Homeschooling in Missouri

Welcome, Missouri homeschool family. Missouri does not ask ordinary home schools to register with the state or seek state approval. If your child is enrolled in public school, notify the district in writing and ask that your child be dropped from its rolls. Then build the instruction, hours, and records Missouri law asks you to maintain. Here is what that looks like in practice.

Who this applies to

Missouri compulsory attendance begins at age seven and continues to the compulsory attendance age for the child’s district. In most districts, that means until age seventeen or until the student has successfully completed sixteen high school credits, whichever comes first. Missouri counts a home school credit as at least one hundred hours of instruction in a course.

St. Louis Public Schools, Missouri’s metropolitan school district, currently states that its compulsory attendance age is seventeen. State law allows its board to lower that age to sixteen by resolution.

A child between five and seven who is enrolled in public school must attend regularly. The parent may make a written request to have the child dropped from the school’s rolls, and the child is then excused until compulsory attendance begins.

If your child is enrolled right now

Send the public school district a written notification that you intend to pursue another educational option and ask that your child be dropped from the district’s rolls. Missouri law says the school must promptly comply.
Keep a dated copy and proof of delivery. The home school itself is not registered with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Notify. Withdraw. Plan. Begin.

• Compulsory age

• State filing

• Enrolled child

• School year

• Total instruction

• Core instruction

• Home location

• Records

• Age sixteen and older

• Certain St. Louis pupils age sixteen or older

• Curriculum

• DESE states that ordinary home schools do not register with the state

• Notify the public school district in writing and ask that the child be dropped from its rolls

• Missouri defines the school year as July 1 through June 30

• Offer at least 1,000 hours for a pupil younger than sixteen

• Include at least 600 hours in the listed core subjects or related academic courses

• Provide at least 400 of those 600 core hours at the regular home school location

• Keep the listed records or other written or credible equivalent evidence

• The statutory hour and specific record provisions no longer apply

• Keep the special written compliance statement described in the statute

• State agencies may not dictate a statewide curriculum for home schools

Protections worth knowing

Missouri prohibits state departments and agencies from dictating a statewide curriculum for home schools.

The statute also says home school enforcement and records are subject to review only by the local prosecuting attorney. A school district does not become the reviewer of your home school records simply because your child previously attended there.

DESE states that it does not regulate or monitor home schooling and has no program for registering, inspecting, approving, or accrediting Missouri home schools.

Make sure you are using the right classification

This page covers Missouri’s ordinary Home School classification. It applies to a school that enrolls children from age seven to the compulsory attendance age for its district, whose primary purpose is private or religious-based instruction, that does not charge tuition or fees in exchange for instruction, and that enrolls no more than four children unrelated within the degree stated by law.

The statute excludes children participating in the programs established in R.S.Mo. 135.712 through 135.719 and 166.700 through 166.720. The Missouri State Treasurer identifies the education scholarship program as MOScholars. Missouri separately defines a Family Paced Education school, or FPE school, which follows similar baseline hour and record provisions but is a different statutory classification. Families using that optional program should follow its current official requirements separately.

Your home base: SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Missouri gives you curriculum freedom and asks you to build the time and records behind it. SchoolhouseTeachers.com can help you plan the year, teach it, and keep the evidence together.

One online family membership gives every child unlimited access to hundreds of online, self-paced courses from preschool through twelfth grade, all from a Biblical worldview, with graduation and college-preparation resources.

You will also find Virtual School Boxes, self-grading iST courses, World Book Online, and thousands of family-friendly videos.

The Homeschool Records & Compliance Center gives you tools to plan the year and keep your own records:

• Education Plan Builder for mapping each child’s year and core academic courses
• Custom Schedule Builder for laying out 1,000 instructional hours
• Gradebook and report cards for tracking work and evaluations
• Portfolio Builder for gathering academic samples in one place
• Transcript tools for organizing high school courses and credits
• Applecore recordkeeping for grades, attendance, courses, and credits
• Certificates of Completion for documenting finished courses

One family membership. Every child in your HOME. No fee per child. No fee per course. No limits.

Questions? Call 1.888.718.HOME or email
customerservice@theoldschoolhouse.com.
A real homeschooler answers.