Homeschool Requirements in Ohio
Ohio 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
Annual written notification goes to the superintendent of the child’s district of residence by August 30 each year, and again within 5 calendar days of first beginning home education, moving to a new district, or withdrawing from a public/nonpublic school. Contents required by statute are minimal: parent’s name and address, child’s name, and an assurance the child will be educated in the required subject areas. District must acknowledge receipt within 14 days (no approval/excusal letter anymore). This replaced the pre-2023 regime. The old Notification of Intent, with its curriculum outline, list of materials, and prior-year assessment, is no longer required by statute, though some districts still circulate legacy forms. Separate track: a family may instead operate as a nonchartered nonpublic school (OAC 3301-35-08), which has its own annual “Report to Parents” filed with ODEW by September 30, teacher-degree, hours (910 K-6 / 1,001 grades 7-12) and broader curriculum requirements.
Days and hours
None for the home education option. ORC 3321.042 sets no minimum days or hours. The former 900-hour/yr requirement lived in the repealed OAC 3301-34 and no longer applies. (The nonchartered nonpublic school alternative does have hour minimums: 455 part-time K, 910 full-day K-6, 1,001 grades 7-12.)
Subjects the law names
Six areas: English language arts, mathematics, science, history, government, and social studies (ORC 3321.042(A)(1)). Notably narrower than the repealed rule, which also listed health, PE, fine arts and first aid.
What you keep
No state-mandated records for the home education option; nothing is submitted to the district beyond the annual notice. Parents should keep their own attendance, curriculum, grade and work-sample records for transcript, athletic-eligibility, College Credit Plus and college-admission purposes, and as a practical defense if truancy/educational-neglect questions arise (ORC 3321.042(E) preserves truancy exposure if evidence shows the required instruction is not being provided).
Testing and evaluation
None. Annual standardized testing or portfolio review by a licensed evaluator was eliminated by H.B. 33 effective October 3, 2023. Ohio home education families no longer submit any assessment to the district.
The diploma and the transcript
Ohio does not issue or register homeschool diplomas; the parent/home education program issues the diploma and transcript, and there are no state credit or hour requirements for it. The parent-issued diploma is written into the statute, not merely tolerated. ORC 3313.6110(A) says a person who has completed the final year of education at home under 3321.042 and has fulfilled the applicable high school curriculum “may be granted a high school diploma by the person’s parent, guardian, or other person having charge or care of a child.” Division (C) makes that diploma proof of completion for any legal requirement that asks for such proof, and division (D) makes it proof for a job application whether or not the student ever sat a state test. Division (E) lets the parent add the state seal of biliteracy, the OhioMeansJobs-readiness seal, or another state diploma seal, the same way a district or chartered nonpublic school would. Nothing in that section routes a home-educated senior to a district diploma. Placement and credit if a student enrolls or re-enrolls in a district are local decisions, so get the district’s policy in writing before senior year. Home-educated students keep access to College Credit Plus (tuition-free college credit, grades 7-12), interscholastic athletics/extracurriculars at the resident district, Jon Peterson and Autism scholarships, ACE (Afterschool Child Enrichment) funds, and the ORC 5747.72 home education expenses tax credit of up to $250 per return. Ohio does not have a general homeschool ESA; EdChoice vouchers are for enrollment in chartered nonpublic schools, not home education.
One label on that transcript is not yours to write, whatever Ohio allows. What does not belong on a homeschool transcript.
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: Ohio Rev. Code § 3321.042 (home education; enacted by H.B. 33, eff. Oct. 3, 2023); former Ohio Admin. Code 3301-34 rescinded. Related: Ohio Rev. Code §§ 3313.6110 (diploma granted by a parent), 3321.04, 5747.72; Ohio Admin. Code 3301-35-08 (nonchartered nonpublic school alternative).
Source: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-3321.042
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.