Delaware treats homeschools as nonpublic schools and asks for exactly two things a year: a pupil enrollment statement filed by September 30 and an end-of-year attendance report filed by July 31, both submitted through the Department of Education's online Nonpublic School system. There is no standardized testing, no curriculum submission, no portfolio, and no teacher qualification for the standard homeschool categories. The state counts homeschooled students; it does not evaluate them, which is why the transcript and diploma the parent produces are the records everything else is built on.
Legal framework
14 Delaware Code 2703A recognizes three homeschool categories. A single-family homeschool is the education of an individual's own child, primarily by the parent or legal guardian, mainly in their own residence. A multi-family homeschool educates children who are not all related to each other as brother or sister, primarily by their parents or guardians, and one person must act as liaison to the Department of Education for reporting enrollment and attendance for all families involved. The third option, a single-family homeschool coordinated with the local school district, uses a curriculum approved by the local superintendent or the superintendent's designee, who determines that the child is receiving regular and thorough instruction in the subjects prescribed for the public schools.
Compulsory attendance under 14 Delaware Code 2702 covers children between 5 and 16 years of age. The Department of Education's homeschool pages state its role plainly: it does not provide, endorse, accredit, approve or monitor curriculum for any nonpublic school. Registration and annual counts are the entire state relationship for single-family and multi-family homeschools.
Notification & registration
Opening a homeschool means creating an EdAccess account and submitting a Delaware nonpublic school application through the department's NPS system. Once the school is open, 14 Delaware Code 2704 sets the two annual filings: a statement of pupil enrollment submitted no later than September 30, a deadline 2023 legislation moved up from the old October 5 date, and end-of-year attendance information reported on or before July 31. The online system closes each year from August 1 to 11 for rollover to the new school year and reopens August 12. There is no notice to the local district for the standard categories; the filing runs to the state.
Recordkeeping
The only records Delaware ever asks a single-family or multi-family homeschool for are the enrollment count and the attendance total behind the July 31 report, so keep a simple attendance log through the year. Beyond that the state requires no standardized testing, no progress reports, no work samples, and no subject checklist. That freedom cuts both ways: because no agency holds any academic file on the student, the department itself advises families to verify with colleges, training programs, licensing entities and employers that a homeschool diploma will be accepted, which in practice means keeping a thorough high school transcript with course titles, credits and grades.
Graduation requirements
Delaware sets no graduation requirements for homeschool students. The parent operating the school decides when the program is complete and what the diploma requires. Many families shape the high school years around the college preparatory pattern Delaware institutions expect to see, four years of English and progressively harder math, laboratory science and social studies, because the receiving college, not the state, is the audience that will read the transcript.
Who issues the diploma
The parent operating the homeschool issues the diploma in the name of the registered nonpublic school and signs it as administrator. In a multi-family homeschool the school itself, through the operating parents, issues it. Delaware provides no state-issued homeschool diploma, and the Department of Education does not certify completion or accredit the school; the registration in the NPS system is a compliance record, not a credential.
College & military recognition
The University of Delaware folds homeschool applicants into its standard process: students who were homeschooled and followed a traditional U.S. educational curriculum self-report their coursework and grades through STARS, the Self-Reported Transcript and Academic Record System, just like public school applicants. Admitted students who enroll must then submit a final high school transcript with a graduation date listed, with a July 15 deadline, and the university reserves the right to change the admission decision if official records differ from what was reported. For a homeschool family that final document is the parent-issued transcript, which is why it needs real dates, credits and a graduation date.
The state's flagship tuition program is also open on named terms. The SEED scholarship at Delaware Technical Community College sets an equivalency standard for Delaware home-schooled students: a complete home schooled academic transcript, or a combined 1350 on the SAT, or an ACT composite of at least 19, alongside the program's 2.5 GPA standard for direct entry, with tuition covered after other aid for up to ten semesters. Homeschool graduates qualify for Tier 1 military enlistment under current DoD policy.
Official source
For current statutory text, forms, and procedural updates, the authoritative source is the Delaware Department of Education. Homeschool laws change, so confirm specific requirements directly with the state before relying on them.