issue is compulsory attendance, the division sends the report to your school district, which must refer home school matters to the county prosecuting attorney (RSMo 210.167). A juvenile officer looking into a home school attendance question must first contact the parent to verify the child is being taught at home before reporting a violation (RSMo 211.031). Violating the attendance law is a class C misdemeanor (RSMo 167.061).
• Withdrawing from school: give the school a written notice that you intend to pursue another educational option under RSMo 167.031 and ask that your child be dropped from the district's rolls. The school must comply and remove your child promptly (RSMo 167.042, effective August 28, 2025). The former optional "declaration of enrollment" filed with the county recorder of deeds or the district was removed from that section by SB 63 (2025).
• Transcripts: DESE keeps no individual student records, so your own records are the basis for your child's transcript. Ozarks Technical Community College, for example, asks homeschool graduates for a completed high school transcript listing courses and letter grades, and doesn't require the HiSET or GED for admission.
• Group classes and co-ops: a home school may enroll no more than four children who are unrelated to each other, and at least 400 of the 600 core hours must take place at your regular home school location, so plan outside classes with both limits in mind.

MOScholars and FPE schools: the home-based route

Missouri law now has two home-based school types, defined almost word for word alike. A home school (RSMo 167.012) and a Family Paced Education (FPE) school (RSMo 167.013) both provide private or religious-based instruction to children aged 7 to the compulsory age, with no more than four unrelated children and no tuition. Both follow the same 1,000-hour and record-keeping rules, the same daily-log defense and the same prosecutor-only review. The difference is MOScholars. A home school, by definition, doesn't enroll children who take part in MOScholars. An FPE school may, and it doesn't have to submit to a background check to do so. So a homeschooling family whose child receives a MOScholars account is running an FPE school.

We found no state registration for FPE schools in the statute or on the Treasurer's pages. The steps the Treasurer's office lists: first connect with an EAO to learn whether it partners with FPE schools and what it requires. Then complete the EAO's prescreening and, if eligible, the application. As part of applying, the FPE school must meet the definition in RSMo 167.013. It must agree not to pay, share, refund or rebate any MOScholars money to the parent, the student or anyone related within three degrees. And it must produce the records RSMo 167.013 requires when asked.

Which EAOs work with FPE students: on the Treasurer's EAO page, Activate Missouri says it partners with "Family Paced Education students across the state," and the Missouri District of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod says it "will also serve Family Paced Education (FPE) students." The Herzog Tomorrow Foundation says it will partner with any eligible partner school in the state. Ask the EAO directly about its FPE capacity. For 2026–27 the Treasurer reported 385 approved schools and 350 family paced education participants statewide.

Who qualifies: a Missouri resident student who (1) has an IEP developed under IDEA, dated within 36 months of the application (the Treasurer's FAQ and its April 2026 release also accept an individual service plan, or ISP, developed with a school district under IDEA's rules for parentally placed students; the 2026–27 Parent Handbook lists only the IEP, so confirm with your EAO); or (2) lives in a household at or below 300% of the free and reduced-price lunch income standard and attended public school full time for at least one semester in the previous 12 months, is eligible to start kindergarten or first grade (age 5 by August 1 for kindergarten), or is a sibling of a student who received a scholarship last year and will receive one this year. DESE treats home-schooled children with disabilities as parentally placed students for IDEA purposes.

Who gets funded first: EAOs must fund students in this order (RSMo 135.714): last year's recipients; siblings of this year's recipients; students with an IEP or a dyslexia diagnosis; free-lunch, then reduced-price-lunch students in unaccredited or provisionally accredited districts; free-lunch, then reduced-price-lunch students statewide; newly arrived active-duty military dependents; then everyone else. For 2026–27 the Treasurer received 16,144 applications; 12,319 students qualified, 10,235 were funded and 1,735 were on the waitlist.

