How to Homeschool in Hawaii

Hawaii homeschool law in detail

We link the governing law so you can read it yourself instead of taking our word for it. The governing law is HRS 302A-1132.

Notice / letter of intent

Before you begin, submit notice to the principal of the public school your child would otherwise attend, using either the DOE's Exceptions to Compulsory Education form (Form 4140) or your own letter (Hawaii Administrative Rules, Title 8, Chapter 12). A letter should include the child's name, address, phone number, birth date, grade level, and your signature. This is a notification, not a request: homeschooling may begin once the notice is submitted, and the school does not approve or deny it. You also notify the principal when you stop homeschooling.

Required subjects

Hawaii does not mandate an exact subject checklist, but the rules say the curriculum must be structured, based on educational objectives and the needs of the child, cumulative and sequential, and provide a range of up-to-date knowledge and skills. The rules suggest typical elementary content (language arts, math, social studies, science, art, music, health, PE) and secondary content (English, math, social studies, science, health, PE, guidance). You choose all materials and methods, and nothing is submitted for approval.

Required days or hours

Hawaii sets no required number of instructional days or hours. Your record of the planned curriculum notes the number of hours per week you intend to spend on instruction, but the amount itself is up to you.

Recordkeeping

Parents must keep a record of the planned curriculum (HAR Chapter 8-12). It should note the program's beginning and ending dates, planned weekly instructional hours, the subjects to be covered, how mastery will be determined, and the textbooks and materials used, listed in bibliographic format. You keep this record at home; it is not filed with the school. It also becomes handy raw material for your annual progress report.

Testing and assessment

Two pieces here. First, every homeschooler submits an annual progress report to the local principal, which can be the score from a nationally normed standardized test, a written evaluation by a Hawaii-certified teacher, or the parent's own written evaluation describing progress in each subject with samples of the child's work, tests, and grades. Second, in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10, the child takes a criterion- or norm-referenced standardized test; families may use the state's testing program at the school at no cost or arrange an acceptable test privately at their own expense. Statutory hook: HRS section 302A-1132(a)(5) and HAR Chapter 8-12.

Withdrawing from public school

If your child is currently enrolled, submit Form 4140 or your letter of intent to the principal of that school; the notice itself functions as the withdrawal for homeschooling purposes, and instruction at home may begin once it is in. Ask the office to confirm your child's enrollment status has been updated, and keep a dated copy. When re-enrolling later, elementary students are placed by age, while high schoolers generally enter without credit for homeschool coursework.

Good to know

The diploma rule is Hawaii's biggest planning wrinkle: homeschool coursework earns no DOE credit, and the state diploma requires three years of public high school attendance, so decide your high school strategy (homeschool diploma, accredited umbrella school, or early re-enrollment) before 9th grade. The notice goes to your specific neighborhood school's principal, not a district office, which makes the relationship with that school worth cultivating. Hawaii has periodically seen bills proposing tighter homeschool rules, so check for new legislation each session; none had changed HAR Chapter 8-12 as of this writing.