Indiana Homeschool Laws: 180 Days, Records, and Withdrawal

Indiana’s homeschool laws are among the lightest in the country. The state treats every homeschool as a nonpublic, nonaccredited school, which means no registration, no approved curriculum, no teacher credentials, and no mandatory testing. What the law does require is straightforward: teach your child in English for at least 180 days a year while they are of compulsory school age, keep a daily attendance record, and provide instruction equivalent to what public schools offer.¹

How Indiana Classifies Your Homeschool

There is no standalone homeschool statute in Indiana. Homeschools fall under the broader category of nonpublic, nonaccredited schools defined by IC 20-33-2-12.² The classification does real work for you: it explicitly exempts your school from any state requirement about curriculum content or how you run the program.¹ The state cannot tell you which textbooks to use, which subjects to prioritize, or how to structure the day.

That freedom is broader than many parents assume. There is no mandated scope and sequence, no required subject list, and no end-of-year portfolio review. The one instructional standard is that the education be “equivalent to that given in public schools,” a phrase the Indiana Department of Education has acknowledged the law does not further define.² No agency reviews your program for equivalency, and the standard has rarely been tested unless a truancy concern arises.

When Compulsory Attendance Starts and Ends

Indiana’s compulsory attendance law applies from the fall term of the year a child turns seven until the child turns eighteen or graduates.³ If a child is officially enrolled in a school before turning seven, the obligation begins on the enrollment date rather than waiting for the birthday.

You are not legally required to run any formal school program before the fall of the year your child turns seven. Once compulsory attendance starts, instruction must satisfy the state’s requirements until the child graduates or ages out. A narrow exit-interview option exists at age sixteen for cases involving financial hardship, illness, or a court order, with the principal’s approval, but it is a public school off-ramp and does not apply to students in a homeschool.⁴

The 180-Day Instruction Requirement

An Indiana homeschool must provide at least 180 days of instruction per academic year, which runs from July 1 through June 30. Days a student spent enrolled in a public or accredited school before transferring to your homeschool count toward that 180-day total for the year.⁵

The law is silent on the length of the school day and the hours you use. A family that starts at noon and finishes by three sits on the same legal footing as one running an eight-to-three schedule. What counts is that 180 days of instruction happen inside the academic year.

Equivalent Instruction and English

Parents must provide instruction equivalent to what public schools offer, and that instruction must be conducted in English.⁶ The state does not define “equivalent” in practice and does not evaluate or approve programs.² Most families read the requirement as covering core academic areas like reading, math, and language arts, but the law does not enumerate subjects.

Standardized testing is not required. Under IC 20-33-2-12, students at nonaccredited schools may be offered the chance to participate in state assessments, but participation is voluntary.¹ Some parents administer achievement tests privately to track progress; no results are reported to the state.

Attendance Records You Must Keep

Every nonpublic school in Indiana, homeschools included, must keep an accurate daily attendance record for each student subject to compulsory attendance.⁷ There is no required format. A paper log, a spreadsheet, or a planner notation showing which days instruction occurred satisfies the requirement.

The records exist so the Indiana Secretary of Education or the superintendent of your local school corporation can verify enrollment and attendance if asked.⁷ Requests are uncommon. Failing to produce records when asked, though, can trigger a truancy investigation, so this log is the practical shield behind everything else. Keep it current.

Attendance records also matter outside the school context. If your child receives Social Security survivor or dependent benefits, the Social Security Administration requires verification of full-time school attendance, and the homeschool instructor completes Form SSA-1372 along with evidence of state compliance such as a copy of the attendance log and a list of courses being taught.⁸

Registration Is Optional

Reporting your homeschool’s enrollment to the Indiana Department of Education is not required.⁹ The Department provides an optional online enrollment form, and many families complete it because it creates an official record that the child is enrolled in a school. No law compels you to file, and there is no penalty for skipping it.

