Indiana homeschool requirements
What Indiana requires to homeschool — instruction time, testing, and the exact legal citation, in plain English. Then the part most guides skip: how the garden, the animals and the work you do around the place fit into the same record.
Last verified June 2026 · A starting point, not legal advice — Indiana sets the rules and they change.
The rule, in plain English
Indiana: 180 days of instruction. Keep an attendance record. No notice, no testing.
What that works out to
- →180 days is about 36 school weeks — roughly 5 days a week across a 36-week year, or about 3.5 days a week if you school year-round instead of stopping for summer.
Our arithmetic on the figures above, to make planning easier — shown against a conventional 36-week school year and against a full 52-week year for families who school year-round. Indiana sets the requirement; these numbers are not part of it.
Laws change — always confirm the current rules for Indiana yourself before relying on them. See Indiana's official requirements on HSLDA →
This is a plain-English summary for your convenience, not legal advice. Cultivate helps you store, organize, and produce your homeschool records — it isn't the authority on what your state requires. Homeschool laws change; always confirm current rules with your state or a homeschool legal resource (e.g., HSLDA) before relying on them.
How to start homeschooling in Indiana
The general path most families follow. Indiana's specific requirements are in the summary above — confirm the exact steps and deadlines with your state before relying on them.
- 1
Check what Indiana asks for before you begin
Indiana: 180 days of instruction. Keep an attendance record. No notice, no testing. Confirm the exact form, deadline, and current wording with Indiana or HSLDA before you rely on any of it.
- 2
Teach on a schedule that satisfies 180 days / year
Indiana counts 180 days, not hours, which makes the record simpler than an hours state — but it also makes gaps obvious. What you need is an attendance calendar you can show: which days were school days, across the whole year. Families who track this in their heads tend to discover in spring that they're not sure whether they're at 160 or 180, and there's no way to reconstruct it honestly after the fact.
- 3
Decide whether to assess — Indiana doesn't require it
Indiana requires no standardized test. Some families test anyway to check progress or to have something on file if they later move to a stricter state.
In Indiana, the unit that matters is the day
Indiana counts 180 days, not hours, which makes the record simpler than an hours state — but it also makes gaps obvious. What you need is an attendance calendar you can show: which days were school days, across the whole year. Families who track this in their heads tend to discover in spring that they're not sure whether they're at 160 or 180, and there's no way to reconstruct it honestly after the fact.
What to keep in Indiana
- ✓Attendance — the days that count toward Indiana's requirement
- ✓Samples of your child's work — writing, math, projects, and photographs of things they built or grew. Indiana won't ask for them; the year you need them, nothing else will do.
- ✓The curriculum and materials you used — Indiana names no subject list, so your own record of what you covered is the only map of the year
- ✓Any assessment you choose to do (Indiana doesn't require one)
- ✓Grades and a transcript — especially for high school, and especially if you ever move somewhere stricter than Indiana
This is exactly what Cultivate keeps for you. Describe the day in plain English and it keeps the day count Indiana expects, without you counting anything. The chicken tally, the fence repair and the reading lesson go in the same box and come out sorted.
Homestead and project work in your Indiana records
Indiana doesn't prescribe a subject list, which means how you categorise your children's practical work is almost entirely your own judgement. That is more freedom than most states allow — and it puts the whole weight on your records, because there is no official framework to fall back on if anyone ever asks what a year looked like.
Indiana sets a minimum you have to meet, and days on a homestead rarely look like a school timetable. The record is what turns an ordinary working day into something you can show — without bolting a second job onto the end of it.
How practical work is categorised is a judgement your family and Indianamake — Cultivate records what you did, it doesn't decide what counts. Confirm anything you intend to rely on with Indiana or HSLDA.
Indiana homeschool requirements — FAQ
What does Indiana require to homeschool?
Indiana: 180 days of instruction. Keep an attendance record. No notice, no testing.
How many days do you have to homeschool in Indiana?
180 days / year. Indiana: 180 days of instruction. Keep an attendance record. No notice, no testing.
What does Indiana's requirement work out to per week?
180 days is about 36 school weeks — roughly 5 days a week across a 36-week year, or about 3.5 days a week if you school year-round instead of stopping for summer. These are our calculations from the figures above, offered to make planning easier — Indiana sets the requirement, not the arithmetic.
Does Indiana require standardized testing for homeschoolers?
No standardized testing required. Some Indiana families still choose to test to track progress or to have it on file. Confirm the current rule with Indiana or HSLDA.
What records should I keep to homeschool in Indiana?
Indiana counts 180 days, not hours, which makes the record simpler than an hours state — but it also makes gaps obvious. What you need is an attendance calendar you can show: which days were school days, across the whole year. Families who track this in their heads tend to discover in spring that they're not sure whether they're at 160 or 180, and there's no way to reconstruct it honestly after the fact.
What is the legal citation for homeschooling in Indiana?
Indiana's homeschool law: IC 20-33-2-28. Always confirm the current rules with Indiana or a homeschool legal resource such as HSLDA.
Stop tracking this on paper
Cultivate keeps your records — and produces the documents.
Indiana sets the rules. Cultivate does the part that has to happen every day: you describe the day in plain English and it keeps the attendance record Indiana expects, so the day count is never a guess. The garden, the animals, the workshop and the school day all go in the same place, and come out as print-ready reports and transcripts whenever you need them.
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