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Vermont · 2026-2027 school year

Vermont homeschool (teaching your child at home) rules, 2026-2027

Last checked against the law and the state's own pages: 2026-09-17

Start your family's records

Know what the law asks. Keep your records. Teach your day.

Each rule below is apart from Trellis's tools. Each one points to the state's own pages. This is a planning aid, not legal help. Ask a trained lawyer for a hard case. Or a question about who may sign, or a child near six.

VT

What Vermont asks: two short notices while you keep going. One more if you stop. All go to the state's Agency of Education. Not the town office where your child goes to school.

2026-2027 at a glance Vermont law

  • Start. Send an enrollment notice (the first paper for home study). Send it at least 10 business days before starting. Once.
  • The state's answer. A complete notice has every part the law lists. The Secretary sends written word that it came in. This takes 10 business days.
  • Each year after. Send an annual notice (the notice you send yearly after the first). At least 10 business days before that year starts.
  • Subjects. Six subjects under 13. Four from 13 on.
  • Checking learning. Five ways are named; the law does not close the list. Pick at year end and keep it.
  • Group size. Your kids and up to two more from outside your home. Or any number from one other family.

What you must do this year, and by when

Send your first-year enrollment notice, or this year's yearly notice. Do this at least 10 business days before you start. Both go to the state's Secretary. Never a district (your town's public school office). Check learning by one of five named ways, or another the law allows. Do this by the end of the year, and keep that record.

Vermont's home study law is 16 V.S.A. § 166b. Everything else here is an odd case. It may appear as a marked aside. Or it may be an open question the law does not answer.

1The one way you start on your own

Vermont names four ways a child can meet school rules. A public school. A private school (a school the state has checked, not run by a town). A plan a district (your town's public school office) runs with the state. Or home study. Home study is the only one a family starts alone.

A home study group is your own children. A family may add up to two more from outside your home. Or any number from one other family.

The duty runs from age 6 to 16. It ends early in four cases. A health reason. Finishing 10th grade. Being excused by the superintendent or the head of school. Being in college.

More on the ages

The law says ages six to sixteen. It does not name a date by which a child has to turn six.

16 V.S.A. § 1121 · 16 V.S.A. § 11(a)(21)

2The two notices

Every notice under this law goes to the state's Secretary. Never your district.

Send an enrollment notice (your paper to start home study). Do this at least 10 business days before you start, on the Agency's own form.

Contents means the parts in a notice. A complete notice comes with the contents the law lists. The Secretary sends written word back in 10 business days. That word is the paper. It shows your child is enrolled (on record) in home study.

What the notice asks for

A guardian is another person. Legal custody means the right to care for the child. Give the child's name, age, and birth date. Name each parent or guardian with legal custody. Give each person's mail and email (mail on the web) addresses, town, and phone. You make two attestations (written promises). One says you will check learning at year end. Equivalent means equal to. Another says you will teach the equivalent of 175 days. It also covers the subjects the law names. Every parent or guardian who may make choices signs. Instead, one parent may attest that only they may make those choices.

First-time child paper

A child never before in Vermont public school or home study also sends a paper. It shows if your child has a disability (a lasting body or mind trouble).

More on this notice

No one says yes or no to a whole notice. The Secretary's word back is all you get.

The law does not say when your first notice counts as done. It does not say what a missing part does to the ten-day clock.

Each year, send a shorter annual notice (your paper saying you plan to keep going). Send it at least 10 business days before that year starts.

Excused for deep faith

After a family files, the Secretary may excuse set parts of this law. This is for deep faith held by a group that meets together. The schooling must still meet the law's aims.

16 V.S.A. § 166b(a), (b), (j), (k)

3Subjects you teach

A family says they will teach at least 175 days a year. Or that same amount, spread out.

More on the 175 days

No law says what counts as one day or one hour of teaching.

Under 13, teach six subjects. At 13 or older, teach four. Health and the arts drop off the list.

  1. Communication (reading, writing, and numbers)
  2. Citizenship (town and country), history, and government
  3. Physical education (moving, playing, and sports) and health (under 13 only)
  4. Literature (books, poems, and stories)
  5. The natural sciences (plants, animals, and how the world works)
  6. The fine arts (under 13 only)

This is for a child with a lasting trouble doctors have noted. A parent may make fitting changes (ways they change the work) instead.

16 V.S.A. § 906(b) · 16 V.S.A. § 166b(a)(5)

4Checking learning

Check how each child is learning, at the end of the school year. Five ways are named below. The law does not close the list to only these five.

  1. A set test, given by a district, a test group, or someone the state allows
  2. A look-over by someone who holds a Vermont teacher's paper right now
  3. A parent's report and a work folder (pieces of the child's finished work). Keep at least four pieces
  4. Grades from a school your child takes on the web
  5. A paper that shows your child passed the GED

Families keep their choice on file. It goes to the Agency only if the family wants it looked at.

16 V.S.A. § 166b(a)(3)

5Leaving home study

If a child leaves home study, the family writes to the Secretary. Send that notice in the 10 business days AFTER the child leaves.

What the Agency's own page says

The Agency's page also tells families to write 10 days BEFORE ending home study. That is the Agency's own habit, not the law's rule. Writing early still lands inside the law's window most of the time.

