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Wisconsin · 2026-2027 school year

Wisconsin homeschool requirements, 2026-2027

Last checked against the statutes and the state's own guidance: 2026-09-04

What you must do this year, and by when

  • By October 15, 2026: file the PI-1206 online with the Department of Public Instruction. DPI counts your children as of September 18, the third Friday in September; DPI opens the online form on July 1 and asks for it by October 15, so a family may file before or after the count date (DPI's home-based FAQ).
  • Across July 1 to June 30: provide at least 875 hours of instruction for each child of compulsory age. Hours are the only quantity Wisconsin measures; there are no required days.
  • All year: teach reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and health, in a curriculum that builds forward.
  • Always: the program is privately controlled by you and serves one family.
  • Not asked of you: no annual test, no teacher license, no curriculum approval, no attendance filing, no immunization filing, no fee, no state diploma.

Wisconsin lets you teach your children at home as a home-based private educational program under Wis. Stat. §§ 118.15, 118.165 and 115.30. The state asks for one online report a year to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), 875 hours of instruction, six subject areas, and a program that is yours and one family's. It asks for no test, no license, no approval, and no attendance sheets.

1Know who must be homeschooled

Wisconsin's attendance rule covers ages 6 through 18. A child is covered from age 6; DPI reads that as six on or before September 1. Coverage runs through the end of the school term, quarter, or semester in which the child turns 18, or until the child graduates.

Too young this year? A child who will not be six by September 1 cannot be enrolled in a home-based private educational program for that school year.

Already enrolled your five-year-old in 5K? Ask before you take them out
Once enrolled, attendance is required through the term. Ask the district and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) before withdrawing.

Already in 5K? Ask before you take them out.

  • Five-year-old kindergarten is optional before enrollment.
  • Once a child is enrolled in 5K, state law requires regular attendance through the end of the school term, unless a statutory exception applies.
  • Wisconsin law does not clearly guarantee an ordinary midyear withdrawal. That is Trellis's reading of § 118.15; no DPI guidance states it either way.
  • So if you are considering leaving 5K, follow the district's withdrawal process, and ask DPI (its home-based program page lists the contact) or a Wisconsin attorney before the child stops attending.

Trellis does not track birth dates for you, so confirming your child's exact eligibility date is still yours to do.

New to this? The Wisconsin Homeschooling Parents Association (WHPA, formerly the Wisconsin Parents Association) walks through the law in plain language.

Compulsory ages: Wis. Stat. § 118.15(1)(a) · enrolled 5K: § 118.15(1)(am) · Wisconsin DPI homeschool FAQ: enrolling for kindergarten, and withdrawing a 5K student

2File the PI-1206, once a year

A virtual charter school is not this. DPI's FAQ: “Virtual charter schools are public schools. If your child is enrolled in a virtual charter school, he/she is considered to be a public school student and you should not submit the PI-1206.” (DPI's words.) This page is for the home-based program only.

File one report a year, online, with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. You file it in DPI's online filing system, called HOMER, and it is Wisconsin's only required filing. There is no separate filing with your school district, though your resident district can see the report after you submit it.

  • What it reports: how many of your children are in elementary grades, and how many are in high school grades.
  • Due date, the day you send it: on or before October 15, each school year.
  • Count date, the day your children are counted: September 18, the third Friday in September. Your children are counted as of that day, not as of the day you file.
  • So when should you file? The Wisconsin Homeschooling Parents Association (WHPA) suggests filing between September 18 and October 15. DPI's own FAQ: the earliest a new year's report can be submitted is July 1, and the form is available all year. File before the count date and your report describes a count that has not happened yet. That is WHPA's suggested window, not the statute; DPI's system does accept earlier submissions.

It is a report, not a permission slip. Nobody approves or rejects your homeschool. On the form you also confirm that your program meets the law's six criteria. A seventh requirement, that it serves one family only, is step 6:

  • it is there to give a private or religious-based education;
  • you control it privately;
  • it provides at least 875 hours of instruction a year;
  • it teaches the six subject areas in a curriculum that builds forward;
  • it is not a way to get around the school attendance law; and
  • its pupils go home to their parents for at least two months of summer vacation each year. A home-based program meets that by definition. The statute's alternative, a child-welfare-agency license, is for boarding institutions.

