American Home Schools

Utah State Law [Section 53-A-11-102 (b) (ii)] states that a home educator is to hold school for a certain number of days and hours, teach the subjects prescribed by law, and request an exemption from compulsory attendance from your local school district. There are no other statutory requirements.

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Summary :

The Utah State Law [Section 53-A-11-102 (b) (ii)] states that a home educator is to:

1. Hold school 180 days a year, 4 1/2 hours a day for grades one and 5 1/2 hours a day for grades two through twelve. (This does not mean that the home education program should be patterned after a public school program, i.e. 5 1/2 hours sitting at a desk. A mixture of formal and informal learning activities work best for most home educators).

2. Teach the subjects prescribed by law. This is basically the Utah State Core Curriculum. It can be obtained from any school district, or the state Office of Education (250 E. 500 S., SLC).

3. Request an exemption from compulsory attendance from your local school district.

There are no other statutory requirements.

To be legal, a home educator needs to request an exemption from the local school district, normally using a letter, saying they are teaching their child(ren) at home. If, in the letter, you mention that you are aware of the legal requirements, it helps assure them that you have done your homework. They sometimes will send to you, in response to your letter, a form that they use to make all home education requests uniform.