Homeschooling in Massachusetts
The rules Massachusetts sets out for home education, what they mean for the records you keep, and where to check them yourself.
Verify this with Massachusetts before you rely on it
Always verify this with your state before you rely on it. This is our summary of what your state publishes, with links to the source and the date we last checked. It is not legal advice, requirements change, and some districts add their own. Your state's department of education, or a homeschool legal organisation, is the authority — we are not.
What Massachusetts publishes
high regulation- Do you have to tell anyone?
- Yes. Before you begin, and annually, to your superintendent or school committee. Massachusetts is an approval state: you submit an education plan and must receive approval before starting.
- Subjects named
- Reading · Writing · English language and grammar · Geography · Arithmetic · Drawing · Music · History and constitution of the United States · Health · Physical education · Good behaviour
- Days and hours
- Duration and frequency comparable to the public schools; districts commonly look for about 900 hours at elementary and 990 at secondary.
- Testing or assessment
- Not required. The district may ask for periodic testing or another means of evaluation, but the method must be agreed with you rather than imposed.
- Records to keep
- A portfolio · Immunisation records
- An annual progress report, commonly due 1 October
- Dated work samples if that is the agreed evaluation
- Who may teach
- None — but the district reviews the competency of the instruction plan.
- High school diploma
- The parent.
Sources · last checked 2026-08-24
What that means day to day
- Attendance or days of instruction→your attendance register
- A portfolio of the child's work→your portfolio
- A log of reading materials and activities→your reading log
- Evidence of progress→your report cards
Each of those builds itself here as your child works. That does not make you compliant — only Massachusetts decides that — but it means the paperwork exists when you need it.
The records you will have either way
Whatever Massachusetts asks for, these are the things homeschool families are commonly asked to produce — and here they build themselves as your child works, rather than being assembled in a panic in June.
Attendance
Days and instructional hours, derived from work actually finished.
Report cards
One a quarter, per subject, with the level each strand started and ended at.
Portfolio
Projects, writing and strong work, collected automatically.
Reading log
In the app and off it.
Transcript
Grades 9–10, parent-issued, with credits and GPA.
Export
Everything, one button, any time.
Everything on this page, and the records that satisfy it, are free with no account. Homeschool Year keeps those records for every child across devices and school years, and adds the print library — one payment, twelve months, no renewal.