Homeschooling High School in Tennessee

Required hours

720 hrs/year

School days

180 days/year

Required subjects

Your choice

Notice

Required

Testing / evaluation

Standardized testing

Recordkeeping

Recommended

Jump to the full Tennessee requirements for plain-English detail on each of these.

Graduation requirements in Tennessee

Tennessee does not issue homeschool diplomas, so as the parent-administrator you set the graduation requirements and award the diploma yourself. A common college-prep plan covers 4 years of English, 3–4 of math, 3 of science, 3 of social studies, 2 of a foreign language, plus electives — typically around 24 credits total. Check any Tennessee-specific expectations for your situation, and align with the admissions requirements of the colleges your student is targeting.

Credits and GPA

A standard high-school credit (a Carnegie unit) represents roughly 120–180 hours of instruction in a subject over the year, or about a full-year course. Half-credit courses are common for semester-long electives. Track grades per course and compute a weighted or unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale. Our free GPA calculator can do the math, and Homeschool Fox tracks credits and grades for you as you log coursework.

Testing and assessment

Under Tennessee's independent home-school option, students take a standardized test at the end of grades 5, 7, and 9; results go to parents, the director of schools, and the state board. Families registered through a church-related school follow that school's assessment policy instead.

Building a college-ready transcript

Selective colleges expect a clean, professional transcript listing courses, credits, grades, and GPA, often alongside a school profile and course descriptions. You can build one in Tennessee yourself — a standard transcript is included with Homeschool Fox, and the $29 official transcript add-on generates AI-drafted course descriptions and a school profile that admissions readers expect.

Keeping records through high school

Keep coursework, reading lists, grades, and work samples organized from 9th grade on — reconstructing four years at application time is painful. Tennessee also has assessment or portfolio expectations to plan around, so consistent records do double duty for both college applications and state compliance.

What Homeschool Fox tracks for Tennessee

Everything Tennessee expects you to keep, in one place — no spreadsheets, no lost notebooks.

• Hours toward your 720-hour goal
• Required subjects & core hours
• Daily activity logs
• Attendance records
• Notes & portfolio records
• Printable PDF reports
• High school transcripts
• State-specific progress tracking

More Tennessee guides

• Tennessee Homeschool Requirements Hours, notice, assessment, and subjects at a glance.
• How to Start Homeschooling in Tennessee A step-by-step guide from withdrawal to your first logged day.
• Record Keeping in Tennessee What to document, how to organize it, and staying compliant.
• ESA & School Choice in Tennessee Funding amounts, who qualifies, and the trade-offs.