What the agreement means: by signing the parent agreement with an EAO, your child must be taught at least English language arts, math, social studies and science. Your child can't be enrolled in a public school or charter school in your district of residence, and you release the district from its obligation to educate your child (it must still evaluate for disabilities). A signed agreement satisfies the compulsory attendance law (RSMo 166.705). If your child leaves the program for a school that isn't a qualified school — including going back to a traditional home school — the account closes and the remaining money goes back to the EAO.

MOScholars: amounts, what the account pays for and how to apply

Amounts: awards are based on the State Adequacy Target (SAT), which DESE calculates each school year. The legal maximums are 175% of the SAT for a student with an IEP, 160% for a student counted as limited English proficient, 125% for a student eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and 100% of the SAT for all other qualified students (RSMo 135.714). Actual awards depend on the money each EAO has. The EAO deposits the grant quarterly or as a lump sum at the start of the year, whichever the parent asks for. For 2026–27 the program awarded $68.7 million to 10,235 students. Scholarship money isn't Missouri taxable income to the parent.

Approved uses (RSMo 166.705 and the Treasurer's list): tuition and fees at a qualified school; textbooks a qualified school requires; educational therapies or services from a licensed or accredited provider, including paraprofessionals and aides; tutoring; curriculum; tuition or fees for a private virtual school located in Missouri; fees for nationally norm-referenced achievement tests, AP and IB exams and college admission tests; account fees; services from a public school, including individual classes and extracurricular programs; computer hardware or other devices approved by the EAO; summer and specialized after-school education programs; and mileage to and from a qualified school.

Not allowed: consumable supplies such as paper, pens, pencils and markers; out-of-state private school tuition; and any payment to a person related to the student within the third degree, which for an FPE school includes the parent. The 2026–27 Parent Handbook also lists late or returned-payment fees, household items, field trips, event tickets, organization memberships, sports equipment, furnishings such as a desk or chair, and musical instruments. Services can be prepaid only within the awarded school year (July 1 to June 30), and a parent may not knowingly hire another MOScholars parent and pay them directly with scholarship funds.

Unused money: money left in the account at the end of a school year stays in the account, but you must renew through your EAO to keep using it. Money left when a student graduates goes back to the EAO.

How to apply: find an EAO (for an FPE school, one that works with FPE students), complete its prequalification or prescreening, then complete the full application the EAO sends. You'll need proof of income, residency and any IEP or ISP, and a Social Security number or ITIN for the parent. Then sign the Parent Participation Agreement. The 2026–27 first window ran October 1, 2025 to April 3, 2026 at 5 p.m., and the Treasurer announced an extra summer 2026 window. As of October 30, 2026, no 2027–28 window had been announced. The Treasurer's MOScholars page has a sign-up for application updates.

Staying in: renew every year through your EAO. Students in grades 3–10 take a nationally norm-referenced test in English language arts and math (state tests are the other option the law allows), and the scholarship can pay the test fee. Parents also complete the annual parent survey. The Treasurer's office now runs the program with Odyssey, a software company.

Sports, activities, public school classes and MOCAP

Activities (RSMo 167.790, SB 63, effective August 28, 2025): a school district or charter school may not bar a student taught at a home school, an FPE school or full time in a virtual school from the chance to take part, after a tryout where there is one, in any event or activity the district or charter school offers where the student lives. It also may not require the student to attend a class or any part of a school day to take part. "Event or activity" means athletics, fine arts (dance, theater, vocal and instrumental music, visual arts), integrated cocurricular activities and closely related extracurricular events. Other gatherings and special occasions are left to the district.

What the district can still require: coursework that is built into the activity — a fine arts activity with a class held during the school day, a career and technical student organization tied to an approved CTE program, or a cocurricular activity requiring coursework during the day. It can apply the same discipline and attendance rules for required practices and rehearsals to everyone, but not separate rules for homeschool students. The student must show proof of residency, provide a sports physical, meet the same conduct standards and pay the same fees. The parent who teaches is responsible for the academic standards tied to participation. A student who was academically or behaviorally ineligible and leaves to homeschool can't take part at that school for 12 calendar months.

