Homeschooling in Mississippi

The Certificate of Enrollment is the whole process. It comes only from the Mississippi Department of Education's Office of Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement, through its website or your local school attendance officer. School district staff may not hand it out or fill it in, and when a parent tells the district about homeschooling, the district must notify the state attendance office.

What the certificate asks

• Your child's name, address, telephone number, and date of birth
• Your name, address, and telephone number
• The school district where your child lives
• A short description of the education your child is receiving
• Your signature and the date

Timing

You can switch in the middle of a year: if your child was enrolled in public school within 15 calendar days after the first day, you may later move to home instruction and send the certificate then. Keep a copy of every certificate you file.

A student past compulsory age can file a certificate only if already enrolled in home instruction before passing that age; a first-time certificate for an older student is not accepted.

Mississippi requires no homeschool records beyond the yearly certificate, and no one reviews your work. The Department of Education recommends a portfolio for each child with samples of activities, assignments, projects, and assessments, a log of books and materials used, and any national test results.

Those records do their work at three points:

• Returning to public school, where the district sets your child's grade
• Applying to college
• Applying for a driver's license before 18, when a parent certifies that the teen is enrolled in a home instruction program

From ninth grade on, list each course with its grade and credit, which becomes the transcript.

Mississippi requires no tests of home instruction students. The state's assessments apply to public school students, and state policy says a nonpublic program, home schools included, may not be used to dodge those assessments or the graduation requirements once a student is enrolled in public school.

Testing comes up when your child enters a public school, as described under returning below. The department also suggests national tests for the portfolio, but that is a recommendation, not a rule.

Under federal law, each school district must locate, identify, and evaluate children with disabilities who live in it, a duty called Child Find, and homeschooled children are included. Ask the school district where you live, in writing, for an evaluation. The evaluation tells you whether your child qualifies and what help the district would provide.

Services follow enrollment. A homeschooled child has no right to the full program a public school student receives, and the state's special education scholarship does not cover home instruction, as described below.

Mississippi's graduation requirements and Carnegie unit rules are set for public schools, and the law sets none for a home instruction program. The parent decides when the program is complete and writes the transcript and diploma.

Driver's licenses

Every applicant under 18 gives the Department of Public Safety a Certification of School Attendance Status form. One box on it covers nonpublic schools, a category the form defines to take in home instruction. The parent signs it, and the form is valid for 30 days.

Each Mississippi college and university sets its own admission rules for home instruction graduates, and the Department of Education advises families to contact potential colleges early to learn what each requires.

High school students can take college courses for credit by applying directly to a Mississippi community college as dual enrollment students; the college sets its own placement requirements and charges its own tuition.

Homeschool dual enrollment in Mississippi

Mississippi has no law opening public school teams to homeschoolers. Under the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) handbook, only a bona fide student legally enrolled in a member school and taking the required subjects may play, and a student in a home-schooled program is not a bona fide student. The handbook treats a full-time virtual program the same way.

A student who enrolls in a member school becomes subject to MHSAA's transfer and academic rules, which include a rule for students entering grades 10, 11, or 12 from an accredited home school program.

Homeschool sports eligibility in Mississippi

Mississippi has no homeschool tax credit or deduction. Its Education Scholarship Account (ESA) for students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) pays up to $8,421 for 2026-27, but only toward an eligible school: a state-accredited special purpose or nonpublic school, or a nonpublic school serving the child's disability. The law says an eligible school does not include a home instruction program, and the parent must show the child has been accepted into an eligible private school.

Homeschool tax breaks and funding in Mississippi

A child can enroll in a Mississippi public school at any time. Because a home instruction program is not accredited, the district gives a transfer student from home study either a standardized achievement test or teacher-made subject tests within 30 days after you file for transfer, to set the grade. You receive notice at least five days before the test.

Bring your portfolio and transcript to enrollment; they show the district what your child has studied alongside the test results.

The school attendance officer, a state employee, handles homeschool certificates. If the officer finds you out of compliance, for example because the certificate is missing, you receive a written notice and have 10 days to comply.

A parent who refuses or willfully fails to meet the attendance law, or who knowingly puts false information on a certificate of enrollment, can be charged with contributing to the neglect of a child.