Homeschooling in Tennessee

Yes, you can do this here. Tennessee gives families two legal ways to home school, and the independent path may begin at any point in the year.

If you are wondering whether homeschooling works where you live, the answer in Tennessee is yes. Tennessee law identifies two ways to home school: an independent home school, or enrollment with an approved church-related umbrella school. A third route, an accredited online school, is a private school rather than a home school. This page covers the independent home school option under § 49-6-3050. Here is what that option asks and how each piece gets handled.

Two paths, and which one this page covers

Tennessee law defines a home school as a school conducted or directed by a parent or legal guardian for their own children. Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-3050(a)(1).

On the independent path, you are the teacher of record, and you submit an Intent to Home School form to the district where your family lives. You may withdraw your child from public school and register at any point in the school year. Your student’s grades, transcript, and diploma come from you, not from the state or the district.

Under current Tennessee law, the same qualification applies in every grade: the independent parent-teacher must hold a high school diploma or a high school equivalency credential approved by the state board of education. No college degree or teaching license is required.

On the church-related path, you enroll your student with an approved Category IV non-public school that offers an umbrella or satellite program, and you participate as a teacher under that school’s director. You follow that school’s requirements rather than the ones in this section, no Intent to Home School form is filed with the district, and the school handles record keeping and testing and issues the diploma and transcript. The Department of Education says a district may request proof of enrollment in the church-related school when a child withdraws from public school. For grades nine through twelve, a diploma or approved equivalency credential may be required. Because the umbrella school sets its own parent-teacher requirements, confirm them with the school you are considering. § 49-6-3050(a)(2) and (a)(3).

Be careful with one distinction. A co-op or class day that meets in a church building is not automatically a church-related umbrella school. A Category IV umbrella school is a state-approved non-public school, and the Department of Education publishes the current list. Check that list before you assume a program covers your family’s compliance.

What the independent option asks, and how to handle it

Tennessee’s core independent home school requirements are shorter than most families expect. File the Intent form with proof of your education. Identify your curriculum. Teach four hours a day for one hundred eighty days. Keep attendance records and turn them in at year’s end. Test in grades five, seven, and nine. § 49-6-3050(b).

What Tennessee asks for

  • An initial Intent to Home School form filed with your local school district, with proof of the parent-teacher’s high school diploma or equivalency credential. A legal guardian also submits proof of guardianship, and a power of attorney alone is not sufficient proof of legal guardianship for this purpose. A new Intent form is required before each subsequent school year
  • Identification of the curriculum you have selected
  • The proposed hours of instruction, given on the same form
  • At least four hours of instruction per day for one hundred eighty days per year
  • Attendance records submitted to the director of schools at the end of each school year and subject to inspection by the local director of schools
  • For independent home school students only: standardized testing in grades five, seven, and nine, by one of two routes the law now allows

How to handle it

  • Use your district’s Intent to Home School form. Attach the required education documentation, and guardianship documentation when applicable, to the initial filing. Ask your district’s home school coordinator whether any supporting documentation must be submitted again with the annual form and where the form should be sent
  • You arrange and pay for a parent-selected test, or use the state assessment where it is offered. SchoolhouseTeachers.com does not provide or administer either one. Portfolio Builder organizes your copy of the results

What Tennessee asks for

How to handle it

  • An initial Intent to Home School form filed with your local school district, with proof of the parent-teacher’s high school diploma or equivalency credential. A legal guardian also submits proof of guardianship, and a power of attorney alone is not sufficient proof of legal guardianship for this purpose. A new Intent form is required before each subsequent school year
  • Use your district’s Intent to Home School form. Attach the required education documentation, and guardianship documentation when applicable, to the initial filing. Ask your district’s home school coordinator whether any supporting documentation must be submitted again with the annual form and where the form should be sent
  • Identification of the curriculum you have selected
  • The proposed hours of instruction, given on the same form
  • At least four hours of instruction per day for one hundred eighty days per year
  • Attendance records submitted to the director of schools at the end of each school year and subject to inspection by the local director of schools
  • For independent home school students only: standardized testing in grades five, seven, and nine, by one of two routes the law now allows
  • You arrange and pay for a parent-selected test, or use the state assessment where it is offered. SchoolhouseTeachers.com does not provide or administer either one. Portfolio Builder organizes your copy of the results