MSHSAA: the Missouri State High School Activities Association calls these students "resident participant students." In July 2025 it said member schools would vote on matching by-law changes by special ballot (August 11–22), taking effect August 25, 2025 on certification. The 2026–27 MSHSAA Handbook covers resident participant students "in accordance with Section 167.790 RSMo," including citizenship rules for home school, FPE and full-time virtual students (By-Law 2.2.4). Ask your school's activities office how it checks academic eligibility.

Public school classes: Missouri's attendance law lets a child attend a combination of public, private, home and FPE schools (RSMo 167.031). The activities law doesn't cover classes, so ask your district whether it enrolls home school students part time in classes. MOScholars can pay for public school classes and extracurricular programs, except that a MOScholars student can't be enrolled in a public school in their district of residence.

MOCAP (Missouri Course Access and Virtual School Program, RSMo 161.670): home school and FPE students may take MOCAP courses under an agreement in which the family pays the tuition or course fees. Free MOCAP courses paid by the district are for students enrolled full time in a public or charter school, with district approval. A student can also enroll in a MOCAP full-time virtual school by applying directly to the provider. That student leaves home schooling: they transfer to the host district, take state tests and get the host district's diploma. Full-time virtual students in their resident district keep activities access under RSMo 167.790.

For vendors: taking part

Most Missouri homeschool families pay you directly, and there's no state approval for selling to them.

MOScholars is where approval matters. Families using MOScholars, including home-based FPE schools, pay approved MOScholars vendors and service providers for curriculum, tutoring, therapies, technology and other services. To take part, apply on the MOScholars vendor portal run by Odyssey (moscholars-vendors.withodyssey.com). The Treasurer's page says a vendor must operate as a US entity, offer goods and services eligible under RSMo 166.705, take no payments from anyone related to the student within the third degree, and agree not to share, refund or rebate account money to the parent or student in any way.

Choose a vendor type and upload the matching documents: Educational Products — business registration or articles of incorporation; Tutor — teaching certificate or bachelor's degree; Therapist — active therapy license; Private School or Public School — no documents required; Other — driver's license, CDL, business registration or articles of incorporation. The Treasurer's Service Providers & Vendors page links to the list of approved service providers and vendors, which it says is updated periodically.

What sells under MOScholars: curriculum, tutoring, educational therapies from licensed or accredited providers, test fees, devices the EAO approves, and summer and after-school education programs. Consumable supplies, field trips, sports equipment, musical instruments, memberships and event tickets are not eligible. The account can't pay the student's parent or relatives.

Tutors and therapists who work with homeschool and FPE families should know the related-person rule: a parent may not knowingly hire another MOScholars parent and pay them directly with scholarship funds (2026–27 Parent Handbook).

Listing on My Learning Source is separate from MOScholars vendor approval — you don't need one to have the other, and families find you here either way.

Other Missouri programs: dual credit, college aid, driver's licenses, special education and tax credits

Dual credit and dual enrollment: each college sets its own homeschool rules. Ozarks Technical Community College admits homeschool students who are at least 16 when classes begin, and says dual credit costs $57 per credit hour. Missouri Southern State University says homeschool students follow the same dual credit eligibility rules as other students and must provide a notarized copy of the high school transcript. The state's Dual Credit/Dual Enrollment Scholarship (RSMo 173.2505) covers tuition and fees for students with financial need (for example, eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, or SNAP or WIC in the family) and at least a 2.5 GPA, subject to appropriation. Ask the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development (DHEWD) how it applies to home school students.

Bright Flight: DHEWD says students who have completed a home-school program may be considered. A homeschool graduate needs an ACT or SAT score in Missouri's top 5% by the June test date after completing secondary coursework, must enroll full time at a participating Missouri school the next academic year, and doesn't file an application, since scores come from the testing agency. For 2027 graduates (college in 2027–28), DHEWD lists an ACT of 32 or above for up to $3,000 a year, and 31 for up to

Access Missouri: need-based aid for Missouri residents with a Student Aid Index of