Homeschooling in Nebraska

Filing deadlines and required documents

Nebraska’s annual filing deadline is July 15 for every year the exempt school will operate. The Department accepts filings after that date. A family that was not living in a Nebraska school district on July 15 must file promptly after establishing residence, and a family that elects exempt-school status later must also file promptly.

Families can file through the online Exempt School Program or use the paper packet by mail or drop-off. Paper filings are not accepted by fax or email.

For a child enrolling in an exempt school for the first time, provide a certified birth certificate. Nebraska law permits other reliable proof of identity and age when it is accompanied by an affidavit explaining why the birth certificate cannot be produced. The Department does not ordinarily require the birth document to be resubmitted every year.

Failure to complete the applicable exempt-school requirements means the school may not be treated as a school for compulsory-attendance purposes, exposing the responsible adult to compulsory-attendance or truancy enforcement.

Instructional hours and subjects

Provide at least 1,032 instructional hours for elementary students in grades K-8 and at least 1,080 instructional hours for secondary students in grades 9-12. Nebraska allows you to arrange the school calendar within the reporting year. For a partial-year start, the required hours may be prorated based on the portion of the school year remaining.

The exempt school must maintain a sequential program designed to lead to basic skills in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and health. Nebraska does not require state teacher certification for the person providing or monitoring instruction.

You do not report your curriculum, instructional monitors, or grades to NDE. The family remains responsible for providing the required subjects and instructional hours.

Testing, records, and diplomas

The Nebraska Department of Education states that standardized testing is not required for exempt-school students. The Department does not collect grades or require progress reports, and Rule 13 does not prescribe general recordkeeping or retention requirements.

NDE recommends keeping attendance information and a transcript showing classes and grades. A practical record of your calendar and instructional hours also helps demonstrate that the exempt school completed the required time.

Nebraska does not issue diplomas to exempt-school students. An exempt school may create its own diploma, but NDE neither collects nor certifies it. A college, employer, military branch, or other receiving organization determines whether it will accept the diploma.

Two narrow restrictions effective in 2026

Nebraska law prohibits a person convicted of one of the felony offenses specifically listed in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 79-1601(5)(b) from monitoring or providing instruction at an exempt school.

A separate law applies when the Department of Health and Human Services issues a statutory notice concerning an active child-abuse or neglect investigation in which the subject is the student’s parent, legal guardian, or educational decisionmaker. The subject may not transfer or disenroll the student for fourteen days after receiving the notice, or until further DHHS notice, whichever occurs first. A new exempt-school election for the student is invalid during that period.

Your home base: SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Nebraska requires a thoughtful calendar and dependable documentation. 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 Nebraska exempt-school records:

• Education Plan Builder for mapping each child’s subjects and courses
• Custom Schedule Builder for organizing the required instructional hours
• 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 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.