Starting homeschool can feel like learning a second language before you even choose a reading book. In Rhode Island, the useful starting point is simple: home instruction approval belongs to the school committee of the town where your child resides. The state education department does not directly supervise home schooling.
Start with the local approval process
Section 16-19-1 recognizes home instruction when the course of instruction is approved by the resident town’s school committee. Contact your local school office for its current submission procedure and ask who handles requests on the committee’s behalf. Obtain approval before relying on home instruction as the attendance exception; if you are withdrawing midyear, coordinate the transition rather than assuming that sending a letter completes it.
There is no single statewide homeschool request form or filing deadline in these statutes. A committee may have its own form, submission channel, calendar and renewal practice. Treat those as local procedures, not rules borrowed from Pennsylvania, Florida, New York or Massachusetts.
What does the instruction plan cover?
Section 16-19-2 lists reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, the history of the United States, the history of Rhode Island, and the principles of American government. It also calls for instruction in English, attendance substantially equal to public school, attendance registers, and thorough and efficient instruction.
Write a short, realistic description of how your child will learn each listed subject. Books, conversation, projects, museums and practical activities can be part of your proposed approach. A plan can describe flexible learning without promising a minute-by-minute classroom schedule. Health and PE are commonly added locally, but they are not among the seven subjects listed in § 16-19-2.
A useful first-request checklist
- Identify the child, residence, school year and proposed start date.
- Describe instruction in each statutory subject and the materials or approaches you expect to use.
- Explain how you will record attendance and ask how the register should be returned.
- Ask what progress information the committee expects under the approval terms, if any.
- Keep the request, attachments, submission confirmation and committee decision together.
A parent-prepared template helps organize your proposal; it is not an official statewide form and does not grant approval by itself.
Make the decision and next steps clear
Ask for written confirmation of approval, any conditions and any locally agreed follow-up dates. If a request is unclear, ask which approval point it addresses. Section 16-19-2 also provides an appeal route to the commissioner of elementary and secondary education; seek qualified advice if there is a dispute rather than treating a template letter as a legal resolution.
A home base for your Rhode Island records
Pennsole’s Rhode Island requirements guide and request and instruction-plan generator are free, with no account needed. Membership adds saved plans, daily logs, an attendance register, progress-report templates, optional portfolios, a committee log and an evaluation tracker. Rhode Island membership is $149/year ($12.42/month billed annually).
Official sources
- R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-1 — compulsory attendance and approved home instruction
- R.I. Gen. Laws § 16-19-2 — approval, subjects and attendance registers
- Rhode Island Department of Education — home schooling
Reviewed October 25, 2026. General guidance, not legal advice. Check current law and your school committee’s procedures before acting.