Romeschool

Michigan homeschool requirements

Under Michigan's home-education option no notice to any agency is required. Teach the nine required subjects; no testing.

Last reviewed June 5, 2026 · corrected September 23, 2026 · Sources below

Minimal regulation
Another state:

Michigan homeschool requirements at a glance

Notice
Not required
Required subjects
Reading, Spelling, Mathematics, Science, History, Civics/Government, Literature, Writing, Grammar
Instruction time
NoneNo minimum hours or days under the home-education exemption.
Testing or evaluation
NoNo testing, portfolio review, or assessment mandated.
Records
No
Parent qualifications
Not required
Compulsory attendance ages
6–18Three provisions in MCL 380.1561 qualify those two numbers. A child who turns 6 on or after December 1 is not enrolled until the first school day of the following school year, so a late-birthday child starts a year later than age 6 suggests. The duty ends early on graduation, and it ends at 16 if the parent or legal guardian gives the resident district written notice that the child has permission to stop attending school (MCL 380.1561(5)). The age-16 ceiling some guides still quote binds only children who turned 11 before December 1, 2009.
Ways to homeschool
Two pathways
Law
MCL 380.1561(3)(f)
Official source
michigan.gov ↗

Do I have to notify anyone to homeschool in Michigan?

No. Michigan does not require homeschooling families to file a notice. To homeschool under the home-education option, MCL 380.1561(3)(f), you file nothing: no notice to the state, to your district, or to any other agency. The Department of Education's exemption (f) page says it plays no role with the home school family, and its 2025–26 Nonpublic and Homeschool Manual says a home school operating under (f) does not report to it. Registering with the Department is voluntary, with one exception worth knowing. That same manual says a nonpublic or home school must complete the Nonpublic School Membership Report on an annual basis to be eligible for auxiliary services — the services a district already provides its own students, which include speech and language, social work, school psychological and teacher-consultant services for students with disabilities, health and nursing, and remedial reading (MCL 380.1296). The Department's homeschooling presentation puts the same registration-and-approval condition on special education delivered through a Nonpublic School Service Plan. Registration is annual, and the current form is the Department's 2026–2027 Homeschool Registration Form. Its guidance says approval asks the parent or legal guardian to hold at least a bachelor's degree, with no teaching certificate needed, or to claim a religious objection to teacher certification (People v DeJonge, 442 Mich 266 (1993)); that approval standard is the Department's own practice rather than a statute, so ask the Department or your intermediate district what it wants before you rely on it. The Department also suggests, without requiring it, telling your child's current school that you are withdrawing, so the child is not marked absent and reported truant. The separate nonpublic-school option, (3)(a), reports to the Department every year.

What subjects does Michigan require homeschoolers to teach?

Michigan requires instruction in Reading, Spelling, Mathematics, Science, History, Civics/Government, Literature, Writing, and Grammar. That nine-subject list is MCL 380.1561(3)(f) in full: the home-education statute names those subjects and nothing else — no Constitution course, no grade levels — and the Department of Education's Exemption (f) page repeats the same nine. Constitution instruction is often attached to Michigan homeschoolers, but it does not come from the home-education statute. MCL 380.1166(1) requires courses in the United States and Michigan Constitutions and in the history and present form of government, beginning no later than the opening of eighth grade (ninth grade in a school that maintains a junior high); it binds public and nonpublic schools, so it reaches a home school through the separate nonpublic-school route, MCL 380.1561(3)(a) — the Department's 2025–26 Nonpublic and Homeschool Manual treats a (3)(a) home school as a nonpublic school and places that curriculum in high school. The Department's own “Home Schooling in Michigan” handout, still published on its Nonpublic and Home Schools page, goes further: it tells home-schooling parents that instruction must include both Constitutions and Michigan government in grades 10, 11 and 12, without tying that to either pathway. Read the handout as guidance rather than law — the Department says it plays no role in an exemption (f) home school, local and intermediate districts interpret and enforce the attendance law, and in Clonlara v State Board of Education (1993) the Michigan Supreme Court held the department's home-school procedures do not bind a family, the statute does. No Michigan source sets the trigger at age 14; this page previously said age 14, and that was wrong on both pathways. Covering the two Constitutions and Michigan government somewhere in high school satisfies every reading.

How many days or hours of instruction does Michigan require?

None. Michigan does not set a minimum number of instructional days or hours for homeschoolers. No minimum hours or days under the home-education exemption.

Is standardized testing required to homeschool in Michigan?

No. Michigan does not require standardized testing for homeschooled students. No testing, portfolio review, or assessment mandated.

What records do I need to keep to homeschool in Michigan?

Michigan does not require homeschooling families to keep specific records. No portfolio, curriculum submission, or records required under (3)(f).

Do parents need a teaching certificate or other qualification to homeschool in Michigan?

