Wyoming Homeschool Requirements in 2025: What HB 46 Changed and What Stayed the Same

A lot of the information circulating about Wyoming homeschool requirements is now outdated. The 2025 Homeschool Freedom Act (HB 46) changed the rules in meaningful ways — but it did not eliminate all requirements, and some families are misreading the deregulation as blanket permission to skip steps that are still legally mandatory. Here is an accurate summary of where Wyoming law stands today.

What the 2025 Homeschool Freedom Act (HB 46) Actually Changed

Before HB 46 took effect in July 2025, Wyoming parents operating an independent home-based educational program were required to submit an annual curriculum outline to their local school district. Failure to submit was written into law as prima facie evidence of non-compliance — meaning the district had grounds to pursue a truancy action simply because you had not filed paperwork.

HB 46 removed that requirement. Parents no longer need to submit a curriculum to the district for routine independent homeschooling. The law shifted the legal framing from proactive submission to parental assurance: the responsibility is yours to ensure a compliant curriculum is being taught, but you are no longer required to prove it to the district upfront.

What else HB 46 eliminated or confirmed was never required:

• No annual registration with the school district or state
• No required number of instruction days or hours per year
• No parent qualification or teaching credential requirement
• No standardized testing mandate at any grade level
• No portfolio reviews or progress reports owed to the district

Wyoming was already a low-regulation state before this legislation. HB 46 pushed it further in that direction. Families moving from states like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, or New York — where portfolios, evaluator reviews, and subject-by-subject approval are standard — will find the contrast significant.

What Wyoming Still Requires

The deregulation is real, but it is not total. Several requirements remain in effect, and one of them catches families off guard more than any other.

The Seven-Subject Curriculum Requirement

Wyoming law still requires that a home-based educational program constitute a "basic academic educational program" as defined by W.S. § 21-4-101(a)(vi). The program must provide a sequentially progressive curriculum of fundamental instruction in seven subjects:

1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Mathematics
4. Civics
5. History
6. Literature
7. Science

You do not need to align to Wyoming Content and Performance Standards. You do not need to use state-approved materials. "Sequentially progressive" simply means the curriculum builds logically over time — it is not a prescription for scope and sequence. But all seven subjects must be part of your program.

The In-Person Withdrawal Meeting

This is the requirement most frequently missed or misunderstood by new homeschooling families, and it is the one with the most serious consequences if skipped.

Under W.S. § 21-4-102(c), before a child can be legally withdrawn from public school attendance to be independently homeschooled, the parent must meet in person with a school district counselor or administrator and provide written consent to the withdrawal at that meeting. This requirement was not changed by HB 46.

You cannot satisfy this requirement with a mailed letter, an email, a phone call, or a note sent home with your child. The statute requires in-person contact.

Why does this matter so much practically? Because Wyoming's compulsory attendance law requires children between ages 7 and 16 to attend school. If a child stops attending without a formal, legally completed withdrawal, the district's attendance system generates unexcused absences. Under Wyoming law, a child who has accumulated excessive unexcused absences is classified as a "habitual truant," and local attendance officers are required to investigate. These investigations can escalate quickly — including involvement of child welfare authorities in extreme cases — even when the parent genuinely intended to homeschool.

The fix is simple: schedule the in-person meeting before your child stops attending.

Curriculum Submission Exceptions Still Apply

HB 46 removed the general curriculum submission requirement, but there are specific situations where submission remains required:

• Public school sports and extracurriculars: If your homeschooled student wants to participate in WHSAA-sanctioned activities at the local public school under Wyoming's equal access statute (W.S. § 21-4-506), the family must still submit curriculum to the district to establish eligibility.
• Special education services: If a homeschooled child holds an IEP or 504 plan and the family wants the district to continue providing related services (speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc.), curriculum submission remains required.

Families who want the full deregulation benefit of HB 46 but also want public school sports access need to be aware of this trade-off. You cannot have curriculum-free independence and sports access at the same time — the law requires submission as a condition of accessing those district resources.

How Wyoming's Compulsory Attendance Law Applies to Homeschoolers

Wyoming Statute § 21-4-102 covers compulsory school attendance and the exemptions available to families. A child is exempt from compulsory attendance at a public school when the parent is providing a home-based educational program that meets the basic academic program requirements described above.

The key phrase is "home-based educational program." Wyoming law defines this narrowly: it is a program conducted in the family's place of residence, administered by a parent or guardian, that provides instruction in the seven required subjects in a sequentially progressive way. The parent must be the primary administrator. You are not legally creating a school — you are operating a home-based educational program under a specific statutory exemption from compulsory attendance.

This is relevant because it affects how you describe your program if you ever face questions from district officials or, in rare cases, child welfare workers. You are not claiming your home is a private school (a separate legal category in Wyoming). You are invoking the home-based educational program exemption under W.S. § 21-4-102.

What to Expect in the In-Person Withdrawal Meeting

The in-person meeting requirement creates a situation that most families are not prepared for. You are sitting down with a school official who may have institutional pressure to retain the student, may not be fully current on post-HB 46 law, or may simply ask questions that exceed their legal authority.

Common overreach from district staff in these meetings includes:

• Asking to review your curriculum before signing off on the withdrawal
• Requesting that you commit to submitting progress reports
• Inquiring about your teaching credentials or educational background
• Suggesting your child is better served staying enrolled in the district

None of these requests are legally binding on you as an independently homeschooling family (absent the sports/services exceptions). You are required to appear in person and provide written consent to the withdrawal. You are not required to justify your decision, demonstrate your qualifications, or agree to ongoing oversight.

Going into that meeting knowing exactly what the law requires — and what it does not — is the difference between a quick, clean withdrawal and a prolonged back-and-forth that may delay your child's official release from attendance requirements.

The Wyoming Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers this meeting in detail: what to bring, what the district can legally ask, what to say when they exceed their authority, and how to complete the withdrawal without creating unnecessary friction or accidentally agreeing to obligations that do not exist under Wyoming law.

A Summary of Wyoming Homeschool Requirements (Post-HB 46)

Wyoming's requirements are genuinely minimal for families operating independently. The primary friction point is the withdrawal process itself — specifically the in-person meeting and understanding what you can and cannot be asked to do at that meeting. Get the withdrawal right and the ongoing compliance picture is straightforward.

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