Homeschool requirements · Delaware
Homeschooling in Delaware
Light paperwork · A notice or an enrollment form, then keep your own records.
Register the homeschool with the Department of Education and report enrollment in the fall and attendance at year end.
What Delaware asks
| Notice | Annual enrollment report (fall) and end-of-year attendance report through the Delaware DOE. |
|---|---|
| Days and hours | 180 days |
| Subjects | Not specified |
| Assessment | None required. |
| Records to keep | Attendance records (reported annually). |
| Parent qualification | None. |
| Worth knowing | Delaware recognizes single-family, multi-family, and coordinated-with-district homeschools. |
Deadlines
Delaware lets a family homeschool more than one way, and the paperwork differs by route. You pick the route once in the app and it tracks only those dates. Districts vary; the app lets you edit any of them.
Single-family or multi-family homeschool
Open a homeschool with the Department of Education, report enrollment each fall and attendance after the year ends. No approved curriculum, no state testing, no set number of days. In a multi-family homeschool one person acts as the liaison and reports enrollment and attendance for every family.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open your homeschool with the Department of Education Notice · File online | Once, when you begin | Delaware Department of Education | Filed once when the homeschool opens; it does not repeat, and after that the yearly enrollment and attendance reports are what keep it open. Three steps on the department's site: request an EdAccess account and pick Nonpublic School Account (sign-in uses multi-factor authentication), open the school in the Nonpublic School Application by entering the school's details and adding each child linked to a parent or guardian, then print the Acknowledgement Letter once the department approves it. A Delaware public school will not withdraw a child to a homeschool without that letter. An online school or online curriculum does not take the place of this step; the department counts the online program as the homeschool's curriculum. Delaware sets no deadline for opening a homeschool, so the date here is a planning reminder, not a legal one. The Nonpublic School System closes in early August while it rolls to the new school year, so an application for a coming school year waits until it reopens; the department's pages give the closure as August 1 through 11 and list the 2026 enrollment window as opening August 11, 2026. In a multi-family homeschool the liaison opens the school and adds each family's children, so the step for everyone else is contacting the liaison. A child 16 or older does not have to be registered, though the department encourages it; the department does note that a student needs to be registered in a public or nonpublic school at graduation for state programs such as SEED and INSPIRE. There is no fee. |
| Annual enrollment report Report · File online | By September 30 each year | Delaware Department of Education | One report for the whole school, no later than September 30, covering the students who will attend that school year; the department also describes it as enrollment as of the last school day in September, and grade promotion is reported with it. The window runs from the day the Nonpublic School System rolls over in August (August 11 in 2026) to September 30. The date moved from October 5 to September 30 in a 2023 change to 14 Del. C. section 2704, and the department's Annual Reporting page and FAQ still print October 5, so September 30 is the safer date to work to. A school that does not report during the window is closed, and every child enrolled at the end of the previous school year is marked withdrawn. There is a shortcut worth knowing: the last screen of the June-to-July attendance report offers to file the coming year's enrollment at the same time, which clears this one months early. In a multi-family homeschool the liaison files it for all the families. It is submitted in the Nonpublic School Application through EdAccess; HomeSchool Scribe prepares your numbers and opens the department's page, it does not file anything. |
| End-of-year attendance report Report · File online | By the end of the school year | Delaware Department of Education | Filed after the school year ends, on or before July 31, in the same Nonpublic School System. The window runs June 1 to July 31, or closes the Friday before if July 31 falls on a weekend. This reminder sits at the end of your own school year, which for most families falls inside that window and earlier than July 31, so it is a head start rather than the deadline. Two edges to watch: if your year ends before June 1 the window is not open yet, and if it runs past July 31 the deadline arrives before this reminder does. What the department asks for is aggregate rather than day by day: the total days the school was open, the days each child attended, a withdrawal date for any child leaving, and a graduation date for any twelfth grader. The attendance report prints those numbers. The last screen also offers to file next year's enrollment report at the same time. A school that does not report is closed and its students withdrawn. The department does not set a minimum number of days for a nonpublic school and does not collect attendance during the year; many schools follow the public calendar at 180 days, but the department calls that a choice rather than a requirement. |
| Keep your own records Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | Nothing here is filed. The department keeps no academic records for a homeschool and requires no portfolio, but it strongly encourages keeping grades, attendance, test scores and work samples, and it issues no report cards or diplomas, so those come from the homeschool. Keep the Acknowledgement Letters and the submitted reports alongside the schoolwork. If a child returns to a public school, the district asks for an Acknowledgement Letter showing the child withdrawn from the homeschool plus whatever academic record comes with it, and the district decides grade placement. Withdrawing a child, or closing the homeschool, is done inside the annual reporting screens; a school left with no students is closed when the system rolls over in August. Three years is a planning default; Delaware sets no retention period. |
Single-family homeschool coordinated with the school district
The same registration and the same two reports, plus a curriculum the local superintendent approves and a written determination from the superintendent that the instruction is regular and thorough. State law defines this route; the department's own pages describe only single-family and multi-family homeschools, so ask the district and the department how it is set up before choosing it.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curriculum approved by the local superintendent Notice · Mail it | Within -14 days of starting | Local superintendent or the superintendent's designee | Only for the coordinated route in 14 Del. C. section 2703A(b)(3): the curriculum is approved by the local superintendent or a designee, who determines in writing that the child is or will be given regular and thorough instruction in the subjects prescribed for the state's public schools, suitable to children of the same age and stage of advancement. The law names no date, no form and no renewal, so the date here is a planning reminder for before the year starts, mail is a planning default, and it repeats each year as a prompt to confirm rather than because the state says to. Ask the district how it wants the course of study and what the written determination looks like, and keep a copy of it. The department's own pages describe two types of homeschool, single-family and multi-family, so confirm this route with the district and the department before relying on it. Registration and the two annual reports still apply on this route. |
