Homeschool requirements · New Mexico
Homeschooling in New Mexico
Light paperwork · A notice or an enrollment form, then keep your own records.
Notify the state within 30 days of starting and by August 1 each year, hold a high school diploma or GED, and teach 180 days.
What New Mexico asks
| Notice | Annual notice to the Public Education Department (within 30 days of starting, then by August 1). |
|---|---|
| Days and hours | 180 days |
| Subjects | Reading, Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science |
| Assessment | None required. |
| Records to keep | Immunization records and attendance. |
| Parent qualification | High school diploma or GED. |
Deadlines
These are the dates the app tracks for New Mexico. Districts vary; the app lets you edit any of them.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home school notification Notice · File online | By August 1 each year | New Mexico Public Education Department | New Mexico takes one notification a year, by August 1, and the renewal window opens June 1. A family that starts mid-year notifies within 30 days of establishing the home school; that first filing has its own deadline and the August reminder does not cover it. In the online Home School System the notification is per child, and the department's own instructions flag the step families miss: adding a child to the account is not notifying for that child, so look for the blue Notify button next to each name. Each child then gets a 5-digit registration number for that school year. The paper form is for families who cannot register online; it lists every child on one sheet and goes to the New Mexico Public Education Department, Attention: Home School Notification, 300 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501, and the department suggests certified return receipt or another delivery verification. Either way it asks for the school year, the school district where the children live, the parents' legal names, the home address, an email address and phone, and each child's name, date of birth, gender, grade and ethnicity, plus a signature affirming that whoever instructs holds at least a high school diploma or a high school equivalency credential. The operator is the parent or guardian, who may still hire someone to teach a particular subject. The same portal handles disenrolling a child who graduates, moves out of state, or goes back to school. |
| Immunization records or waiver Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | One of the three things New Mexico's home school statute asks of a family: a record of each child's disease immunization, or the approved waiver, NM Health Form 454. Nothing is filed and nothing is collected on a date, so there is no deadline on this one; it sits with the family's records for the year. The app does not print it, so keep the immunization card or the signed waiver alongside everything else. |
| Attendance and hours record Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | New Mexico does not collect attendance from home schools, and nothing here is filed or due. The figure the Public Education Department gives when it answers how many hours a home school owes is 1,140 instructional hours a year, or 550 for half-day kindergarten, which it quotes from Section 22-2-8.1 NMSA 1978 - a section written for school programs generally. It appears in the department's home school FAQ and among the home school responsibilities printed with the notification form. The home school section itself, Section 22-1-2.1, names only the notification, the immunization record and the instructor's diploma, and sets no hour or day count. The app counts days and hours as lessons are checked off, so the log stays current either way. |
| Records for a transfer or a transcript Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | Not required by New Mexico, and nothing here is filed. The Public Education Department encourages home school families to keep thorough records - a transcript of the courses completed, the materials used, the lessons covered, any test scores, and a portfolio of work, including exams - because local school boards set their own rules for placing and crediting a student who transfers in from a home school, and colleges ask. Instruction covers reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies and science; no standardized testing of home school students is required. A diploma a parent writes is not one New Mexico recognizes: the department describes two routes to a recognized credential, transferring back to a public or non-public school before graduation, or a high school equivalency exam starting at age 16. |
What HomeSchool Scribe does in New Mexico
- Home school notification: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; opens the portal and keeps your confirmation.
- Immunization records or waiver: Keeps it in records.
- Attendance and hours record: Prepares the hours log and the attendance and hours report; keeps it in records.
- Records for a transfer or a transcript: Prepares the transcript, the portfolio and 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
New Mexico Public Education Department · HSLDA’s New Mexico summary · Home school notification portal
Not legal advicePlanning summaries in plain language, reviewed 2026-09-29. Deadlines and recipients vary by district; confirm with New Mexico’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 New Mexico.