Homeschooling in Colorado
What Colorado actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
United StatesFiling requiredWho is in charge
School district that receives the notice of intent; or an independent or parochial school that holds the results
Who actually reviews your child
The school district (or the independent/parochial school holding the results).
What you must file
Written notice of intent
14 days before establishing the program, and annually thereafter
Goes to: Any Colorado public school district office (the district of residence is preferred)
Names, ages, place of instruction and hours of attendance of each child.
Test or evaluation results
Following the assessment
How often: at grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11
Goes to: SUBMITTED to the district that received the notice, OR to an independent or parochial school that holds the results
Either a nationally standardized achievement test or an evaluation by a 'qualified person' determining sufficient academic progress relative to the child's ability. C.R.S. 22-33-104.5(3)(f) requires the results to be REPORTED, not merely kept.
Attendance, test and immunization records
n/a
How often: continuous
Goes to: Kept at home; the district may request them only on probable cause and with 14 days' written notice
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 Colorado, which today are Mathematics (487 of 496) and Science (502 of 535). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of Colorado's published standards. We do not hold Colorado's own standards for English and Social Studies yet, and they are being added. Physical Education is not in the app for Colorado 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 Colorado'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.
Other places in United States
Read at the source on 2026-08-28: the Colorado Department of Education's homeschool FAQ at ed.cde.state.co.us. It confirms written notification 14 days before establishing the program, re-submitted to the school district each year (C.R.S. 22-33-104.5(3)(e)), and testing or evaluation at grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 at the parent's expense, with results reported to the district that received the notice or to an independent or parochial school (22-33-104.5(3)(f)). One correction: CDE says the notice may go to ANY Colorado public school district office, not only the district of residence, though the resident district is preferred.
Check it yourself: the authority's own page.