These state testing provisions do not govern students enrolled through a church-related umbrella school; those families follow the umbrella school’s requirements. The testing rules changed in 2026, so be careful with older guidance. Under Public Chapter 912, a student in grade five, seven, or nine takes either a standardized test you select that provides nationally normed analytics in English language arts and mathematics, proctored by someone not related to your student, with scores recorded by the test developer, and paid for by you; or the same state-board-approved test given to public school students in that grade. The Department of Education says the public-school assessment is currently available in grades five and seven, administered at the local public school your student would otherwise attend or wherever public school students are being tested, and that a parent may be present when a fifth-grade student takes it. Testing administered by the commissioner of education or the commissioner’s designee is provided without charge under § 49-6-3050(b)(5)(B)(i). The parent-selected route remains at your expense. It is not currently available in grade nine, because the only public-school assessments in that grade are end-of-course exams, which the home school statute excludes. A ninth-grade independent home school student therefore currently uses the parent-selected option. Availability can change, so confirm current arrangements with your district’s home school coordinator. All results must be provided to the parent-teacher, the director of schools, and the state board of education.

Public Chapter 912 deleted § 49-6-3050(b)(6), which contained Tennessee’s former low-score consultation, remedial-coursework, retesting, and possible enrollment consequences. Those provisions are no longer part of Tennessee’s independent home school law. That act also opened advanced courses and preparatory college entrance examinations, including the PSAT, the Pre-ACT, and the CLT10, to home school students at public schools where space is available. You maintain your school records and create your student’s grades, transcript, and diploma. Attendance and testing information must also be provided as Tennessee requires.

Your Tennessee year

When compulsory attendance applies. Tennessee generally requires school beginning at age six. Tennessee’s attendance rules list a child enrolled in a home school who has reached seventeen as exempt. Special rules may apply to a younger child who has already enrolled in school. Ask your district coordinator how the timing applies to your child. §§ 49-6-3001 and 49-6-3005; Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0520-01-02-.17.

Register any time. The Department of Education says a parent may withdraw a child from public school and register as an independent home school at any point in the school year. You do not have to wait for a term to end.

If tier-three truancy interventions have begun. A 2026 law requires the director of schools to report certain students’ absences to juvenile court when they withdraw while receiving tier-three truancy interventions and do not transfer to another LEA. If this describes your child, speak with the district’s home school coordinator before withdrawing and filing the Intent form. Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-3009(o); Public Chapter 844 (2026).

Before each school year after that. Submit a new Intent to Home School form to continue operating.

Four hours a day, one hundred eighty days. Keep an attendance record documenting the required days and hours. Ask your district’s home school coordinator whether the district supplies or requires a particular form.

Independent students in grades five, seven, and nine. Arrange testing by one of the two routes above. Confirm with your district coordinator which is currently available for your student’s grade.

At the end of each school year. Submit your attendance records to the director of schools.

Every Tennessee district has a home school coordinator whose job includes helping families with independent home school compliance. The state’s home school inbox is Home.School@tn.gov.

What comes with one membership

The Curriculum Lane. Hundreds of courses for preschool through twelfth grade, written from a Biblical worldview. Interactive iST courses, Virtual School Boxes, World Book Online, and thousands of family-friendly videos. Tennessee asks you to identify the curriculum you have selected, and this is where it comes from.

The Records Lane. The Homeschool Records & Compliance Center, with the Education Plan Builder, Custom Schedule Builder, Portfolio Builder, Applecore Record Keeping, Schoolhouse Gradebook, and more, including Certificates of Completion for every course. Transcript templates and tools that members use to prepare their own transcripts.

One membership covers every child in your house. No fee per child. No fee per course.

“I have complete confidence in this curriculum, especially since it is Christian-based. It is also very affordable for us. My 7 year old will probably be using this curriculum all the way to graduation. Thank you SchoolhouseTeachers.com!!”

Angela Dawkins, SchoolhouseTeachers.com member

You do not need a teaching degree

For the independent option, Tennessee requires the parent-teacher to hold a high school diploma or a high school equivalency credential approved by the state board of education. No college degree, no teaching license, and no state-mandated curriculum. An independent parent-teacher may employ a qualified tutor, but the parent or legal guardian registering the home school must still meet the required educational qualification.

Your child is being discipled either way, whether at your kitchen table or in a classroom across town. Someone is answering the big questions. Someone is teaching whom he answers to. You get to be the one.

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

Requirements vary and change. Confirm current requirements with your district’s home school coordinator or the Tennessee Department of Education before you file. 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: Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 49-6-3001, 49-6-3004, 49-6-3005, 49-6-3009, 49-6-3050, and 49-50-801; Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0520-01-02-.17; Public Chapter 844 (2026); Public Chapter 912 (2026); and the Tennessee Department of Education’s June 2026 Home School FAQ and Independent Home School Requirements.

Last reviewed: August 2026