Homeschooling in Colorado

Colorado counts the 14 days from the notice to the start of the home-based program. To leave in the middle of a year, keep your child in school until the program's first day and tell the school in writing that your child is withdrawing on that date. A child is not exempt from attendance until the program exists, so days kept home before it starts count as absences.

What the notice says

• Each child's name and age
• Your place of residence
• The number of hours of attendance
• Your signature and the date

The law asks for nothing more, and there is no standard form, although CDE publishes a template. You may send it to any district in the state, not only the one you live in. Keep a copy: a part-time public program for homeschool students asks for one at enrollment.

A child counts as habitually truant after four unexcused absences in one month or ten in one school year. If that happened in the last six months your child attended school, your notice must include a written description of the curricula you will use.

Before you go, ask the school for copies of report cards, test scores, and any special education evaluations.

No one collects the required records. The district that received your notice can demand them only if its superintendent has probable cause to believe the program is out of compliance, and it must give you 14 days' written notice. Then you produce them to that district.

Beyond the required set, a few more records save time later:

• A transcript from ninth grade on, listing each course with its grade and credit, for re-enrollment and college applications
• The subjects and main materials for each year, which show that you covered the required subjects
• A few samples of work in each subject, which help a district place a returning student

The law sets testing in grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. For each, you choose one of two options and pay for it.

• A nationally standardized achievement test. The law names no specific test.
• An evaluation of academic progress by a qualified person: a Colorado-licensed teacher, a teacher at an independent or parochial school, a licensed psychologist, or a person with a graduate degree in education. The parent chooses the evaluator.

Any higher score keeps the exemption. A score at or below it is not final: your child first gets a retest, with another version of the same test or a different test you choose from a list the State Board of Education approves. An evaluation keeps the exemption when it shows sufficient progress for your child's ability. State law sets no deadline for sending results, and homeschool scores never count toward any school's ratings.

Homeschoolers do not take Colorado's state assessments. If you ask, a district or other local education provider must let your child take one and give you the results, and you pay the cost.

Every Colorado administrative unit, the school district or group of districts that runs special education, must locate and evaluate children ages 3 to 21 who may have a disability, and the state's rules name children whose parents choose home schooling. A homeschooled child goes to the administrative unit where the child lives. Once you ask in writing and sign consent, the evaluation must be finished within 60 calendar days.

Colorado law says a home-based program is not a private school, so a homeschooled child does not receive the equitable services that federal rules set aside for students enrolled in private schools. A child found eligible receives special education by enrolling in a public school.

Part-time public programs

A homeschooled child may attend a public school for part of the day, and school districts, charter schools, and boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES) may run part-time programs for homeschool students. Under a 2026 law, a child must have a current notice of intent on file to enroll, the state funds only one such program per child, and a program may not pay for private activities or items a family keeps, such as club fees, passes, or curriculum of the family's choice.

Colorado has no state diploma. District diplomas go only to students who attended a public high school in the district, and district graduation requirements apply only to those students. A homeschool parent decides what graduation requires and issues the diploma; CDE says a parent may graduate a student by issuing one, and a high school equivalency test such as the GED is optional.

A homeschool graduate's record is two documents: the diploma and a transcript that lists each course by year with its grade and credit, signed by the parent.

Colorado's public four-year colleges admit homeschool graduates under the first-time admission standards the Colorado Commission on Higher Education approves for each college, the same standards other new freshmen meet.

College credit taken as part of a homeschool curriculum does not make a student a transfer applicant; the student still applies as a first-time freshman.

Colorado's tuition-free concurrent enrollment program, including its ASCENT and TREP extensions, is for students enrolled in a local education provider: a school district, a board of cooperative services, or a charter school. An independent homeschooler can still take college courses in high school by applying to a college directly and paying tuition.

Homeschool dual enrollment in Colorado

A homeschooled child may take part on an equal basis in activities, sports included, at a public school in the district that received the notice or the district where the family lives. The district picks the school, weighing which offers the most of the child's activities, which is nearest, and the parents' preference. If neither district offers the activity, the child may play in a neighboring district or at the nearest school that offers it. Private schools may admit homeschoolers at their discretion.

The student meets the school's eligibility rules and the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) rules, and follows the homeschool law. A school cannot require a homeschooler to enroll in a course to play, unless the activity extends a course, such as a performing arts group. A district may reserve some team spots for its enrolled students, and the fee cannot exceed 150 percent of the enrolled student's fee. A child withdrawn more than 15 days into the school year keeps the former school for activities for the rest of that year.

Homeschool sports eligibility in Colorado

Colorado has no homeschool tax credit or deduction and no education savings account, and CDE says no funding is available for homeschooling. Independent homeschoolers pay their own costs.

A part-time public program for homeschool students is public school enrollment: the program receives state funding for your child but cannot pass money to your family for private purchases. A 2026 bill that would have set up a state list of scholarship granting organizations for the new federal scholarship tax credit (HB26-1292) did not pass.

Homeschool tax breaks and funding in Colorado

A child can enroll in a Colorado public school at any time. The district may test your child for grade placement and, with your consent, places your child at the grade it finds most appropriate.

The district must accept your homeschool transcript for credit. The one exception: if the district tests your child and the test does not confirm the transcript, it may reject it.

Outside the notice and the test or evaluation results, a district has no routine role in a home-based program. When results go to an independent or parochial school instead, that school must report a result at that level to the district, which then acts the same way.

A child who is not in a program that meets the law has no exemption from compulsory attendance, and each district's attendance policy sets how many unexcused absences lead to court proceedings.