Homeschool requirements · Maine
Homeschooling in Maine
Moderate paperwork · A notice and a yearly assessment or records check.
File a notice of intent each year, teach 175 days in the required subjects, and submit an annual assessment.
What Maine asks
| Notice | Notice of intent to the local superintendent and the Maine DOE within 10 days of starting and by September 1 each year. |
|---|---|
| Days and hours | 175 days |
| Subjects | English & Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Health, Library Skills, Fine Arts, Maine Studies (once), Computer Proficiency (once) |
| Assessment | Annual assessment (standardized test, certified-teacher review, or approved alternative) submitted with the next year's notice. |
| Records to keep | Attendance and assessment results. |
| Parent qualification | None. |
Deadlines
Maine 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.
Home instruction
The usual route. A notice of intent within 10 days of starting, then a new notice by September 1 each year with the past year's assessment attached. 175 days in the listed subjects.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice of intent to provide home instruction Notice · File online | Once, when you begin | Your resident superintendent's office and the Maine Department of Education | The first filing, due within 10 calendar days of the day home instruction begins; this one does not repeat, though a new notice goes in every year after it (see the September 1 notice). The Maine DOE puts the first-year timing a second way: within 10 days of withdrawal from school, or by September 1 when home instruction starts with the new school year. This reminder sits 10 days after the school year set up here, so a child withdrawn mid-year needs a separate reminder counted from the day instruction actually starts. One submission through the Home Instruction Portal is notice to both the resident superintendent and the Maine DOE; on paper the form goes to the superintendent's office only, with no duplicate to the DOE. The portal is not required, and the DOE accepts another format carrying the same information. The form asks for the parent's name, signature and address, the child's name and date of birth or age, the date instruction begins, an assurance of at least 175 days a year in the listed subjects, and an assurance that the year will include one of the five annual assessments. Nothing is attached the first time a family files in Maine. On a mid-year start the days already attended in public school that year count toward the 175. |
| Annual notice to continue home instruction Notice · File online | By September 1 each year | Your resident superintendent's office and the Maine Department of Education | Every year after the first, by September 1, a new Notice of Intent goes to the resident superintendent and the Maine DOE saying home instruction continues, with a copy of the past year's assessment for each child attached. Maine counts a school year from July 1 to June 30, so the September filing opens the new year and carries the assessment from the one that just ended. Same portal, or the same paper form to the superintendent's office. The DOE says a notice that arrives without the assessment results is flagged for follow-up. |
| Annual assessment of academic progress Assessment · File online | By September 1 each year | Enclosed with the September 1 notice to the superintendent and the Maine DOE | Your district sets this date, not the state. HomeSchool Scribe has deliberately left the reminder off, because any date it picked would be invented. Confirm the date with your district or in your approved plan, then add your own reminder. One assessment per child for the year that just ended, attached to the September 1 notice; the law sets no separate date for the assessment itself. Five forms count: a standardized achievement test given through your school unit or through other arrangements the commissioner approves; a test the school unit writes for your program; a review and acceptance of the child's progress by someone holding a current Maine teacher's certificate; a review and acceptance based on a portfolio presented to a local homeschooling support group whose membership for this includes a currently certified Maine teacher or administrator; or a review and acceptance by a local advisory board the superintendent selects, made up of one school unit employee and two home instruction tutors. Three of those - the school unit's standardized test, the school unit's own test, and the advisory board - are agreed with the school unit before the notice of intent goes in, so the choice is worth settling early in the year. Nothing is attached the first time a family files in Maine. The DOE also says the assessment for a completed year is still expected when a child leaves home instruction afterward, with a note of the exit date. |
| Copies of everything you file Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files; the commissioner can ask to see them | Maine asks that copies of what is filed - the notices and the assessments - be kept until the home instruction program concludes, and be made available to the commissioner on request. The law names no number of years, so three years stay in view here and the paper itself is worth keeping longer. Attendance showing at least 175 days and the assessment results are what the state's own summary points to; Maine sets no hourly requirement, per day or per year. |
| Maine studies Records · Keep in your files | Once, when you begin (grades 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) | Keep in your files | Nothing is filed for this one. The assurance in the notice of intent covers Maine studies in at least one grade from 6 to 12. The course of study and a little of the work are what show which year it happened. Marked once, it stays done. |
| Computer proficiency Records · Keep in your files | Once, when you begin (grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) | Keep in your files | Nothing is filed for this one either. The same assurance covers a demonstration of proficiency in the use of computers at one grade level from 7 to 12. A note in the course of study and a piece of the work show the year it happened. Marked once, it stays done. |
Equivalent instruction private school
The child is enrolled in a private school that has not sought Maine DOE approval, which can be a co-op or umbrella school. The school files the attendance certificate with the resident superintendent; no notice of intent and no annual assessment go in from the family.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attendance certificate from your school Notice · Mail it | Within 14 days of starting | Your resident superintendent's office, filed by the person in charge of the school | A child at a private school that has not sought Maine DOE approval is credited with attendance only when the person in charge of the school files a certificate with the school officials of the unit where the child lives, showing the child's name, residence and attendance. The DOE's guidelines for recognized equivalent instruction schools put the timing on the school: the names, residences and grade levels of its students go in writing to the resident superintendent within two weeks after the school opens, or by October 1, whichever comes first. This reminder sits two weeks after the start date set here, and the school's own opening day may differ, so the school's office is the place to confirm it. The school files this, not the family, so the reminder is for asking when it went in and keeping a copy. Separately, such a school may send the commissioner an annual letter on the same timing to be listed as recognized; the DOE says that letter is voluntary and that recognition is not an endorsement of the school. |
| Records your school asks for Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files; your school sets its own | Maine's home instruction rules - the notice of intent, the September 1 notice, the annual assessment - do not reach a child enrolled in a private school. The school decides what it keeps and what it asks of the family. Under the DOE's guidelines a recognized equivalent instruction school tells parents the methods, subjects, grade levels and results of its assessments and sends academic progress reports at least four times a year; those reports and the attendance kept alongside them are what a transcript is built from later. |
What HomeSchool Scribe does in Maine
- Notice of intent to provide home instruction: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; opens the portal and keeps your confirmation.
- Annual notice to continue home instruction: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; opens the portal and keeps your confirmation.
- Annual assessment of academic progress: Prepares the portfolio and the report card; opens the portal and keeps your confirmation.
- Copies of everything you file: Prepares the notice letter, the attendance and hours report and the portfolio; keeps it in records.
- Maine studies: Prepares the course of study and the portfolio; keeps it in records.
- Computer proficiency: Prepares the course of study and the portfolio; keeps it in records.
- Attendance certificate from your school: Prepares the attendance and hours report; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Records your school asks for: Prepares the attendance and hours report and the report card; 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
Maine Department of Education · HSLDA’s Maine summary · Notice of intent to provide home instruction portal · Annual notice to continue home instruction portal · Annual assessment of academic progress portal
Not legal advicePlanning summaries in plain language, reviewed 2026-09-29. Deadlines and recipients vary by district; confirm with Maine’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 Maine.