Those six are the law's own list. Being one family is part of the definition of a home program, not one of the six you confirm here. Step 6 covers it.

Trellis does not file this for you, and keeps no confirmation number. Save DPI's confirmation yourself. It is your record that DPI received the report for that year. DPI keeps submitted reports for only seven years, so keep your own copy of every year's confirmation for good: “It is the responsibility of the parent to maintain copies of PI-1206 reports.” It documents the filing, not the teaching. DPI does not verify hours or curriculum, and its FAQ recommends keeping records of the instruction because “prospective employers, including the military, and any post-secondary institutions” may ask for them, along with your PI-1206 copies.

If the report is late or never filed. The statute attaches no penalty to the PI-1206 itself. A child enrolled nowhere stays under the attendance law (§ 118.15(1)(a)), the district's truancy steps in § 118.16 run first. Only after those are complete can § 118.15(5)(a) reach a parent: a fine of up to $500 or up to 30 days in jail, and up to $1,000 or 90 days in jail for a second offense. A program run “for the purpose of avoiding or circumventing the compulsory school attendance requirement” does not qualify at all (§ 118.165(1)(e)).

Special education
Districts are not required to serve home-based program children; a district may still choose to help.

Special education. DPI's own FAQ: “No, school districts are not required to provide special education and related services to children with disabilities enrolled in home-based private educational programs.” A district may still choose to help; ask yours.

Open HOMER and file the PI-1206 Read DPI's homeschool guidance

Filing and what it certifies: Wis. Stat. § 115.30(3) · the six criteria: § 118.165(1)

3Starting mid-year?Filing rule + guidance

Leaving school after October 15?
File the PI-1206 by the child's last day at school, not the next October. The dates are here.

Statute and guidance, kept apart. The statute sets the annual deadline; every mid-year date in this step is DPI's own guidance, not separate statutory text.

Withdrawing after October 15? DPI's FAQ: the online PI-1206 “should be submitted or updated on or before the date your child ceases to attend the school”; the form is available all year.

When you file depends on when your child leaves school.

  • Deadline already passed? A child who leaves school October 16 or later: DPI says to submit or update the PI-1206 on or before the date the child stops attending.
  • Deadline still ahead? A child who leaves by October 15: file by October 15, like everyone else.

Either way, tell the school your child is leaving, and follow its withdrawal process, so the enrollment and attendance records close cleanly.

Before the October 15 deadline, DPI treats your stated intent to homeschool as sufficient notice to the resident district. Written withdrawal notice to the school is practical guidance, not a separate statewide filing requirement.

Wisconsin publishes no rule reducing the 875 hours for a year you started late, so Trellis does not reduce them either. The figure below stays whole.

Annual filing: Wis. Stat. § 115.30(3) · Midyear timing: Wisconsin DPI homeschool FAQ, "When must I submit the PI-1206 report?"

4875 hours of instruction

875 hours a year, for each compulsory-age child in the program. Each such child's program must provide at least 875 hours of instruction across the school year.

Wisconsin fixes that school year to July 1 through June 30. The July-to-June span is the state's year, whatever school year your family keeps for itself. The hours above count across that span whatever calendar you teach on.

Hours are the only quantity Wisconsin measures: no required days, no daily minimum, no set schedule.

  • What counts: field trips, read-alouds, and hands-on projects, when they are planned and recorded as instruction.
  • One lesson, two siblings: each child's own total gets the hour.
  • One lesson, three subjects: a two-hour lesson is still two hours.

In Trellis, hours total up from the Learning Log and from work checked off on the Calendar, per child. It can only count what is recorded. So a family's own total is a floor, never the whole truth of a year.

Wis. Stat. § 118.165(1)(c) · school year defined at § 115.001(13)

5Teach the six subject areas

Teach reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and health. Wisconsin asks for a sequentially progressive curriculum of fundamental instruction in those six areas.

