Vermont homeschool requirements
What Vermont 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 — Vermont sets the rules and they change.
The rule, in plain English
Vermont: the equivalent of at least 175 days of instruction, plus an annual year-end assessment kept by the parent (not submitted, per the 2023 change). Enrollment notice at least 10 days before starting; a minimum course of study is required.
What that works out to
- →175 days is about 35 school weeks — roughly 4.9 days a week across a 36-week year, or about 3.4 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. Vermont sets the requirement; these numbers are not part of it.
Laws change — always confirm the current rules for Vermont yourself before relying on them. See Vermont'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 Vermont
The general path most families follow. Vermont's specific requirements are in the summary above — confirm the exact steps and deadlines with your state before relying on them.
- 1
Check what Vermont asks for before you begin
Vermont: the equivalent of at least 175 days of instruction, plus an annual year-end assessment kept by the parent (not submitted, per the 2023 change). Enrollment notice at least 10 days before starting; a minimum course of study is required. Confirm the exact form, deadline, and current wording with Vermont or HSLDA before you rely on any of it.
- 2
Teach on a schedule that satisfies 175 days / year
Vermont counts 175 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 155 or 175, and there's no way to reconstruct it honestly after the fact.
- 3
Complete Vermont's required testing or assessment
Yes — standardized testing/assessment required Confirm the accepted tests, the grades they apply to, and the timing with Vermont, and keep the results with your records.
In Vermont, the unit that matters is the day
Vermont counts 175 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 155 or 175, and there's no way to reconstruct it honestly after the fact.
What to keep in Vermont
- ✓Attendance — the days that count toward Vermont's requirement
- ✓Samples of your child's work — writing, math, projects, and photographs of things they built or grew. This is what an Vermont evaluation is easiest to face with.
- ✓The curriculum and materials you used, and which of Vermont's 8 required subjects each one covered
- ✓Your Vermont test or evaluation results — required, so keep them filed
- ✓Grades and a transcript — especially for high school, and especially if you ever move somewhere stricter than Vermont
This is exactly what Cultivate keeps for you. Describe the day in plain English and it keeps the day count Vermont expects, without you counting anything. The chicken tally, the fence repair and the reading lesson go in the same box and come out sorted.
A homestead day, against Vermont's 8 required subjects
Vermont names 8 required subjects, and a working homestead touches most of them before lunch. This is how families commonly categorise the practical work they are already doing — whether any particular activity counts is Vermont's call, not ours, but the record of it is the part you control.
Vermont requires an assessment, which means at some point someone outside your family looks at what you did. Practical work documents well — a built thing, a harvest tally, a repaired machine — and it reads better in a portfolio than a stack of worksheets.
How practical work is categorised is a judgement your family and Vermontmake — Cultivate records what you did, it doesn't decide what counts. Confirm anything you intend to rely on with Vermont or HSLDA.
Vermont homeschool requirements — FAQ
What does Vermont require to homeschool?
Vermont: the equivalent of at least 175 days of instruction, plus an annual year-end assessment kept by the parent (not submitted, per the 2023 change). Enrollment notice at least 10 days before starting; a minimum course of study is required.
How many days do you have to homeschool in Vermont?
175 days / year. Vermont: the equivalent of at least 175 days of instruction, plus an annual year-end assessment kept by the parent (not submitted, per the 2023 change). Enrollment notice at least 10 days before starting; a minimum course of study is required.
What does Vermont's requirement work out to per week?
175 days is about 35 school weeks — roughly 4.9 days a week across a 36-week year, or about 3.4 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 — Vermont sets the requirement, not the arithmetic.
Does Vermont require standardized testing for homeschoolers?
Yes — standardized testing/assessment required. Confirm the accepted tests, the grades they apply to, and the timing with Vermont or HSLDA, and keep the results with your records.
What records should I keep to homeschool in Vermont?
Vermont counts 175 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 155 or 175, and there's no way to reconstruct it honestly after the fact.
What is the legal citation for homeschooling in Vermont?
Vermont's homeschool law: 16 V.S.A. 166b. Always confirm the current rules with Vermont or a homeschool legal resource such as HSLDA.
Stop tracking this on paper
Cultivate keeps your records — and produces the documents.
Vermont 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 Vermont 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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