Homeschooling in Montana

Notify your county each school year. Track attendance and instructional hours. Teach the grade-appropriate program. Then begin.

Welcome, Montana homeschool family. Montana recognizes one ordinary home-school route: a parent instructs the parent’s child, stepchild, or ward in the parent’s residence and follows the statewide home-school requirements.

Who this applies to

Montana’s compulsory-enrollment law generally applies when a child is seven years old or older before the first day of school in the school fiscal year.

The duty continues until the later of the child’s sixteenth birthday or completion of eighth grade. Reaching sixteen does not end the duty if the student has not completed eighth grade.

Notify the county superintendent each year

Notify the county superintendent in the county where the home school is located during each school fiscal year of the student’s attendance in the home school.

Montana law does not prescribe one statewide notice form or one statewide filing deadline beyond the requirement to notify during each school fiscal year. Contact your county superintendent for its current submission method, and preserve a copy of what you submit.

What Montana asks for

What Montana asks for

  • Legal route
  • Compulsory period
  • Annual notice
  • Attendance records
  • Grades 1-3
  • Grades 4-12
  • Graduating seniors
  • Course of study
  • Parent authority

How to handle it

  • A parent instructs the parent’s child, stepchild, or ward in the parent’s residence
  • Begin under the age-seven timing rule and continue until the later of age sixteen or completion of eighth grade
  • Notify the county superintendent in each school fiscal year
  • Maintain them and make them available to the county superintendent upon request
  • Provide at least 720 aggregate instructional hours during the school fiscal year
  • Provide at least 1,080 aggregate instructional hours during the school fiscal year
  • A minimum of 1,050 aggregate hours may be sufficient
  • Provide the grade-appropriate subjects required as Montana’s basic instructional program
  • The parent controls the philosophy, materials, curriculum, timing, location, method, and evaluation, subject to the statutory home-school duties

What Montana asks for

How to handle it

  • Legal route
  • A parent instructs the parent’s child, stepchild, or ward in the parent’s residence
  • Compulsory period
  • Begin under the age-seven timing rule and continue until the later of age sixteen or completion of eighth grade
  • Annual notice
  • Notify the county superintendent in each school fiscal year
  • Attendance records
  • Maintain them and make them available to the county superintendent upon request
  • Grades 1-3
  • Provide at least 720 aggregate instructional hours during the school fiscal year
  • Grades 4-12
  • Provide at least 1,080 aggregate instructional hours during the school fiscal year
  • Graduating seniors
  • A minimum of 1,050 aggregate hours may be sufficient
  • Course of study
  • Provide the grade-appropriate subjects required as Montana’s basic instructional program
  • Parent authority
  • The parent controls the philosophy, materials, curriculum, timing, location, method, and evaluation, subject to the statutory home-school duties

Track the required instructional hours

Montana’s school fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. Home schools provide at least 720 aggregate hours in grades one through three and 1,080 aggregate hours in grades four through twelve.

For a graduating senior, 1,050 aggregate hours may be sufficient. Keep an attendance record that shows how your family satisfied the applicable annual total.

Provide the grade-appropriate course of study

Montana requires an organized course of study that includes the subjects required of public schools as a basic instructional program. The administrative standards vary by grade level rather than imposing one identical subject list from first grade through graduation.

At the elementary level, build a program aligned with Montana’s program-area standards and incorporate reading and writing literacy throughout the program. Middle-grade requirements include English language arts, mathematics, physical and life sciences, social studies, and health and physical education, with additional program areas maintained under the rules. High-school standards address English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, career and technical education, arts, health and physical education, world languages, electives, and economics or financial literacy.

Those high-school rules describe public-school program offerings. Do not automatically treat every public-school unit or offering as a state-prescribed homeschool graduation credit. Build a thoughtful high-school plan, document courses and credits, and confirm any destination-specific admission requirements.

Keep attendance and academic records

Maintain attendance records and make them available to the county superintendent upon request. County offices may publish additional submission instructions, so verify the current procedure in your county without assuming that another county’s form applies statewide.

The governing home-school provisions require annual notice, attendance records, instructional hours, and an organized course of study. They do not prescribe a homeschool standardized-testing or portfolio-submission procedure.

Keep dependable academic records anyway, especially through high school. Course descriptions, grades, work samples, credits, attendance, and a transcript can support placement, admission, employment, military, and licensing decisions. Montana law makes the parent responsible for evaluating home-school instruction, but a family-created document should not be described as a state-issued Montana credential.

Failure to qualify for the home-school exemption can expose a family to Montana’s truancy process. Preserve your annual notice, attendance record, instructional-hour documentation, and course information.

Your home base: SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Montana families must notify the county, track attendance and hours, and provide the required course of study. SchoolhouseTeachers.com gives your family curriculum and organizational tools in one HOME BASE.

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, document progress, and organize your Montana homeschool records:

  • Education Plan Builder for mapping each child’s subjects and courses
  • Custom Schedule Builder for organizing the July-to-June school year
  • Gradebook and report cards for tracking academic progress
  • Portfolio Builder for collecting work samples
  • High-school planning resources for organizing courses, credits, and graduation records
  • Applecore recordkeeping for grades, attendance, courses, and transcript information
  • 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.

“SchoolhouseTeachers.com is just amazing! I’ve had my account for almost two years, and I still don’t think I’ve seen everything!”
Ammy Quinn, SchoolhouseTeachers.com member

Official Montana links

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

Requirements vary and change. Confirm current requirements with your Montana county superintendent, the Montana Office of Public Instruction when appropriate, and current Montana law. SchoolhouseTeachers.com provides curriculum and recordkeeping tools. It is not a school, it is not accredited, and nothing on this page is legal advice.

Sources: MCA §§ 20-1-301, 20-5-102, 20-5-106, 20-5-109, 20-5-111, and 20-7-111; ARM 10.55.901, 10.55.902, and 10.55.904; 2025 H.B. 778.

Last reviewed: August 2026