  • "Sequentially progressive" means: the curriculum builds forward, instead of repeating the same work indefinitely.
  • What the statute does not do: it names all six areas, but it sets no per-grade sequence, no yearly checklist, and no pace. How fast your child moves through the work is not something the law sets.
  • Nobody approves your materials, and nothing has to match state standards.
  • Health is the area easiest to leave off the paper by mistake. Hygiene, nutrition, first aid, and personal safety can all be part of it. Physical activity alone is not the same subject: that is Trellis's reading, since neither the statute nor DPI defines health.
Wis. Stat. § 118.165(1)(d)

6One family, privately controlled

One family only, privately controlled by you. A Wisconsin home-based private educational program serves one family unit. A program that teaches children from more than one family is, by definition, not one of these. Privately controlled means you direct the curriculum, the records, and the decisions.

Co-ops, tutors, and group classes are not forbidden, and many families use them. But a provider teaching several families at once may not itself qualify as your home-based program, and Trellis cannot classify one for you.

The more of your child's core instruction happens somewhere you do not control, the more it is worth confirming with DPI whether your program still qualifies as home-based.

One-family definition: Wis. Stat. § 115.001(3g) · private-control requirement: § 118.165(1)(b)

7What Wisconsin does not ask of you

Meet the must-dos at the top of this page, and you are done. Wisconsin adds none of this:

  • no annual testing;
  • no teacher license or degree;
  • no curriculum approval;
  • no attendance sheets to submit;
  • no immunization filing for homeschoolers;
  • no fees; and
  • no state diploma process. You set graduation requirements and issue the diploma yourself.

Because so little is filed, your own records carry the weight. The Gradebook, Learning Log, and High School planner cover the usual asks, and you can export everything anytime.

Wisconsin DPI: home-based private educational programs

Questions Wisconsin families ask

Do I have to notify the school district to homeschool in Wisconsin?

Show answer
Not as a filing: Wisconsin's one filing is the PI-1206, sent online to the Department of Public Instruction on or before October 15 each school year. Do still tell the school your child is leaving, so its records close; that is practical, not a filing. Wis. Stat. § 115.30(3).

How many hours or days are required?

Show answer
875 hours of instruction across the state's July 1 to June 30 year, for each child of compulsory age. No days, no daily minimum, no schedule. Wis. Stat. § 118.165(1)(c).

Is testing required?

Show answer
No. Wisconsin requires no annual test, no portfolio review, and no evaluation of a home-based program.

What subjects do I have to teach?

Show answer
Six areas: reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and health, as a sequentially progressive curriculum of fundamental instruction. The statute names the areas and sets no per-grade sequence. Wis. Stat. § 118.165(1)(d).

What records do I have to keep?

Show answer
None are filed. Because so little is filed, your own records of hours, subjects, and work carry the weight if a question is ever asked, and DPI's confirmation of each year's PI-1206 is the one piece of paper to save.

My child is five. Do I do anything?

Show answer
A child is covered from age 6, which DPI reads as age six on or before September 1. Five-year-old kindergarten is optional before enrollment, but once a child is enrolled in 5K, attendance is required through the end of the term, so ask the district and DPI before withdrawing. Wis. Stat. § 118.15(1)(a); DPI's home-based FAQ.

Can we join a co-op?

Show answer
Yes, and step 6 says how: the home-based program itself must be one family's, privately controlled by you, and a provider teaching several families at once is not by itself your home-based program. Wis. Stat. § 115.001(3g).

Can my child play on the public school's team or join its activities?

Show answer
Yes. Wis. Stat. § 118.133 requires the resident district to let a home-based program pupil take part in interscholastic athletics and extracurricular activities “on the same basis” as its own pupils. For athletics, on request you give the school board a written statement that the pupil meets its age, academic and disciplinary requirements. The statute asks no statement for other extracurriculars. The district may charge the same participation fees it charges enrolled pupils.

Does Wisconsin issue a homeschool diploma?

Show answer
No. You set graduation requirements and issue the diploma yourself. What colleges read a transcript against is on the Wisconsin high school and transcript page.

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