Montana homeschool requirements
What Montana 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 — Montana sets the rules and they change.
The rule, in plain English
Montana: 720 hours per year for grades 1-3 and 1,080 hours per year for grades 4-12. Annual notice to the county superintendent; keep attendance and immunization records. No testing.
What that works out to
- →720 hours for grades 1-3 is about 20 hours a week; 1,080 hours for grades 4-12 is about 30 hours a week on a 36-week year.
- →Across all 52 weeks instead, that same total comes down to 13.8 hours a week for grades 1-3, and 20.8 hours a week for grades 4-12.
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. Montana sets the requirement; these numbers are not part of it.
Laws change — always confirm the current rules for Montana yourself before relying on them. See Montana'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 Montana
The general path most families follow. Montana's specific requirements are in the summary above — confirm the exact steps and deadlines with your state before relying on them.
- 1
Check what Montana asks for before you begin
Montana: 720 hours per year for grades 1-3 and 1,080 hours per year for grades 4-12. Annual notice to the county superintendent; keep attendance and immunization records. No testing. Confirm the exact form, deadline, and current wording with Montana or HSLDA before you rely on any of it.
- 2
Teach on a schedule that satisfies Montana's rule
Because Montana counts instructional hours rather than days, a log that only records "we did school today" won't answer the question you'd actually be asked. You need time, and for most families the hardest part isn't the teaching — it's remembering to write down 40 minutes of read-aloud three days later. A running per-subject tally is far easier to keep than a year-end reconstruction.
- 3
Decide whether to assess — Montana doesn't require it
Montana 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 Montana, the unit that matters is the hour
Because Montana counts instructional hours rather than days, a log that only records "we did school today" won't answer the question you'd actually be asked. You need time, and for most families the hardest part isn't the teaching — it's remembering to write down 40 minutes of read-aloud three days later. A running per-subject tally is far easier to keep than a year-end reconstruction.
What to keep in Montana
- ✓Attendance — the hours that count toward Montana's requirement
- ✓Samples of your child's work — writing, math, projects, and photographs of things they built or grew. Montana won't ask for them; the year you need them, nothing else will do.
- ✓The curriculum and materials you used — Montana 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 (Montana doesn't require one)
- ✓Grades and a transcript — and note that hours logged by subject are what a transcript is built from, so the two are the same job
This is exactly what Cultivate keeps for you. Describe the day in plain English and it files the hours by subject against Montana's total as you go. 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 Montana records
Montana 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.
Montana counts hours. The hours your children spend on this work are real hours — but only if something wrote them down while it was happening. That is the problem Cultivate solves: describe the day in plain English and the garden, the goats, the tractor repair and the reading lesson all land in the right record at once.
How practical work is categorised is a judgement your family and Montanamake — Cultivate records what you did, it doesn't decide what counts. Confirm anything you intend to rely on with Montana or HSLDA.
Montana homeschool requirements — FAQ
What does Montana require to homeschool?
Montana: 720 hours per year for grades 1-3 and 1,080 hours per year for grades 4-12. Annual notice to the county superintendent; keep attendance and immunization records. No testing.
How many days do you have to homeschool in Montana?
Montana: 720 hours per year for grades 1-3 and 1,080 hours per year for grades 4-12. Annual notice to the county superintendent; keep attendance and immunization records. No testing.
What does Montana's requirement work out to per week?
720 hours for grades 1-3 is about 20 hours a week; 1,080 hours for grades 4-12 is about 30 hours a week on a 36-week year. Across all 52 weeks instead, that same total comes down to 13.8 hours a week for grades 1-3, and 20.8 hours a week for grades 4-12. These are our calculations from the figures above, offered to make planning easier — Montana sets the requirement, not the arithmetic.
Does Montana require standardized testing for homeschoolers?
No standardized testing required. Some Montana families still choose to test to track progress or to have it on file. Confirm the current rule with Montana or HSLDA.
What records should I keep to homeschool in Montana?
Because Montana counts instructional hours rather than days, a log that only records "we did school today" won't answer the question you'd actually be asked. You need time, and for most families the hardest part isn't the teaching — it's remembering to write down 40 minutes of read-aloud three days later. A running per-subject tally is far easier to keep than a year-end reconstruction.
What is the legal citation for homeschooling in Montana?
Montana's homeschool law: MCA 20-5-109. Always confirm the current rules with Montana or a homeschool legal resource such as HSLDA.
Stop tracking this on paper
Cultivate keeps your records — and produces the documents.
Montana sets the rules. Cultivate does the part that has to happen every day: you describe the day in plain English and it tallies the hours by subject as you go — so the Montana total is already counted, not reconstructed in May from memory. 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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