Kentucky is one of the easier states to comply with homeschool law. There are no mandatory test requirements, no requirements to be under an umbrella school, and no requirements to have your curriculum approved. It is important, however, to comply with other laws and requirements.

Letter of Intent

You must send a letter of intent to your LOCAL school district “within ten days of the beginning of the school year.” The wording of the law makes it unclear if it is within ten days before or within ten days after. I have seen it interpreted both ways. To be on the safe side, file your intent 10 days before school starts EACH year.

The letter of intent should include the name of your school (that’s how you “establish a bona fide school – just give your homeschool a name), the names of your children, the ages of your children, the names of the teachers, the address of the children and where school will take place and your signature. Once your first letter of intent has been sent, your local school district may send you a form each year. This varies by school district and the form commonly requests more information than is required. You do not have to use their form. You may send your own letter each year. Currently, the Kentucky Department of Education has a sample letter in their homeschool packet that does not contain more information than is required by law.

Days and Hours

You need 185 days of homeschooling with 170 of them being instructional and a total of 1062 hours. (That’s 170 six-hour days.) The extra 15 days are non-instructional, for example, teacher planning days. If you “instruct” your child to spend 20 minutes silently reading a story, then that 20 minutes counts. I just want to make it clear that “instructional” doesn’t mean that your six-year-old needs to hear you lecture for six hours.

Records

You need to keep attendance and scholarship records. Scholarship records means a grade in every subject given at the same intervals as your local district.

Subjects

You need to make sure you are covering the following subjects: Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar, History, Mathematics, and Civics. (BJU Press Heritage Studies courses will also cover some civics, you do not need to purchase anything additional.)

English

Your core subjects should be taught in English. Each state has its own requirements. You can contact a HomeWorks Consultant in your area who can explain how she works within those requirements. You can also check your state laws on the HSLDA website.