Homeschooling in Tennessee
What Tennessee 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
Local director of schools (independent home school); the church-related umbrella school (satellite route)
Who actually reviews your child
The local director of schools for independent home schools; the umbrella school's director for satellite families.
What you must file
Notice of Intent to Home School
Prior to each school year
Goes to: Local director of schools
Names, number, ages and grade levels of the children; the location of the school; the proposed curriculum; the proposed hours of instruction; and the qualifications of the parent-teacher.
Attendance records
At the end of each school year
Goes to: SUBMITTED to the director of schools
Achievement test results, grades 5, 7 and 9
Within 30 days of the statewide test date if a professional testing service is used
How often: at those grades
Goes to: SUBMITTED to the director of schools
Read directly from the Tennessee DOE FAQ on 2026-08-11: 'the results of a nationally normed achievement test administered in grades five, seven, and nine shall be submitted to the director of schools.'
Proof of vaccination and health services
With the notice of intent
Goes to: Local director of schools
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 Tennessee, 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 Tennessee's published standards. We do not hold Tennessee's own standards for English and Social Studies yet, and they are being added. Physical Education is not in the app for Tennessee 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 Tennessee'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
Last read at the source on 2026-08-11: tn.gov. That is the date we read it, not the date the rule last changed.
Check it yourself: the authority's own page.