Homeschool Requirements in Rhode Island

Rhode Island asks more of a family than most places do. There is more of it here than in most places, and the deadlines hold. That is a discouraging thing to read in the week you have decided to teach your children yourself, and it should not put you off. None of it is beyond an ordinary household once it is written down in one place, which is what this page is for. Read the dates first. The rest can wait until they are on the calendar.

What you send in, and when it is due

The school committee of the town where the child resides has to approve the program before it starts. R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-1 exempts a child who has attended “a course of at-home instruction approved by the school committee of the town where the child resides.” Parents submit an at-home instruction plan to the local school committee, in practice through the superintendent, and must be approved before beginning. Most districts require annual re-approval, which is local practice rather than statute. There is no statewide form or deadline; RIDE states that approval of at-home instruction occurs exclusively at the local district level and that the Department does not directly supervise at-home instruction, so district interpretations vary a great deal. Anyone aggrieved by a school committee’s approval or denial may appeal to the Commissioner and the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education under § 16-19-2.

Days and hours

Instruction for “substantially the same amount of time” as public schools, i.e., at least 180 days. RI public schools must provide 1,080 hours annually (5.5 hours/day x 180 days), which districts commonly apply as the benchmark. Homeschoolers need not follow the public school calendar.

Subjects the law names

Reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, the history of the United States, the history of Rhode Island, and the principles of American government, all taught in the English language substantially to the same extent as they are required to be taught in the public schools (R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-2(3)). The statutory standard is that the teaching be “thorough and efficient.” Health and physical education come in indirectly: § 16-22-4 bars approving a private school as substantially equivalent unless instruction in health and physical education similar to that required in public schools is given, which for public schools is at least 20 minutes of each school day. RIDE also lists civics alongside health and physical education in its guidance.

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

An attendance register is required by statute, kept in the same manner as registers kept by the public schools. R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-2(2) names four recipients: the registers are “kept and returned to the school committee, the superintendent of schools, truant officers, and the department of elementary and secondary education.” Keep the approval letter, the register, and whatever progress documentation the approved plan commits you to.

The log is easy to keep and easy to invent in June, and only one of those survives a reader. Writing down a morning hour while it is still happening.

Those are the pages beneath the transcript rather than the transcript itself. The Records Pack has the attendance and hours log and the portfolio index, editable, in both editions.

Testing and evaluation

No statewide standardized testing mandate. The evaluation method is set by mutual agreement between the parent and the school committee as part of the approved plan; some districts request testing, portfolio review, or periodic progress reports. Testing, where agreed, may occur at home or at the public school.

The diploma and the transcript

No state-recognized homeschool diploma; districts do not issue diplomas or transcripts to home-instructed students. Parents issue their own. No state-mandated high-school credit distribution for homeschoolers. Because approval is per-town and annual, high-school families should secure written approval each year and retain the approval letters as the de facto proof of a lawful program. No ESA/voucher program for homeschoolers.

Where this comes from

Statute: R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-1 (compulsory attendance) and § 16-19-2 (at-home instruction; school committee approval; subjects; attendance records)

Source: https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE16/16-19/16-19-2.htm

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.