Mississippi homeschool requirements
Track your Mississippi homeschool requirements without spreadsheets
Homeschool Fox helps you understand Mississippi's requirements, log activities, track progress, and generate records when you need them.
Mississippi at a glance
Verified June 2026- Required hours
- No state minimum
- Required subjects
- Your choice
- Notice
- Required
- Testing / evaluation
- Not required
- Recordkeeping
- Recommended
Jump to the full Mississippi requirements for plain-English detail on each of these.
Free tool
Calculate your homeschool pace
Mississippi doesn't mandate a minimum. Use 900 hours/year as a general guide to stay on pace.
Leave at 0 if you haven't started tracking yet.
Add your school year end date to see your pace.
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What Homeschool Fox tracks for Mississippi
Everything Mississippi expects you to keep, in one place — no spreadsheets, no lost notebooks.
- Required hours or days
- Required subjects & core hours
- Daily activity logs
- Attendance records
- Notes & portfolio records
- Printable PDF reports
- High school transcripts
- State-specific progress tracking
See it work
Log a homeschool day in seconds
Type or speak what you did in plain English. Homeschool Fox sorts it into subjects, adds up the time, and updates your Mississippi progress automatically.
You write
Homeschool Fox logs
- Reading 45 min
- Math 30 min
- History / Social Studies 20 min
Today's total
1 hr 35 min
Your Mississippi requirements, in plain English
Tap any item for the details.
Notice requirements
Required
Required hours
Flexible
Required subjects
Your choice
Testing / evaluation
Not required
Recordkeeping & portfolio
Recommended
Withdrawing from public school
Letter + notice
Full guide
Homeschooling in Mississippi: the complete guide
The Mississippi homeschool framework is built around a single, simple idea: let the state know you're homeschooling, then get on with it. The state's compulsory school-age band is 6-17. A child outside those ages isn't legally required to be in formal instruction at all.
With no statutory minimum for hours or school days, families in Mississippi design a schedule that fits their household, whether that's year-round learning, a traditional school calendar, or a mix of the two. Many families aim for around 900 instructional hours per year as a self-imposed benchmark, even though the state doesn't mandate it.
The one paperwork moment each homeschool year in Mississippi is the notice of intent filed with your local school district before (or soon after) teaching starts. Districts vary slightly in expected format, but the core contents (student name, grade, and a statement of intent) are the same everywhere in Mississippi.
In practice, Mississippi homeschool families use Homeschool Fox to log daily activities, keep portfolios in one place, and generate the compliance reports that the state's paperwork moments call for.
Notice requirements
Notice is required
You must notify your local school district of your intent to homeschool.
Need a head start? Use the free Notice of Intent generator to draft a Mississippi-ready letter.
Deeper guides: how to write a notice of intent to homeschool covers the language admins look for, and when and where to file your notice of intent covers state-by-state deadlines and recipients.
Generate your notice of intentWithdrawing from public school
Mississippi requires a Certificate of Enrollment filed with your county school attendance officer by September 15 each year. If your child is leaving public school, file the certificate and notify the current school so attendance reflects the change. Keep a copy.
For the play-by-play, how to withdraw your child from public school walks through the conversation, the timing, and the paperwork. What to send the district when you pull your child covers exactly what the letter should and shouldn't say.
Assessment requirements
Assessment not required
Mississippi does not require standardized testing or formal assessment.
Portfolio & records
Portfolio not required
While Mississippi doesn't mandate a portfolio, keeping records is still recommended.
Looking for curriculum?
Browse our curriculum directory to find the right fit for your family, then track your hours with Homeschool Fox to stay compliant with Mississippi's requirements.
School choice & ESA
Open to homeschool familiesProgram
Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs (ESA)
Up to $8,007 / student / year
Homeschool-eligible amount. Some programs pay private-school students more.
Who qualifies and what you give up
Targeted to special education only. Eligibility is limited to Mississippi students who have had an active Individualized Education Program (IEP) within the last three years. Award is roughly $8,007 per student per year (FY2026) and may be spent on tuition at participating schools, tutoring, therapies, curriculum, and assessments through the program portal. There is no general-population ESA in Mississippi as of June 2026 — the proposed Magnolia Student Accounts legislation (HB2) died in committee in the 2026 session.
For an IEP-holding homeschool family the program is genuinely accessible, but the strings are non-trivial: participants must use the program's vendor list for therapies and curriculum, file annual progress documentation, and re-verify the qualifying disability on a set cadence. Funds left at year end revert to the state. Families without an active IEP have no path into this program; for them, Mississippi's existing homeschool law (Certificate of Enrollment by September 15) remains the operative framework.
Deeper guides: homeschool ESAs explained — which states offer them in 2026 covers eligibility and the trade-offs you sign up for. How to use an ESA for homeschool curriculum walks through what's reimbursable and where families get stuck.
Homeschool Fox tracks receipts and learning plans against ESA reporting requirements automatically.
Additional notes
No statutory hour or day minimum — homeschool exemption in § 37-13-91(3)(c) is silent on instructional time. Certificate of Enrollment due to the district attendance officer by September 15 each year.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to notify anyone to homeschool in Mississippi?
How many hours do I need to homeschool in Mississippi?
Does Mississippi require testing for homeschoolers?
Do I need to keep a portfolio in Mississippi?
What subjects must I teach in Mississippi?
Nearby states
View all statesWant the cross-state comparison? Homeschool laws by state covers the legal regime in every state side by side.
Free Mississippi printables
Two ready-to-use PDFs for Mississippi homeschoolers. No account needed.
Templates, not legal advice. Confirm the current rule with your state or district.
Reviewed and sourced
Last verified: June 2026. We review Mississippi's requirements against official sources and update this page when the rules change.
Sources
Homeschool Fox is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. We turn public homeschool requirements into practical tracking tools for families. Always confirm details with your state or a qualified advisor.
More Mississippi guides
- How to Start Homeschooling in Mississippi A step-by-step guide from withdrawal to your first logged day.
- Homeschooling High School in Mississippi Credits, GPA, transcripts, and graduation.
- Record Keeping in Mississippi What to document, how to organize it, and staying compliant.
- ESA & School Choice in Mississippi Funding amounts, who qualifies, and the trade-offs.
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