Field guide · Confirm with the authority before you file
Homeschooling in Wisconsin
PI-1206 Homeschool Enrollment Report, by October 15. The full list, with the deadline for starting partway through the year, is below. Also kept, and shown only if asked: copies of every PI-1206 report you submit.
Notify, level 2 of 4
What Wisconsin actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
You tell
Wisconsin DPI, online through the HOMER system
By
October 15
On or before October 15 each year. If you withdraw your child from a public or private school after October 15, file or update the report on or before the day your child stops attending that school.
Who reviews it
Neither DPI nor your school district approves your program
The report only notifies them; neither has authority to approve or deny a homeschool program, and the law gives no agency or school district express authority to monitor it. But a school district may have authority to look into a complaint that a program does not meet the legal requirements, and could invite you to a meeting to document and verify your hours of instruction and curricula.
If you skip it
Your child counts as homeschooled only once you submit it
DPI considers your child officially enrolled in a home-based program on the date you submit the report; until it is fully completed and submitted, neither the state nor your resident school district is notified. A parent who does not comply with the compulsory school attendance law may be penalized: for a first offense, a fine of up to $500, up to 30 days in jail, or both; for a later offense, up to $1,000, up to 90 days in jail, or both (Wis. Stat. § 118.15(5)).
Who is in charge
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
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
October 15You file
PI-1206 Homeschool Enrollment Report
On or before October 15 each year. If you withdraw your child from a public or private school after October 15, file or update the report on or before the day your child stops attending that school.
Goes to: Wisconsin DPI, online through the HOMER system
The report states how many children you are homeschooling as of the third Friday in September, and indicates whether your program meets all of the criteria in Wis. Stat. § 118.165(1), including at least 875 hours of instruction each school year and a sequentially progressive curriculum of fundamental instruction in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science and health. Include each child who will be six on or before September 1 of that school year; a younger child does not need to be reported. You can file for a new school year from July 1.
No fixed dateYou file
Update to your PI-1206 report
When you move to a different school district, when the number of children you homeschool changes, or when you enroll a child in a public or private school
How often: when it happens
Goes to: Wisconsin DPI, online through the HOMER system
Sign in to the report you already filed, make the change, and click Submit; a change is not saved, and your school district cannot see it, until you submit. If you enroll a child in a public or private school, reduce the number of children enrolled, to zero if you no longer homeschool any child. List only the children you are homeschooling. This update comes from DPI's instructions for the report.
No fixed dateYou keep
Copies of every PI-1206 report you submit
Each time you submit or update the report
Goes to: Kept by the parent
DPI says it is the parent's responsibility to keep copies of PI-1206 reports. DPI keeps submitted reports for only seven years, and the report is the only state record that you enrolled your child in a home-based program. Your child may be asked for copies when applying to the military, college, jobs, apprenticeships or government programs such as social security. After you submit, you can print a copy that includes your confirmation number.
No fixed dateYou file
Withdrawal from five-year-old kindergarten through the school district's procedure
Only if your child is enrolled in five-year-old kindergarten and you withdraw them before the end of the school term
How often: when it happens
Goes to: The applicable school district, following its withdrawal procedures
A child enrolled in five-year-old kindergarten at a public or private school must attend regularly during the full period and hours that kindergarten is in session until the end of the school term. DPI says a parent who wants to withdraw a child from 5K should follow the school district's withdrawal procedures to avoid the possible use of truancy law. A child under six cannot be enrolled in a homeschool program.
No fixed dateYou file
Request for an exemption from the kindergarten requirement for public school first grade
Only if your child did not complete five-year-old kindergarten and you want to enroll them in first grade at a public school
How often: when it happens
Goes to: The school district where you want to enroll your child
In Wisconsin, completing five-year-old kindergarten is a prerequisite for enrolling in first grade at a public school. If you did not enroll your child in a public or private school for kindergarten and later want to enroll them in a public school for first grade, you will need to request an exemption from the school district where you want to enroll them.
No fixed dateYou file
Written statement for interscholastic athletics
Only if your child takes part in interscholastic athletics in your resident school district and the school board asks for it
How often: on request
Goes to: The school board of your resident school district
When asked, your home-based program must give the school board a written statement that your child meets the board's requirements for taking part in interscholastic athletics, based on age and academic and disciplinary records. No one may provide a false statement. The school board may not question the accuracy or validity of the statement or ask for more information. The board may charge the same participation fees it charges pupils enrolled in the district.
No fixed dateYou file
Notice to the municipal clerk about a child excused to serve as an election official
Promptly, only if you excused your child to serve as an election official and the child stops being enrolled in your home-based program or no longer has at least a 3.0 grade point average or the equivalent
How often: when it happens
Goes to: The municipal clerk or board of election commissioners of the municipality that appointed your child
As the administrator of a home-based program, you may excuse your child in writing to serve as an election official. Except as Wis. Stat. § 7.30(2)(am) provides, you may excuse the child only if the child has at least a 3.0 grade point average or the equivalent, and you must let the child take examinations and complete course work missed during those absences.
The words a reviewer uses
'Sequentially progressive curriculum of fundamental instruction', the statutory phrase the affirmation rests on.
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 Wisconsin, which today are English (326 of 383), Mathematics (490 of 574), Science (488 of 604), Social Studies (1 of 1631), Physical Education (10 of 106) and Arts (2 of 115). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of Wisconsin's published standards. A further 178 Social Studies topics are matched only to the national C3 Framework, which is guidance, not Wisconsin's own standard. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Sources
- Checked 11 Aug 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
Sources last checked on 2026-10-07: Wisconsin DPI, Home-Based Private Educational Program (Homeschooling) Frequently Asked Questions (March 2026). 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.