Homeschooling in Hawaii
What Hawaii 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
Principal of the public school the child would otherwise attend
Who actually reviews your child
The principal of the assigned public school.
What you must file
Form 4140 - Notice of Intent to Homeschool
Before beginning home schooling
Goes to: The principal of the assigned public school
Child's name, address, telephone, date of birth and grade level, plus the parent's signature. Does not need to be resubmitted once annual progress reports are being filed.
Annual progress report
At the end of each school year
Goes to: SUBMITTED to the principal
Four accepted forms: (1) a score at grade level on a nationally normed standardized achievement test; (2) one grade level of progress on such a test over the previous year; (3) a written evaluation by a state-certified teacher showing grade-level achievement or significant annual advancement commensurate with the child's abilities; or (4) a written evaluation by the PARENT describing the child's progress in each subject.
Standardized test scores
End of those school years
How often: at the end of grades 3, 5, 8 and 10
Goes to: SUBMITTED to the principal
Either the Statewide Testing Program at the local public school, comparable private testing at the parent's expense, or another means of evaluation approved by the principal.
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 Hawaii, which today are Mathematics (487 of 496) and Science (525 of 535). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of Hawaii's published standards. We do not hold Hawaii's own standards for English and Social Studies yet, and they are being added. Physical Education is not in the app for Hawaii 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 Hawaii'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
2026-08-18 re-verification through the US relay: hawaiipublicschools.org is reachable now, but its homeschool page serves navigation only - the substance is in Chapter 12 of the HAR, which was not located. Not read at the source.
Check it yourself: the source we used.