Homeschool requirements · Oregon
Homeschooling in Oregon
Light paperwork · A notice or an enrollment form, then keep your own records.
Notify the regional Education Service District once within 10 days of starting and test in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10.
What Oregon asks
| Notice | One-time notice of intent to the local Education Service District. |
|---|---|
| Days and hours | Oregon sets no number. HomeSchool Scribe plans against 180 days unless you change it. |
| Subjects | Not specified |
| Assessment | Standardized test at the end of grades 3, 5, 8, and 10; results kept (submitted only if requested). |
| Records to keep | Test results. |
| Parent qualification | None. |
| Worth knowing | 180 days is a planning default only. |
Deadlines
These are the dates the app tracks for Oregon. Districts vary; the app lets you edit any of them.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice of intent to homeschool Notice · File online | Once, when you begin | Your local Education Service District (ESD) | 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. Filed once, not every year. Oregon's window is 10 days: 10 days from the start of the school year for a family beginning then, or 10 days from the date a child is withdrawn from school for a family starting mid-year. That mid-year clock runs from the withdrawal date, not from this reminder, so a mid-year start needs a separate reminder. OAR 581-021-0026 says the written notice carries the child's and the parent's name and address, the child's birth date, and the name of the school the child attends or last attended, or the resident school district if the child has never attended school; a phone number and email are optional. Notice goes to the ESD that contains your resident school district, not to the school district itself, and there is no statewide form: most ESDs take it through their own online form and some also accept paper mail, and ODE publishes the list of ESD notification sites. The ESD acknowledges the notice in writing within 90 days, and that acknowledgment is the thing worth saving. A fresh notice goes to the new ESD within 10 days of moving to a different ESD; a move inside the same ESD does not start that clock. ODE also asks families to contact the ESD when a child goes back to school. Compulsory attendance reaches a child whose sixth birthday fell on or before September 1 before the term began, so a child who turns six later is not covered until the next school year. HomeSchool Scribe tracks one notice for the family, but the notification describes a single child, so with more than one child check whether your ESD's form takes them all in one submission or wants one each. |
| Standardized test (grades 3, 5, 8, 10) Assessment · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year (grades 3, 5, 8, 10) | Keep in your files; send to the ESD when it asks | The date Oregon sets is August 15 after the grade 3, 5, 8 or 10 school year ends. This reminder lands at the end of your school year instead, which leaves room to book a tester; August 15 is the date that counts. The State Board approves three tests, in their two most recent versions: Iowa Tests of Basic Skills / Tests of Achievement and Proficiency, Stanford Achievement Test Battery, and Terra Nova/CAT 3. The tester comes from ODE's list, is neutral (not related to the child by blood or marriage), and is paid by the family. The tester scores the test and reports the result to the parent; the ESD sees it only when its superintendent asks for it. The first test is timed differently: a child withdrawn from public or private school is tested at least 18 months after the withdrawal date, and a child who never attended school is tested before the end of grade 3, so a family less than 18 months out of school may have nothing due yet. A composite below the 15th percentile brings another test within the year, and a second score that has declined again puts the next step with the ESD superintendent. A child with an IEP is measured the way that program says instead; a child on a privately developed plan is evaluated under that plan and the evaluation report goes to the ESD in place of test results. Separately, a student taking part in a school district's interscholastic activities shows academic eligibility by scoring at or above the 23rd percentile on a test from the same approved list, taken before the school year of participation begins and sent to the school district, or by meeting the alternative the district sets, such as a portfolio of work samples. HomeSchool Scribe does not prepare the score report; the tester does. |
| Keep the test results and the ESD's acknowledgment Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | The one record Oregon names is the test score report, held by the family and handed to the ESD when the superintendent requests it; the written acknowledgment of your notice belongs with it. Oregon sets no day count, no hour count, no subject list and no parent qualification, and it sets no retention period either, so three years is HomeSchool Scribe's own default rather than a legal figure. The attendance report and course of study here are not required in Oregon; they are simply the easiest answer if anyone ever asks what a year looked like. Nothing in this item has a deadline. |
What HomeSchool Scribe does in Oregon
- Notice of intent to homeschool: Prepares the notice letter; opens the portal and keeps your confirmation.
- Standardized test (grades 3, 5, 8, 10): Prepares the transcript; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; keeps it in records.
- Keep the test results and the ESD's acknowledgment: Prepares the attendance and hours report 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
Oregon Department of Education · HSLDA’s Oregon 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 Oregon’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 Oregon.