Homeschool Requirements in Kansas

Kansas asks very little of you. You did not bring your children home for the sake of a form. Here is the form anyway. Begin with the first heading: what you send in, if anything, and the day it is due. There is not much after that. Every claim is cited at the foot, so you can hold it against the code rather than take our word for it.

What you send in, and when it is due

One-time registration of the homeschool as a non-accredited private school (NAPS) with the Kansas State Board of Education. The official custodian, in practice the parent, registers the school’s name and street address with KSDE, online or by mail. K.S.A. 72-4346(a) is the registration provision: “The official custodian of every private elementary or secondary school shall register the name and address of the private elementary or secondary school with the state board of education.” The online form asks only for the school name, street address, city, county, state and zip. There is no annual renewal, no approval or review by the State Board, and no fee. Update the registration if the school name or address changes, and mark the school inactive when it closes.

Days and hours

No Kansas statute sets a homeschool day or hour count. The compulsory attendance law requires attendance at a private, denominational or parochial school “taught by a competent instructor for a period of time which is substantially equivalent to the period of time public school is maintained” in the district where the school is located (K.S.A. 72-3120). The public benchmark that phrase borrows from is K.S.A. 72-3115: at least 186 school days for kindergarten through grade 11 and 181 school days for grade 12, or on an hours schedule not less than 1,116 hours for grades 1 through 11, 1,086 hours for grade 12, and 465 hours for kindergarten. KSDE states the practical figure as at least 186 days of not less than 6 hours per day, or 1,116 hours per year for grades 1 through 11. The schedule binds public districts directly; it reaches a homeschool only through the “substantially equivalent” test.

Subjects the law names

No subjects are specified in Kansas law for non-accredited private schools. Courses must be taught by a “competent” instructor under K.S.A. 72-3120(a)(2), a term the statute does not define. KSDE puts it this way: non-accredited private schools are not required to employ state-licensed teachers, but courses must be taught by competent instructors. Customary practice covers reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, grammar, geography, civics, history, health, and hygiene, which is convention rather than law.

What you keep

No state-mandated records. Nothing in K.S.A. 72-4345 through 72-4347 requires a homeschool to keep anything; § 72-4347 says the purpose of the act “is solely” to make the name and location of the school available to a district so a transferring pupil’s records can be requested. KSDE sends no confirmation of registration, and the online form warns that you will get no follow-up communication, so print or save the confirmation letter when you register. A separate request form exists if you need a copy later. Attendance records, curriculum plans, and a transcript are strongly recommended and are the practical evidence of compliance if attendance is ever challenged, but nothing is filed with the state.

Testing and evaluation

None. Kansas requires no standardized testing, evaluation, or progress reporting for homeschooled students. K.S.A. 72-3120 and 72-4345 through 72-4347 contain no assessment or reporting provision of any kind, and § 72-4347 limits the act’s purpose to records transfer. Some secondary sources list “periodic” assessment for Kansas; that has no statutory basis.

The diploma and the transcript

Important caveat, and KSDE says it outright: non-accredited private schools must issue their own high school diplomas, and those diplomas “are not recognized by the State of Kansas as meeting any requirements.” There is no state credential-validation route. Some state scholarship and admissions programs may want alternative documentation such as test scores, a high school equivalency credential, or college coursework, so confirm the requirements with the specific program rather than assuming. Keep a detailed transcript with course descriptions, and consider standardized testing voluntarily for college admissions. Compulsory attendance covers a child who has reached age 7 and is under 18 and has not attained a high school diploma or a high school equivalency credential. A 16 or 17 year old may be exempted only through one of the four routes in K.S.A. 72-3120(b), the most common being written parental consent plus a final counseling session at which a signed disclaimer is presented.

A Christian college and a public university read the same page for different things. What each one asks a homeschooler for.

With no credential standing behind it, the page has to hold up on its own reading. What does not belong on a homeschool transcript.

The transcript that has to carry all of this is free on its own: The Transcript Template, with the weighted and unweighted GPA already working.

Where this comes from

Statute: K.S.A. 72-3120 (compulsory attendance; competent instructor; “substantially equivalent” period of time; § 72-3120(b) exemptions at 16 and 17); K.S.A. 72-3115 (public school term, the equivalence benchmark); K.S.A. 72-4345 through 72-4347 (non-accredited private schools: § 72-4345 definitions, § 72-4346 registration of name and address, § 72-4347 purpose).

Source: https://www.ksde.gov/student-success/learning-alternatives/nonaccredited-private-schools

Last reviewed: July 2026, on the 26th.

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.