No. Michigan does not set a general qualification for homeschooling parents. No teaching certificate, degree or other credential is required. One condition attaches to who teaches rather than to what they hold: MCL 380.1561(3)(f) exempts a child being educated at the child's home by his or her parent or legal guardian, so the parent or legal guardian has to be the one teaching. The Department of Education's exemption (f) page says the same — there are no minimum qualifications for teachers except that they must be the parents or legal guardians of the children — and its homeschooling presentation works it through examples: a grandparent who is a retired certified teacher does not qualify unless they are the child's legal guardian, and a neighbor teaching another family's child is not homeschooling that child. Handing the teaching to someone else puts a family outside this exemption, and it is the local and intermediate districts, not the Department, that enforce the attendance law. A family that registers with the Department to receive public-school services also has to be approved, and the Department's guidance puts that standard at a bachelor's degree or a claimed religious objection to teacher certification; see the notice section.

What ages does Michigan's compulsory attendance law cover?

Michigan's compulsory attendance law covers children from age 6 to age 18. Three provisions in MCL 380.1561 qualify those two numbers. A child who turns 6 on or after December 1 is not enrolled until the first school day of the following school year, so a late-birthday child starts a year later than age 6 suggests. The duty ends early on graduation, and it ends at 16 if the parent or legal guardian gives the resident district written notice that the child has permission to stop attending school (MCL 380.1561(5)). The age-16 ceiling some guides still quote binds only children who turned 11 before December 1, 2009.

What are the ways to homeschool in Michigan?

In Michigan, families homeschool under one of two pathways: home education, MCL 380.1561(3)(f) — nothing to file; registering with the Department of Education is voluntary, and its guidance makes registration and approval the condition of receiving public-school services and nonpublic school, MCL 380.1561(3)(a) — reports to the Department of Education each year.

Yes. Homeschooling is legal in Michigan, as it is in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Under Michigan's home-education option no notice to any agency is required. Teach the nine required subjects; no testing.

How to get started in Michigan

1
Nothing to file — registering is optional
Under the home-education option (MCL 380.1561(3)(f)) you don't notify the state, your local district, or any other agency. Registering with the Department of Education is voluntary, with one thing worth knowing: its guidance makes annual registration, and its approval, the condition of receiving public-school services — the auxiliary services a district provides its own students (among them speech and language, social work, health and nursing, remedial reading, and school psychological and teacher-consultant services for students with disabilities) and special education delivered through a Nonpublic School Service Plan. That approval standard — at least a bachelor's degree, with no teaching certificate needed, or a claimed religious objection to teacher certification — is the Department's own practice rather than a statute, so ask the Department or your intermediate school district what it wants before you rely on it. The Department also suggests, without requiring it, telling your child's current school that you are withdrawing, so the child is not marked absent and reported truant. Michigan's separate nonpublic-school option, MCL 380.1561(3)(a), reports to the Department each year and carries its own requirements.
Official resource (michigan.gov) →
2
Teach the nine required subjects
Reading, spelling, mathematics, science, history, civics, literature, writing, and grammar — that is the whole list in MCL 380.1561(3)(f), with no grade levels attached. The exemption covers a child taught at home by his or her parent or legal guardian, so the parent or legal guardian has to be the one teaching; no teaching certificate, degree, or other credential is required. The Constitution course often attached to Michigan homeschoolers is not in this statute: MCL 380.1166 requires courses in the United States and Michigan Constitutions and in the history and present form of government, beginning no later than the opening of eighth grade (ninth grade in a school that maintains a junior high), but it binds public and nonpublic schools, so it reaches a home school only through the separate nonpublic-school route. The Department of Education's own Home Schooling in Michigan handout goes further and tells homeschooling parents to cover both Constitutions and Michigan government in grades 10, 11 and 12 — read that as the Department's guidance rather than law. Under the home-education option, covering them somewhere in high school satisfies every reading.
3
No testing, set days, or required records
Michigan requires no testing, portfolio review, or other assessment, and sets no minimum number of days or hours under this option. No records are required, though keeping a simple log of your year is still a good habit.
What Romeschool tracks for you: Subject coverage and an attendance log you keep for yourself — no records are required.

Sources for Michigan

Official source (michigan.gov) ↗HSLDA's Michigan summary ↗
Statute: MCL 380.1561(3)(f)
Last reviewed: June 5, 2026
Corrected: September 23, 2026, after re-reading the official source for what changed

Every requirement above comes from our review of Michigan’s rules, checked against these sources on June 5, 2026 and corrected on September 23, 2026 after re-reading the official source for what changed. Homeschool law changes, and a state can amend its rules between our reviews — read the official source before you file anything or rely on a date here. How we review state requirements.

Nearby states

States that share a border with Michigan:

All 50 states & D.C. →