How to find out what subjects your state requires you to teach

By the end of this guide you will have found your state's own written rule on homeschool subjects, read the exact wording, and placed it in one of three categories: your state names specific subjects, your state sets none, or your state sits somewhere in between. Before starting, you need two things: the name of the state you homeschool in, and a device with internet access. No paid summary or legal service is required.

Why you read the state's own text

There is no single national rule on what a homeschooled child must study. Each state writes its own, and the range is wide. Some states name no subjects at all, some name a specific list a family must cover, and some fall between those two positions. The only version that applies to you is the one your own state published, so that is the one worth sitting down with.

Secondhand summaries are where new homeschoolers tend to pick up worry. A summary written for a different state, or written years ago, can leave a parent believing a subject is required when the local text says otherwise. The cure is reading the source. Expect the relevant passage to be short, because where a subject requirement exists, it usually amounts to a sentence or two rather than pages of rules.

1. Find the law Locate the education law your state has published on schooling at home, using the state's official published text.
2. Find the home instruction section Within that law, find the section that deals with instruction at home rather than public or private schools generally.
3. Read for subjects Read the passage slowly and look for whether it names school subjects, describes instruction in general terms, or says nothing about subjects.
4. Sort it Decide which fits: specific subjects named, no subject mandate, or a general standard that leaves the details to you.
5. Copy the sentence Copy the sentence itself rather than a paraphrase, and keep it with your homeschool records so you can return to it.
6. Save the source Save where the text came from so you can reread the same passage next year without starting over.

Three situations you can land in

The first situation is a state that names specific subjects. Here the text reads like a list, and a family can check its plans directly against each item. The second is a state that sets no subject mandate, where the parts of the law that touch home instruction cover other matters and subjects never appear. The third is the middle ground, where the law attaches a general standard to home instruction instead of listing subjects.

Write down the exact sentence rather than a summary of it. A sentence that names subjects outright leads to different planning than a sentence that describes instruction in general terms, and your later decisions about what to teach rest on which sentence your state uses. The exact words also make any later question easier to ask, because you can point to the wording instead of recalling it from memory.

Where people get stuck

The wording is vague. A general standard can read as though it demands more than it does. When your state's sentence is unclear, the exact text is still the thing to keep, and any plain-language explanation you find should be checked against it rather than substituted for it. If the official text and someone's summary disagree, the official text is the one that governs.

You found more than one rule that seems to apply. Read each one and give the most weight to the text written for schooling at home specifically, since that is the provision aimed at your situation. Keep copies of everything you read, in the order you found it, so your records show how you reached your reading.

You only found other families' summaries. Go back to your state's own published text and read it directly. Summaries can be helpful for orientation, but they are not the rule, and the short passage that matters is something you can read yourself without paying anyone.

Check again each year

State legislatures amend education law, so a subject rule that applied last year can change. Reading your state's text takes one sitting, which makes it a sensible fixed step in annual planning: return to the passage you saved, reread it, and note anything that moved. A saved sentence turns next year's check from a research project into a few minutes of reading.