How to Homeschool in Rhode Island

What Rhode Island homeschool law requires

The whole list for the 2026–2027 school year, from General Laws §§ 16-19-1 and 16-19-2 and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's home instruction answers:

RIDE: home instruction questions and answers (PDF) R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-1, compulsory attendance

How to start homeschooling in Rhode Island

1. Ask your town's school committee for its home instruction process; each has its own yearly one. Present your plan and have the committee's approval before you withdraw a child or begin.
2. Write the plan: that you will teach the required subjects (reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, the history of the United States, the history of Rhode Island and the principles of American government, in English, with civics, health and physical education), that the instruction is thorough and efficient, and how your child's progress will be evaluated, agreed between you and the committee. You may copy the public school curriculum, use correspondence courses, or design your own; Faith Schooling's reading, language arts and mathematics programs publish a scope and sequence that fills those lines.
3. Plan a period of instruction substantially equal to the public schools' (districts provide at least 1,080 hours a year); the free Homeschool Rhythm Builder turns your week into a printable plan with an hour count. Home instruction need not start in September.
4. Once approved, withdraw your child and begin. Keep attendance registers and return them to the school committee, the superintendent and the Department, with regular reports to the person in charge of home instruction in your district.
5. Evaluate progress as agreed, which may include testing in the required subjects at regular intervals, at home or off school premises by agreement; keep the reports or scores. A committee's denial may be appealed to the Commissioner.

How Faith Schooling covers Rhode Island's requirements

Rhode Island asks for attendance substantially equal to the public schools', which the Department puts at 1,080 hours a year: about six hours a day over 36 weeks of five days, or 45 weeks of four, on the calendar you describe in your plan.

Rhode Island's plan has to show the required subjects and instruction a school committee can call thorough and efficient. Faith Schooling's programs are a plan a committee can read: reading is Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency, writing is Grammar Garden, arithmetic is Building Number Sense, each a sequenced textbook with a printed scope and a teaching guide for every grade from Kindergarten to Grade 5, and their dated, finished pages are the evidence for the progress checks you agree. Geography, the two histories, American government, civics, health and physical education are yours to choose.

Rhode Island asks for attendance registers returned to the district, and the progress reports or scores you agree to. The dated, finished pages of each program are that record, and a HARVEST report is a placement note for the file.

Reading

Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency K–5 reading textbooks in four quarterly volumes a year, with complete teaching guides

Writing

Grammar Garden K–5 language and writing coursebooks, four a year, with Preceptor Guides

Arithmetic

Building Number Sense K–5 mathematics textbooks; Kindergarten to Grade 2 add practice workbooks and teaching guides

Geography, the history of the United States, the history of Rhode Island, the principles of American government, civics, health and physical education

Your choice Faith Schooling does not publish these subjects; choose what fits your family

Bible

The Apostolic Academy not something Rhode Island requires; free: Scripture memory, Bible study and printables for the family

The curriculum map Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency Grammar Garden Building Number Sense HARVEST placement Homeschool Rhythm Builder

What Rhode Island does not require, and you should still do

• Place your child. Rhode Island sets no state test, and the evaluation is whatever you and the committee agree; HARVEST, the free placement check, names the grade and quarter to start in reading and math, and its report is a page you can attach to the plan.
• Plan the year before you file. The Homeschool Rhythm Builder turns your week into a printable plan with an hour count, which is the calendar and the attendance your plan describes.
• Keep the pages dated from the first week. The agreed evaluation rests on them, and a dated stack of finished work is the record the district's home instruction contact will want to see.

HARVEST free placement Homeschool Rhythm Builder The Apostolic Academy