Homeschool requirements · Montana
Homeschooling in Montana
Light paperwork · A notice or an enrollment form, then keep your own records.
Notify the county superintendent each year, teach the same number of hours as public schools, and keep attendance and immunization records.
What Montana asks
| Notice | Annual notice of intent to the county superintendent. |
|---|---|
| Days and hours | 180 days, 1080 hours a year |
| Subjects | Not specified |
| Assessment | None required. |
| Records to keep | Attendance and immunization records. |
| Parent qualification | None. |
| Worth knowing | Public-school hour equivalents: 720 hours for grades 1–3, 1,080 hours for grades 4–12. |
Deadlines
These are the dates the app tracks for Montana. Districts vary; the app lets you edit any of them.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice to the county superintendent Notice · Mail it | When you start the school year | County superintendent of schools for the county where the home school is located | Montana asks for notice once in each school fiscal year, which runs July 1 to June 30, and the notice is of the child's attendance at the home school (MCA 20-5-109(2)(a)). The law names no form, no contents, no method, and no calendar date, so a letter, an email, or the county's own form all count. Most county offices post a form; Flathead County takes its form back by email. Because the law gives no date, this reminder is anchored to the start of your school year, so move it to whatever your county office asks for. Keep a dated copy and whatever the office sends back. Some counties add requests of their own: Missoula County's June 2025 letter asks for last year's attendance report by September 1 and a federally funded programs form before the first Monday in October, so read what your county sends out. Compulsory enrollment starts at age 7 and runs to the later of the child's 16th birthday or the end of 8th grade (MCA 20-5-102), so a younger child sits outside all of this. |
| Attendance record Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files; the county superintendent can ask to see it | The one record Montana names for home schools: attendance, kept and made available to the county superintendent on request (MCA 20-5-109(2)(b)). It is not filed; the county superintendent can ask for it, and then you show it. Checking off lessons keeps it current and the attendance report prints it. Some county offices also ask for a yearly attendance report of their own, which is that county's practice rather than state law. Montana law does not say how long to hold onto it, so the app keeps three years. |
| 720 hours of instruction (grades 1-3) Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year (grades 1, 2, 3) | Keep in your files | Montana counts hours rather than days: 720 aggregate hours for grades 1 through 3 in the school fiscal year of July 1 to June 30 (MCA 20-5-109(2)(c), which points to 20-1-301 and 20-1-302). Nothing is filed, and no day count applies to a home school. The hours log follows the time logged against lessons, so it is worth comparing to this number before the year closes. |
| 1,080 hours of instruction (grades 4-12) Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year (grades 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) | Keep in your files | 1,080 aggregate hours for grades 4 through 12 in the school fiscal year of July 1 to June 30 (MCA 20-5-109(2)(c), which points to 20-1-301 and 20-1-302). For a graduating senior the statute says 1,050 aggregate hours may be sufficient. Nothing is filed, and no day count applies to a home school; the hours log is what answers the question if the county superintendent asks. |
| Organized course of study Records · Keep in your files | When you start the school year | Keep in your files | Montana asks for an organized course of study covering the subjects public schools teach as a basic instructional program (MCA 20-5-109(2)(d), which points to 20-7-111). Nothing is submitted and nobody approves it; it is the plan already behind your courses, and the course of study report prints it. It also matters on the way back in: county superintendents tell home school families that a child entering a public school is assessed by the district for grade placement, and districts keep a written policy for assessing a child who arrives from a nonaccredited, nonpublic school (MCA 20-5-110). The district can say how it applies that to a home school. |
What HomeSchool Scribe does in Montana
- Notice to the county superintendent: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Attendance record: Prepares the attendance and hours report; keeps it in records.
- 720 hours of instruction (grades 1-3): Prepares the hours log and the attendance and hours report; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; keeps it in records.
- 1,080 hours of instruction (grades 4-12): Prepares the hours log and the attendance and hours report; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; keeps it in records.
- Organized course of study: Prepares the course of study; 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
Montana Code Annotated § 20-5-109 · HSLDA’s Montana summary
Not legal advicePlanning summaries in plain language, reviewed 2026-09-29. Deadlines and recipients vary by district; confirm with Montana’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 Montana.