If you do file, the form asks for the name of your homeschool, the number of students by grade level, and contact information. The parent serves as the school administrator. If the Secretary of Education later requests enrollment data, you must furnish the number of students by grade level at that point.¹⁰ Filing proactively can simplify that later request and can also smooth interactions with insurers, libraries, or extracurricular programs that ask for proof of schooling.

Withdrawing a Child From Public School

If your child is currently enrolled in public school, notify the school in writing that the student is withdrawing to attend a nonpublic, nonaccredited school. A simple letter identifying the child, stating the effective date, and naming the school as your nonaccredited nonpublic school is enough. Certified mail with a return receipt gives you a paper trail.

High school students have one additional step. Indiana requires a specific withdrawal form when a high school student transfers to a nonaccredited school, including a homeschool, and both the principal and parent sign it. The form protects your child: if a parent refuses to sign, the student is classified as a dropout, and the principal reports the student to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to revoke or refuse a driver’s license or learner’s permit.¹¹ Signing prevents that outcome, so treat the form as a necessary part of the transition for any student of driving age.

Diplomas and Transcripts

Because a homeschool is a nonaccredited school, your student will not receive a diploma accredited by the Indiana State Board of Education. As the school administrator, you decide when the student has met your graduation requirements and you issue the diploma. Colleges and employers are used to seeing homeschool-issued diplomas. A student who wants a state-accredited credential can take the High School Equivalency exam, which is not typically needed for college but is sometimes used by employers or military branches as the equivalent of a traditional diploma.¹²

The state does not maintain educational records for homeschooled students, so the transcript is entirely your responsibility.¹² Start tracking courses, grades, and credits from ninth grade. List each course by academic year with the grade earned and credits awarded, and keep the whole document to one or two pages. Some Indiana universities ask for the curriculum, textbooks, and authors used for each course, so brief course descriptions and preserved tests, quizzes, and workbooks are useful backup if an admissions office questions a grade.

Sports and Extracurriculars at Public Schools

Homeschool students can participate in athletics at their local public school, but the path has conditions and the public school is not required to accept them. The Indiana High School Athletic Association governs eligibility under its Non-Accredited School Rule (Rule 12-5).¹³ To qualify, a homeschool student must meet all of the following:

Have been homeschooled for the previous three consecutive years.
Be enrolled at the public school for at least one full-credit class per day.
Submit grade information to the school confirming the student is passing all courses.
Complete all statewide exams authorized by the Indiana Department of Education.
Pass a physical examination and participate in the required number of practices for the sport.

The three-year waiting period is the requirement that catches most families off guard. A student who moved from public school to homeschool last year cannot walk onto the local team this season. Even when every condition is met, the public school can still decline participation; the IHSAA rule creates a pathway, not a mandate.¹³

For non-athletic extracurriculars like band, drama, or academic clubs, Indiana law allows students at nonaccredited schools to enroll in particular programs at accredited schools if the governing body of that school approves.¹ It is a permission framework, not an access right, and the school decides case by case.

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 20-33-2-12 – Nonpublic, Nonaccredited, and Not Otherwise Approved Schools
2
Indiana Department of Education. Indiana Homeschool Laws Frequently Asked Questions
3
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 20-33-2-6 – Students Required to Attend
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 20-33-2-28.5 – Requirements for Exit Interview
5
Indiana Department of Education. Indiana Homeschool Laws Frequently Asked Questions
6
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 20-33-2-28 – Compulsory Attendance for Full Term; Duty of Parent
7
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 20-33-2-20 – Attendance Records
8
Social Security Administration. Home Schooling
9
Indiana Department of Education. Homeschool Information
10
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 20-33-2-21 – Enrollment Reporting
11
Indiana State Board of Education. Withdrawal to Non-Accredited Nonpublic School Located in Indiana
12
Indiana Department of Education. Homeschool Information for Parents and Guardians Frequently Asked Questions
13
Indiana High School Athletic Association. IHSAA 2025-26 By-Laws