Kansas Homeschool Laws and Requirements

Homeschooling is legal in Kansas, and the legal shape it takes is a nonaccredited private school. Your family school satisfies compulsory attendance when it is taught by a competent instructor for a period substantially equivalent to the public school year. You register the school's name and address with the state board of education once, and the statute is explicit that this registration exists to help locate pupil records later, not to approve your school.

Last Reviewed: August 15, 2026. Reviewed by the Modern Homeschools Editorial Team. Next scheduled review: August 15, 2027.

Kansas Homeschool Requirements at a Glance

Registration Is Not Approval

This is the point that saves Kansas families the most worry, and the statute says it outright. The purpose of the registration act is solely to make available to a school district or another school the name and location of the private school a pupil transferred from, so the receiving school can request that pupil's records.

That is the whole job. No one reviews your curriculum, evaluates your instructor, or issues a decision. The department compiles the registrations and answers records questions when a student moves between schools.

Two practical consequences follow. The form asks only for the school's name and address, with city, county, and zip code. And the department's form states plainly that you do not need to register every year, so this is not an annual filing to schedule. Update it if your school's name or address changes.

How to Start Homeschooling in Kansas

1. Name your school. You are establishing a nonaccredited private school, so it needs a name and an address to register.
2. Register with the state department of education. The official custodian, who is you, registers the school's name and address through the department's online form.
3. Withdraw from public school, if enrolled. Tell the school so its enrollment records match.
4. Plan a school year of substantially equivalent length. Compare your calendar to the period your local public schools are maintained.
5. Set up your pupil records. As official custodian you hold them, and a receiving school will request them if your student ever transfers.

Testing, Attendance, and Record Keeping

Kansas requires no standardized testing of homeschooled students, no portfolio, no evaluation, and no annual progress report. Nothing about your child's academic work is submitted to the state or to your district.

Attendance follows the equivalence standard rather than a fixed hour count. Because the comparison is to your own district's calendar, that is the number to look up for a concrete target.

Records deserve attention here, because you are the official custodian of them. Keep attendance, subjects covered, materials used, grades, and completed work in an organized file. Kansas does not say what that file must contain, so its usefulness is up to you. It supports a transcript, and a receiving school will ask for it if your student later enrolls somewhere applying its own placement and credit procedures. Anything the department suggests about recordkeeping beyond this is guidance, not a legal requirement.

Official Kansas Homeschool Resources

• Kansas State Department of Education, Nonaccredited Private Schools online registration
• K.S.A. 72-3120, compulsory school attendance
• K.S.A. 72-4346, registration of name and address
• K.S.A. 72-4347, purpose of the registration requirement

Modern Homeschools provides educational information to help families understand and navigate homeschooling requirements. Because requirements may change, families should confirm current details with the official state sources linked within this guide.