16 V.S.A. § 166b(c)

6What the district may offer, and extra needs

Every school board must set a written rule. It must let home study children join district classes, clubs, teams, and buildings.

What the Agency's page says about how much

The Agency's page names a working cap. Two of the five classes, as room allows. A family may also add extra classes, teams, and free seats in job classes. That cap is the Agency's own choice. The law itself sets no fixed number.

A state rule treats a home study child the same way. That is, the same as a child placed in a private school for extra needs.

No home study child has a right to full school-paid help for a disability. The district must still find and test home study children who may have a disability.

What the Agency's own page says

The Agency's page states flatly: no home study child gets extra help through the school. The rule itself says more: the district must still find and test these children. It may choose to offer help. This page follows the rule, not that one Agency line.

Vermont's shot rule for starting school names public and private schools. Its own meaning of "school" leaves home study out.

Shots for a district class

Does taking a course at the public school count as joining that school? The law and the rules we read do not answer that for school shots.

16 V.S.A. § 563(24) · 18 V.S.A. § 1120(2)

7What is not asked of you

Other states ask for these. Vermont does not, since a 2023 law change.

  • No lesson plan sent to the Agency. No test mark sent. No fitting-changes paper sent. All true since July 1, 2023.
  • No sign-off and no hearing. The old hearing steps are gone.
  • No teaching paper for the parent. A Vermont teacher's paper is only one pick for who checks a child's work.
  • No set lessons or book. Only the subject list itself.
  • No state diploma (a paper saying you finished school), no state grades. See the high-school card below.
More on this

No home visit, no inspection (a close check by someone else). The law gives the Secretary, the Agency and your district no such power. Extra needs help may be given at your home, if you agree.

The law sets no fee (money you must pay) for any home study notice. The Agency says no state or town money pays for home study.

16 V.S.A. § 166b · no state or town money: Agency of Education, Home Study

8Finishing high schoolNo state diploma

Vermont gives no grades and no diploma to a home study child. The Agency keeps word that a child met its rules. It tells the district who is signed up.

Finishing 10th grade ends the school attendance (being counted as in school) duty. It is not a diploma or any other kind of paper.

Papers for college aid

No law or rule we read names a form for finishing high school. Your own records, and GED papers if you used them, are what you hold.

Missing too much school

People at school report a child who misses too much school to an officer. That officer asks the parent to explain, then may bring a case. It carries a fine of up to $1,000. A child in home study is on one of the four paths the law names. That holds once the Secretary's word back is in hand.

The High school page holds the college-planning list.

16 V.S.A. § 1121(2) · 16 V.S.A. § 1127

What you must do Vermont has one family-run path: home study. You send two notices to the state's Agency of Education while you keep going. One more if you stop. You never send them to your local district (the office that runs your town's schools).

Your first notice Send an enrollment notice (your first paper to start home study). Send it to the state's Secretary of Education. Send it at least 10 business days before you start. Use the Agency's own form. Send it once, for each child, the first time.

Each year after that Send a shorter annual notice (the notice you send each year after the first). Send it at least 10 business days before that year starts. It says you plan to keep going.

What you never send to your district Vermont asks you to send nothing to your local district. No lesson plan. No test score. No day-by-day log. You keep your own records.

Questions Vermont families ask

Do I have to file anything with my district to start home study in Vermont?

Show answer
No. Every notice under Vermont's law goes to the state's Secretary, never a district. You send an enrollment notice before you start. Then a shorter yearly notice each year after.

What subjects does Vermont ask for?

Show answer
Six subjects for a child under 13. Communication (reading, writing, and numbers). Citizenship (town and country), history, and government. Physical education (moving, playing, and sports) and health. Literature (books, poems, and stories). The natural sciences (plants, animals, and how the world works). And the fine arts. At 13 or older, only four remain. Health and the arts drop off the list.

Does Vermont ask for a yearly test?

Show answer
Vermont names five ways to check a child's learning. The law does not close the list. A family picks one of them, or another the law allows, at year end. The family keeps the record. It goes to the Agency only if the family wants it looked at.

Does Vermont give a paper when a child finishes school?

Show answer
No. Vermont gives no grades to a home study child. It gives no diploma (a paper saying you finished school) either. The Agency keeps word that a child met its rules. A family's own record, and a GED if used, are what a child holds.

When do I tell the state if we leave home study?

Show answer
Vermont's law says the notice follows the leaving. Send it in the 10 business days after the child leaves. The Agency's own page also tells families to write 10 days before ending. That is the Agency's habit, not the law's rule.

Can a home study child take a class at the public school near us?

Show answer
Every school board must set a written rule. It must let home study children join district classes, clubs, teams, and buildings. The Agency's page names a working cap. Two of the five classes, as room allows. That cap is the Agency's own choice, not a number the law sets.

Does a home study child with extra needs get help through the district?

Show answer
A state rule treats a home study child with a disability the same way. That is, the same as a child placed in a private school for extra needs. No home study child has a right to full school-paid help for a disability. But the district must still find and test these children.

Is there a homeschool compliance planner for Vermont?

Show answer
Compliance means meeting what your state asks, on time. Trellis is a planner that keeps your family's record. Each subject, each course, and each grade. It also holds the two notices and the way you check that you chose. Trellis never files a notice for you. It never says a family met the law. The card below starts your family's records.

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