Homeschooling in Delaware (DE): Requirements, Law & Standards

DE ·

Delaware's compulsory school year is 180 days; homeschools report attendance and are generally expected to maintain a 180-day school year, but DDOE does not specify required daily/annual instructional hours for homeschools and does not monitor instruction.

Delaware treats homeschools as nonpublic schools under Title 14. The legal obligations are essentially registration plus annual enrollment (by Sept 30) and attendance (by July 31) reporting to DDOE. There are no state-mandated subjects, no required standardized testing, no teacher-qualification requirements, and no state curriculum approval. Public-school graduation requirements do not apply; parents determine graduation and issue their own diploma (homeschoolers are not eligible for a state-issued diploma).

Delaware regulates homeschools as 'nonpublic schools.' A parent/guardian must register the homeschool with the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) via the Nonpublic School (NPS) system (EdAccess account required) and file an annual enrollment report by September 30, plus an end-of-year attendance report by July 31. Three options exist: (1) Single-Family Homeschool (report enrollment by Sept 30, attendance by July 31); (2) Multi-Family Homeschool (a liaison reports enrollment/attendance for all families); (3) Single-Family Homeschool Coordinated with the Local School District (report enrollment to DDOE on/before Oct 5, teach the same subjects as public schools).

DDOE does not approve or monitor homeschool curricula and does not routinely collect student records beyond the annual enrollment and attendance reports. Families are advised (and effectively required for the attendance report) to keep attendance records documenting the school year; keeping records of coursework, materials, and progress is recommended but not separately enforced by the state.


Math	CCSS-M
ELA	CCSS-ELA
Science	NGSS
Social Studies	Delaware Recommended Curriculum / Delaware Social Studies Standards (Civics, Economics, Geography, History)

· Delaware Recommended Curriculum / Delaware Social Studies Standards (Civics, Economics, Geography, History) · 64


