Homeschooling in Rhode Island.

Regulation level

High (prior approval + register duty to four recipients + 1,080-hour equivalent)

Statute citation

R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-1(a) (at-home instruction clause · approval by local school committee) + § 16-19-2 (approval conditions · substantially equal + register duty + required subjects) + § 16-22-2 (civics education) + § 16-2-2 (180 days / 1,080 hours public school minimum · RIDE reads home instruction as substantially equal). Last substantive amendment to § 16-19-2: 1984.

Who you notify (if any)

LOCAL school committee of the town where the child resides. RIDE does not directly supervise at-home instruction · approval is exclusively local.

How and when

Advance APPROVAL required BEFORE beginning at-home instruction (verbatim RIDE FAQ Revised October 2024: 'R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-1(a) requires that your at-home instruction plan be approved by your local school committee before you begin at-home instruction.')

Notification method

Written plan for advance approval by local school committee

Assessment options

Locally negotiated at plan approval

Required subjects

['Reading', 'Writing', 'Geography', 'Arithmetic', 'History of the United States', 'History of Rhode Island', 'Principles of American government', 'Civics', 'Health and physical education (per RIDE FAQ · substantially-equal derivation)']

Instruction hours

1,080 school hours per year · equivalent of 5½-hour day for 180 days · per § 16-2-2(a)(1) public school minimum + § 16-19-2(1) substantially-equal standard. RIDE FAQ verbatim: 'School districts in Rhode Island are currently required to provide a minimum of one thousand eighty (1,080) school hours during each school year, which is the equivalent of a 5 ½ hour day for at least 180 days per year. The at-home instruction does not have to exactly align with the public school calendar.' Standard is substantially equal not exactly equal · calendar need not mirror public school calendar.

Records required

REGISTERS · kept AND RETURNED to the school committee, superintendent, truant officers AND RIDE · in the same form as public school registers (verbatim § 16-19-2(2): 'that registers are kept and returned to the school committee, the superintendent of schools, truant officers, and the department of elementary and secondary education in relation to the attendance of pupils, and are made the same as registers kept by the public schools')

Parent qualification

NOT-STATED-BY-STATUTE