Homeschool Requirements in Idaho
Idaho asks nothing of you each year. No yearly notice. No registration, no testing, nothing to send in. What your children are taught, and why, stays between you and the One you answer to. One step is still yours, and it is the one families miss: a child who is enrolled in a public school right now has to be withdrawn, and reading this page does not do it. Do that first. Everything below is what Idaho actually requires, with the code named at the foot so you can read it for yourself.
What you send in, and when it is due
None. Idaho requires no notice of intent, no registration, no filing with the school district, the state, or any agency. If you are withdrawing a currently enrolled student, sending the school a short written withdrawal letter is a practical courtesy that heads off truancy referrals, but it is not a legal requirement.
Days and hours
None. No minimum days, hours, or calendar.
Subjects the law names
Idaho Code § 33-202 requires only that a child be “comparably instructed in the subjects commonly and usually taught in the public schools of the state”, generally read as reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. There is no state-approved list, no scope and sequence, and no curriculum approval. Compulsory school age is 7 through 15 (must be instructed until the child turns 16).
The law names the subjects. It does not name the course titles a registrar will read, and Bible is where that gap costs families most. Booking Bible as a real subject on a transcript.
What you keep
None required. No attendance records, portfolios, or reports are mandated or subject to inspection. Keeping your own records is voluntary, but see the high-school note, and note that families claiming the new Parental Choice Tax Credit must keep receipts and documentation for that credit.
Testing and evaluation
None. No standardized testing, no evaluation, no state or district assessment of homeschooled students.
The diploma and the transcript
No state diploma, no credits, no transcripts, no oversight. The parent awards the diploma and writes the transcript, and Idaho imposes no content requirements on either. Because the state generates zero paper trail, homeschool high schoolers should build their own documentation (course descriptions, reading lists, SAT/ACT or CLEP scores, dual-credit transcripts) for admissions and scholarships. Idaho’s Advanced Opportunities program ($4,125 per student for dual credit, overload courses, and exams) is open to homeschooled students. It does require registering through a public school or the state system, which produces a real, verifiable transcript. That is the single best move an Idaho homeschool high schooler can make. Newer still: the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit (HB 93, signed Feb. 27, 2025) provides a refundable credit of up to $5,000/student ($7,500 for a student with a disability) for eligible education expenses including homeschool curriculum, textbooks, and tutoring; $50M annual cap, priority to families at or below 300% FPL, and it conditions eligibility on instruction covering English language arts, math, science, and social studies. Claiming the credit is the one context where an Idaho homeschooler takes on documentation obligations.
A Christian college and a public university read the same page for different things. What each one asks a homeschooler for.
If the transcript is the piece you are short of, it is free on its own: The Transcript Template, with the weighted and unweighted GPA already working.
Where this comes from
Statute: Idaho Code § 33-202 (also §§ 33-203, 33-207); tax credit at Idaho Code § 63-3029N (2025 HB 93)
Source: https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title33/t33ch2/sect33-202/
Last reviewed: July 2026. The day is not recorded.
Homeschool law changes, and a page like this goes quietly out of date. Before a filing deadline, read the code above yourself. If we have fallen behind we would much rather hear it from you than have you find out at a district office.
All fifty states and the District of Columbia, each one citing the law it came from.
Filing is one part of it. Keeping the record is the other, and that is what our Records System is for: the editable transcript with the GPA already working, 131 academic course descriptions, the Bible and theology descriptions, and this same cited summary for every state and DC. Protestant and Catholic editions. Thirty-nine dollars, one household, however many children you teach.