K-3	Civics Standard Four K-3	Acquire the skills necessary for participating in a group, including defining an objective, dividing responsibilities, and working cooperatively.
K-3	Civics Standard One K-3	Understand that leaders are sometimes chosen by election, and that elected officials are expected to represent the interests of the people who elected them; positions of authority carry responsibilities and should be respected.
K-3	Civics Standard Three K-3	Understand that American citizens have distinct responsibilities (such as voting), rights (such as free speech and freedom of religion), and privileges (such as driving).
K-3	Civics Standard Two K-3	Understand the principles and ideals underlying the American political system (rules and fairness in a community).
K-3	Economics Standard Four K-3	Understand that the exchange of goods and services around the world creates economic interdependence among people in different places.
K-3	Economics Standard One K-3	Understand that individuals and families with limited resources undertake a wide variety of activities to satisfy their wants.
K-3	Economics Standard Three K-3	Identify human wants and the various resources and strategies which have been used to satisfy them over time.
K-3	Economics Standard Two K-3	Understand how barter, money, and other media are employed to facilitate the exchange of resources, goods, and services.
K-3	Geography Standard Four K-3	Use the concepts of place and region to explain simple patterns of connections between and among places.
K-3	Geography Standard One K-3	Understand the nature and uses of maps, globes, and other geo-graphics.
K-3	Geography Standard Three K-3	Identify types of human settlement, connections between settlements, and the types of activities found in each.
K-3	Geography Standard Two K-3	Distinguish different types of climate and landforms and explain why they occur.
K-3	History Standard Four K-3	Develop an understanding of the chronology and significance of selected events and people in local and family history.
K-3	History Standard One K-3	Use clocks, calendars, schedules, and written records to record or locate events in time.
K-3	History Standard Three K-3	Understand that historical accounts are constructed by drawing logical inferences from artifacts and documents.
K-3	History Standard Two K-3	Use artifacts and documents to gather information about the past.
4-5	Civics Standard Four 4-5	Understand the ways in which citizens can monitor and influence the actions of their government.
4-5	Civics Standard One 4-5	Understand that governments have a variety of structures and purposes, and that the structure of the United States government reflects its goals and values.
4-5	Civics Standard Three 4-5	Understand that the rights and responsibilities of citizenship help define what it means to be a citizen of the United States.
4-5	Civics Standard Two 4-5	Understand that political systems may differ in their basic principles, the rights they guarantee, and the structures they use to govern.
4-5	Economics Standard Four 4-5	Understand that specialization and trade lead to interdependence among regions and nations.
4-5	Economics Standard One 4-5	Understand that the exchange of goods and services in markets is governed by prices and that prices are determined by supply and demand.
4-5	Economics Standard Three 4-5	Understand how different economic systems answer the basic questions of what, how, and for whom to produce.
4-5	Economics Standard Two 4-5	Understand the role of money and banking in an economy and how they facilitate exchange.
4-5	Geography Standard Four 4-5	Understand the concept of region as a way of organizing and interpreting areas of the Earth's surface.
4-5	Geography Standard One 4-5	Develop a knowledge of the ways geographic tools and technologies are used to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
4-5	Geography Standard Three 4-5	Understand the human and physical processes that produce distinctive cultures and settlement patterns in places.
4-5	Geography Standard Two 4-5	Understand the physical and human characteristics of places and how those characteristics shape and are shaped by the environment.
4-5	History Standard Four 4-5	Develop an understanding of the chronology and significance of selected events and developments in the history of Delaware and the United States.
4-5	History Standard One 4-5	Construct and interpret timelines of events and people in order to identify patterns of historical continuity and change.
4-5	History Standard Three 4-5	Understand that history is a reconstruction of the past based on the evidence available and the questions asked.
4-5	History Standard Two 4-5	Gather, examine, and organize historical information from a variety of primary and secondary sources.
6-8	Civics Standard Four 6-8	Understand how to monitor the actions of elected officials and the mechanisms for communicating with them while in office.
6-8	Civics Standard One 6-8	Understand that governments have the power to make and enforce laws and regulations, levy taxes, conduct foreign policy, and make war; analyze the functions and structures of federal, state, and local governments.
6-8	Civics Standard Three 6-8	Understand that civil rights secure political freedom and property rights secure economic freedom, and that citizenship carries responsibilities such as voting, jury duty, obeying laws, military service, and public service.
6-8	Civics Standard Two 6-8	Understand the protection of minority rights and the major principles found in foundational American documents including the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Federalist Papers.
6-8	Economics Standard Four 6-8	Examine specialization and interdependence through trade and how government policies create conditions of free or restricted trade.
6-8	Economics Standard One 6-8	Analyze how changes in technology, costs, and demand interact in competitive markets to determine or change the price of goods and services.
6-8	Economics Standard Three 6-8	Demonstrate the connections between methods of production, distribution, and exchange and the cultural values, resources, and technologies of a society.
6-8	Economics Standard Two 6-8	Understand the role of money and banking in an economy, and how government taxation and spending decisions affect the functioning of markets.
6-8	Geography Standard Four 6-8	Understand the factors that influence the location of economic activity and how conflict and cooperation shape the cultural and political divisions of the Earth.
6-8	Geography Standard One 6-8	Develop a mental map of the world's subregions that includes major physical features, political divisions, and human settlements.
6-8	Geography Standard Three 6-8	Identify and explain major patterns of human cultural activity throughout the world's subregions.
6-8	Geography Standard Two 6-8	Apply knowledge of natural processes to understand how different human populations have modified and adapted to physical environments around the world.
6-8	History Standard Four 6-8	Develop an understanding of United States and Delaware history from their beginnings through 1877, and of world history from its beginnings through 1500 AD.
6-8	History Standard One 6-8	Examine historical materials relating to a particular region, society, or theme; analyze change over time; and draw logical cause-and-effect inferences.
6-8	History Standard Three 6-8	Compare different historians' descriptions of past societies to examine how questions asked and sources used affect conclusions.
6-8	History Standard Two 6-8	Develop basic research skills to conduct independent historical investigations, examining documents and artifacts and analyzing their credibility, purpose, perspective, and point of view.
9-12	Civics Standard Four 9-12	Develop and employ the skills necessary to work with government programs and agencies, and to work within a political party, a commission examining public policy, or a citizen's group.
9-12	Civics Standard One 9-12	Analyze the ways in which the structure and purposes of different governments around the world reflect differing ideologies, cultures, values, and histories.
9-12	Civics Standard Three 9-12	Understand that citizens are individually responsible for keeping themselves informed about public policy issues at the local, state, and federal levels; participating in the civic process; and upholding the laws.
9-12	Civics Standard Two 9-12	Examine and analyze the extra-Constitutional role political parties play in American politics, and understand government as a dynamic process combining formal balances of power with traditions, precedents, and interpretations.
9-12	Economics Standard Four 9-12	Analyze and interpret the influence of the distribution of the world's resources, political stability, national efforts to encourage or discourage trade, and the flow of investment on patterns of international trade.
9-12	Economics Standard One 9-12	Demonstrate how individual economic choices are made within the context of a market economy in which markets influence the production and distribution of goods and services.
9-12	Economics Standard Three 9-12	Analyze the wide range of opportunities and consequences resulting from current transitions from command to market economies.
9-12	Economics Standard Two 9-12	Develop an understanding of how economies function as a whole, including the causes and effects of inflation, unemployment, business cycles, and monetary and fiscal policies.
9-12	Geography Standard Four 9-12	Apply knowledge of the types of regions and methods of drawing boundaries to interpret the Earth's changing complexity.
9-12	Geography Standard One 9-12	Identify geographic patterns that emerge when collected data is mapped, and apply spatial analysis to problem-solving.
9-12	Geography Standard Three 9-12	Understand the processes that result in distinctive cultures, economic activity, and settlement form in particular locations across the world.
9-12	Geography Standard Two 9-12	Understand the Earth's physical environment as a set of interconnected systems (ecosystems) and the ways humans have perceived, reacted to, and changed environments at local to global scales.
9-12	History Standard Four 9-12	Develop an understanding of modern United States history and its connections to Delaware and world history, and of recent and modern world history and its connections to United States history.
9-12	History Standard One 9-12	Analyze historical materials to trace the development of an idea or trend across space or over a prolonged period of time in order to explain patterns of historical continuity and change.
9-12	History Standard Three 9-12	Compare competing historical narratives by contrasting different historians' choice of questions, use and choice of sources, perspectives, beliefs, and points of view.
9-12	History Standard Two 9-12	Develop and implement effective research strategies, and examine and analyze primary and secondary sources to differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations.

Is homeschooling legal in Delaware?

Yes. Delaware treats homeschools as nonpublic schools under Title 14.

Do I have to notify anyone to homeschool in Delaware?

Is standardized testing required for homeschoolers in Delaware?

No annual test is mandated for homeschoolers in Delaware. The state test (DeSSA (Delaware System of Student Assessments): Smarter Balanced for ELA & Math (grades 3-8), SAT at high school; NGSS-based Science (grades 5, 8, and HS Biology); Social Studies (grades 4, 7, 11)) is not required for home-educated students.

What subjects are required for homeschooling in Delaware?

Delaware statute does not enumerate a required subject list. Families typically cover English/language arts, math, science, and social studies.

Does Delaware have its own learning standards?

Math: CCSS-M. ELA: CCSS-ELA. Science: NGSS. Social studies: Delaware Recommended Curriculum / Delaware Social Studies Standards (Civics, Economics, Geography, History).

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