Homeschool requirements · Hawaii
Homeschooling in Hawaii
Moderate paperwork · A notice and a yearly assessment or records check.
Notify the local school principal, keep records, submit an annual progress report, and test in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10.
What Hawaii asks
| Notice | Notice of intent to the principal of the local public school before starting. |
|---|---|
| Days and hours | Hawaii sets no number. HomeSchool Scribe plans against 180 days unless you change it. |
| Subjects | Not specified |
| Assessment | Annual progress report to the principal; standardized test scores required in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10 (alternatives allowed). |
| Records to keep | Curriculum description and a record of the child's progress. |
| Parent qualification | None. |
| Worth knowing | 180 days is a planning default only. |
Deadlines
These are the dates the app tracks for Hawaii. Districts vary; the app lets you edit any of them.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice of intent to homeschool Notice · Mail it | Once, when you begin | Principal of the local public school | Filed once, before the first day of instruction, and it does not repeat. Chapter 12 section 8-12-13(c) does not ask for a new notice each year as long as the annual progress report goes in. A fresh notice does go to the new principal if the family moves into another school's geographic area, or when the child moves up a school level, for example elementary to middle. It can be Form 4140 (the top section, which asks for the child's name, student ID if known, birth date, telephone, address, school, complex area and grade level, plus Section B, Option 5) or a plain letter carrying the child's name, address, telephone number, birth date, grade level, and the parent's signature and date. It goes to the school the child would otherwise attend. Hawaii's notice is one per child, so a family with three children sends three, even though the app tracks this as a single item. Hawaii does not ask for a birth certificate, proof of residency, or health records such as Form 14 or a TB clearance. Homeschooling can begin as soon as the signed form or letter is submitted. If homeschooling ends, section 8-12-16 asks the parent to tell that same principal, in writing or in person. |
| Annual progress report Report · Mail it | By the end of the school year | Principal of the local public school | One report per child each year, to the same principal who holds the notice of intent. Chapter 12 section 8-12-18(b) accepts any one of four things: a score on a nationally normed standardized achievement test showing grade level work; progress on such a test equivalent to one grade level per calendar year, even where the overall score sits below grade level standards; a written evaluation by someone certified to teach in Hawaii; or a written evaluation by the parent describing progress in each subject area in the child's curriculum, with representative samples of the child's work and representative tests and assignments, including grades where grades are given. In a grade 3, 5, 8, or 10 testing year the test score can serve as the report. Chapter 12 names no calendar date for it, so this reminder sits at the end of the school year set up in the app; an individual school may name its own date, which is worth asking the principal about. Keep the dated copy that goes in. |
| Standardized test scores (grades 3, 5, 8, 10) Assessment · Mail it | By the end of the school year (grades 3, 5, 8, 10) | Principal of the local public school | Chapter 12 section 8-12-18(a) calls for test scores in grades three, five, eight, and ten. On request the school will include the child in the Smarter Balanced Assessment and the HSA Science assessment, or the HSA Alternate assessments, at no cost, or the family can arrange private testing at its own expense; the test has to be comparable to the criterion or norm-referenced test the department uses at that grade. The principal may also approve another means of evaluation in its place. The score can double as that year's progress report. The department's own FAQ flags a mismatch worth raising with the principal: the rule still names grade ten, while Hawaii public school students are now tested in grade eleven. The score sheet itself comes from the school or the testing service; HomeSchool Scribe cannot produce it. |
| Curriculum and hours record Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | Kept at home, not submitted. Chapter 12 section 8-12-15 describes a record of the planned curriculum holding the start and end dates of the program, a record of the number of hours per week spent on instruction, the subject areas covered, the method used to determine mastery, and a list of textbooks and other instructional materials in standard bibliographic form: author, title, publisher and date for books, and author, article title, magazine, date, volume number and pages for magazines. The school may ask to look it over to help, and section 8-12-18(d) lets the principal ask for it where a progress report looks thin. Chapter 12 sets no retention period, so HomeSchool Scribe keeps three years by default. |
What HomeSchool Scribe does in Hawaii
- Notice of intent to homeschool: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Annual progress report: Prepares the report card and the portfolio; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Standardized test scores (grades 3, 5, 8, 10): Prepares the report card; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Curriculum and hours record: Prepares the course of study and the hours log; 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
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education · HSLDA’s Hawaii summary · Notice of intent to homeschool portal
Not legal advicePlanning summaries in plain language, reviewed 2026-09-29. Deadlines and recipients vary by district; confirm with Hawaii’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 Hawaii.