Field guide · Confirm with the authority before you file
Homeschooling in Maryland
Home Instruction Notification, at least 15 DAYS before beginning home instruction. The full list is below.
Show progress, level 4 of 4
What Maryland actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
You tell
Local school system superintendent
Under Option B, the yearly verification that home schooling continues may go to the supervising church school or approved nonpublic school instead of the superintendent.
By
At least 15 DAYS before beginning home instruction
then each year, before the school year begins, a verification that it continues
Who reviews it
Local school system personnel, at the end of each semester and no more than three times a year, at a mutually agreeable time and place, under Option A.
If you skip it
If the superintendent finds, on reviewing the program or the portfolio, that the child is not receiving regular, thorough instruction, the superintendent must tell you in writing what is deficient. Within 30 days of receiving that notice you must give the superintendent evidence that the deficiency has been or is being corrected. If the superintendent decides there is not a satisfactory plan to correct it, or it is not corrected, the child must be enrolled promptly in a public or nonpublic school. The same applies if you do not agree to the regulation's requirements for instruction, the portfolio and its review. Maryland law requires a child aged 5 to 17 to attend public school unless the child is receiving regular, thorough instruction or has another exemption in the law. A person with legal custody or care of a child aged 5 to 15 who fails to see that the child attends school or receives instruction is guilty of a misdemeanor: for a first conviction, a fine of up to $50 for each day of unlawful absence, up to 3 days in jail, or both; for a later conviction, up to $100 a day, up to 5 days in jail, or both.
Who is in charge
Local school system superintendent (Option A), or a bona fide church organisation / state-approved nonpublic school (Option B)
Who reviews your child is set out at the top of this page, in the authority's own terms.
The year
What you must file
No fixed dateYou file
Home Instruction Notification
At least 15 DAYS before beginning home instruction; then each year, before the school year begins, a verification that it continues
Goes to: Local school system superintendent. Under Option B, the yearly verification that home schooling continues may go to the supervising church school or approved nonpublic school instead of the superintendent.
The parent elects Option A (local school system supervision) or Option B (supervision by a school run by a bona fide church organization, or by a nonpublic school approved by the State Board of Education). The form is a signed statement which, under the regulation, indicates your consent to its requirements for instruction, the portfolio and the portfolio review.
No fixed dateYou file
Notice of a change in home school status
During the school year, when the child's home school status changes
How often: when it happens
Goes to: Local school system superintendent, or the supervising church or nonpublic school (Option B)
COMAR 13A.10.01.01B(3); under Option B the supervising school also tells the superintendent (13A.10.01.05D).
No fixed dateYou file
Portfolio review - Option A
At a mutually agreeable time and place
How often: At the end of each semester; no more than three reviews a year
Goes to: Reviewed by a representative of the local school system, who looks at the portfolio and discusses the instructional program with you, at a mutually agreeable time and place
You keep a portfolio of materials that shows you are providing regular, thorough instruction during the school year in English, mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, health, and physical education. It includes relevant materials, such as instructional materials, reading materials, and examples of the child's writings, worksheets, workbooks, creative materials, and tests (COMAR 13A.10.01.01C, D and E).
No fixed dateYou file
Umbrella supervision - Option B
As set
How often: as set by the supervising organisation
Goes to: The supervising church school or approved nonpublic school, which each year tells the local school superintendent which home schooled students it supervises
Under this option you still send the Home Instruction Notification to the local superintendent at least 15 days before starting. The supervisor is a school or institution run by a bona fide church organization, or a nonpublic school with a certificate of approval from the State Board of Education (COMAR 13A.10.01.05A).
No fixed dateYou file
Evidence that a deficiency is being corrected
Within 30 days of receiving the superintendent's written notice of a deficiency
How often: when it happens
Goes to: Local school superintendent
Only if the superintendent finds, on reviewing the program or the portfolio, that the child is not receiving regular, thorough instruction and tells you in writing. If the superintendent decides there is not a satisfactory plan to correct it, or it is not corrected, the child must be enrolled promptly in a public or nonpublic school (COMAR 13A.10.01.03B).
No fixed dateYou file
Placement evaluation on return to public school
When the child applies for admission to a public school from home instruction
How often: when it happens
Goes to: Local school superintendent
The superintendent decides the child's placement and any credits toward high school graduation by an evaluation, which may include standardized tests and examinations and interviews with the child. This applies under Option A and Option B (COMAR 13A.10.01.04 and .05A).
The words a reviewer uses
'Regular, thorough instruction during the school year in the studies usually taught in the public schools to children of the same age', the COMAR phrase the reviewer is checking against.
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for Maryland, which today are English (326 of 383), Mathematics (490 of 574), Science (514 of 604) and Social Studies (4 of 1631). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of Maryland's published standards. A further 175 Social Studies topics are matched only to the national C3 Framework, which is guidance, not Maryland's own standard. Physical Education and Arts are not in the app for Maryland yet. A moment in any of those subjects is kept on the general map for your child's age and named that way in the record, so the record never cites Maryland's curriculum where we hold none of it. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Sources
- Checked 11 Aug 2026
- Checked 11 Aug 2026
- Checked 17 Sep 2026
- Checked 5 Oct 2026
- Checked 5 Oct 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
Sources last checked on 2026-10-07: COMAR 13A.10.01.03 Noncompliance with Requirements (Library of Maryland Regulations). That is the date we checked, not the date the rule last changed.
Check it yourself: the source we used.
Guidance, not legal advice. Rules change and districts vary: confirm with the authority named above before you file.