| Open your homeschool with the Department of Education Notice · File online | Once, when you begin | Delaware Department of Education | Filed once when the homeschool opens; it does not repeat, and after that the yearly enrollment and attendance reports are what keep it open. Three steps on the department's site: request an EdAccess account and pick Nonpublic School Account (sign-in uses multi-factor authentication), open the school in the Nonpublic School Application by entering the school's details and adding each child linked to a parent or guardian, then print the Acknowledgement Letter once the department approves it. A Delaware public school will not withdraw a child to a homeschool without that letter. An online school or online curriculum does not take the place of this step; the department counts the online program as the homeschool's curriculum. Delaware sets no deadline for opening a homeschool, so the date here is a planning reminder, not a legal one. The Nonpublic School System closes in early August while it rolls to the new school year, so an application for a coming school year waits until it reopens; the department's pages give the closure as August 1 through 11 and list the 2026 enrollment window as opening August 11, 2026. In a multi-family homeschool the liaison opens the school and adds each family's children, so the step for everyone else is contacting the liaison. A child 16 or older does not have to be registered, though the department encourages it; the department does note that a student needs to be registered in a public or nonpublic school at graduation for state programs such as SEED and INSPIRE. There is no fee. |
| Annual enrollment report Report · File online | By September 30 each year | Delaware Department of Education | One report for the whole school, no later than September 30, covering the students who will attend that school year; the department also describes it as enrollment as of the last school day in September, and grade promotion is reported with it. The window runs from the day the Nonpublic School System rolls over in August (August 11 in 2026) to September 30. The date moved from October 5 to September 30 in a 2023 change to 14 Del. C. section 2704, and the department's Annual Reporting page and FAQ still print October 5, so September 30 is the safer date to work to. A school that does not report during the window is closed, and every child enrolled at the end of the previous school year is marked withdrawn. There is a shortcut worth knowing: the last screen of the June-to-July attendance report offers to file the coming year's enrollment at the same time, which clears this one months early. In a multi-family homeschool the liaison files it for all the families. It is submitted in the Nonpublic School Application through EdAccess; HomeSchool Scribe prepares your numbers and opens the department's page, it does not file anything. |
| End-of-year attendance report Report · File online | By the end of the school year | Delaware Department of Education | Filed after the school year ends, on or before July 31, in the same Nonpublic School System. The window runs June 1 to July 31, or closes the Friday before if July 31 falls on a weekend. This reminder sits at the end of your own school year, which for most families falls inside that window and earlier than July 31, so it is a head start rather than the deadline. Two edges to watch: if your year ends before June 1 the window is not open yet, and if it runs past July 31 the deadline arrives before this reminder does. What the department asks for is aggregate rather than day by day: the total days the school was open, the days each child attended, a withdrawal date for any child leaving, and a graduation date for any twelfth grader. The attendance report prints those numbers. The last screen also offers to file next year's enrollment report at the same time. A school that does not report is closed and its students withdrawn. The department does not set a minimum number of days for a nonpublic school and does not collect attendance during the year; many schools follow the public calendar at 180 days, but the department calls that a choice rather than a requirement. |
| Keep your own records Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | Nothing here is filed. The department keeps no academic records for a homeschool and requires no portfolio, but it strongly encourages keeping grades, attendance, test scores and work samples, and it issues no report cards or diplomas, so those come from the homeschool. Keep the Acknowledgement Letters and the submitted reports alongside the schoolwork. If a child returns to a public school, the district asks for an Acknowledgement Letter showing the child withdrawn from the homeschool plus whatever academic record comes with it, and the district decides grade placement. Withdrawing a child, or closing the homeschool, is done inside the annual reporting screens; a school left with no students is closed when the system rolls over in August. Three years is a planning default; Delaware sets no retention period. |
What HomeSchool Scribe does in Delaware
- Open your homeschool with the Department of Education: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; opens the portal and keeps your confirmation.
- Annual enrollment report: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; opens the portal and keeps your confirmation.
- End-of-year attendance report: Prepares the attendance and hours report; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; opens the portal and keeps your confirmation.
- Curriculum approved by the local superintendent: Prepares the course of study; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Keep your own records: Prepares the attendance and hours report, the portfolio and the transcript; keeps it in records.
Attendance and hours fill in from the lessons you check off, so the documents above come from records you already have.
Read the law yourself
Delaware Department of Education · HSLDA’s Delaware summary · Open your homeschool with the Department of Education portal · Annual enrollment report portal · End-of-year attendance report portal
Not legal advicePlanning summaries in plain language, reviewed 2026-09-29. Deadlines and recipients vary by district; confirm with Delaware’s current law or a homeschool legal organization before you file anything. If something here is out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it for every family in Delaware.