- The law asks for no portfolio, no records of schoolwork and no standardized test.
- Notify the Public Education Department (PED) within 30 days of starting, then every year by August 1, for each child. Save the proof it gives you.
- Also: keep the immunization record or waiver, teach five subjects, and make sure the teacher has at least a high school diploma.
The paper on your table is this year’s folder of work: worksheets, a book list, a few projects. Beside it sit PED’s Home School Parent Notification Report, one for each child each year, and your child’s immunization record or waiver.
Good news: New Mexico’s rules are short. One thing to know first: a child in a New Mexico online public school is not a home school student, so this page isn’t for that family (see which rules apply).
Does New Mexico require a homeschool portfolio?
No. The home school law asks you to notify the state, keep an immunization record and have a qualified teacher. It says nothing about a portfolio, work samples, grades or a test (NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2.1; PED).
Here is what the law does ask (NMSA 1978 §§ 22-1-2(E), 22-1-2.1):
- You, the parent or guardian, run the home school.
- Teach at least reading, language arts, math, social studies and science.
- Whoever teaches has at least a high school diploma or its equivalent. You may hire someone for a subject, but you stay responsible.
- Keep a record of your child’s immunizations, or the waiver.
The law covers children from the school year they turn five by September 1 until they turn 18 or graduate (NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2(O); Attendance for Success Act, NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-4).
PED still encourages records. It calls them “not a legal requirement,” but suggests keeping your notifications, instructional hours, the materials you used and portfolios of your child’s work. Those records help if your child moves to a school or goes on to college or training.
Notifying the state every year
Notify PED within 30 days of starting your home school. Then notify again every year, on or before August 1 (NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2.1). It goes to the state, not your school district.
You have two ways to do it. Use PED’s online Home School System: create an account, add each child, then click “Notify” next to each child’s name. PED warns that last step is easy to miss. Or mail PED’s paper Notification of a Home School form.
Keep the proof. Online, print or save the Home School Parent Notification Report. It carries a 5-digit registration number, unique to each child for each school year. For the paper form, PED suggests certified mail with a return receipt.
PED opens each year’s notification on June 1. If you stop homeschooling, you can disenroll your child in the same system.
How many days or hours?
The home school law names no number. New Mexico’s Attendance for Success Act says your child attends school for at least the length of your district’s school year (NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-4(B)).
PED’s FAQ answers the hours question with the public school minimum: 1,140 instructional hours a year, or 550 for half-day kindergarten (NMSA 1978 § 22-2-8.1). HSLDA advises teaching the same number of days as your local public school, generally 180.
No law asks you to log or report hours. Our advice: keep a simple hours log anyway. PED suggests one, and it answers the question if anyone asks.
Home school, online school or a class at your local school
A child in a New Mexico online public school is not a home school student, so you don’t notify PED. A child in an out-of-state online school or program is, so you do (PED).
| Route | Notify PED as a home school? | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Home school | Yes: within 30 days of starting, then by August 1 each year | NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2.1 |
| New Mexico online public school | No. Your child is a public school student. | PED |
| Out-of-state online school or program | Yes. PED treats you as a home school that hired the program. | PED |
School sports and classes
Your child may take part in up to three school district athletic activities at the public school in your attendance zone, under New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) guidelines. The district checks your child’s academic eligibility (NMSA 1978 § 22-8-23.8).
Taking a class part-time at the local school is up to your district, PED says. Our advice: ask the school’s athletic director or principal what proof of grades they want. A few work samples back up whatever you send.
What counts as a work sample?
New Mexico has no rule, because it requires no samples. Our examples, not the law’s: a dated math page, a writing piece, a book list, a photo of a project, and any test you choose to give.
The New Mexico homeschool year, date by date
Two dates matter: 30 days after you start, and August 1 every year after that. Everything else stays at home.
| When | What | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Within 30 days of starting | Notify PED for each child, and save the proof | NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2.1 |
| All year | Teach reading, language arts, math, social studies and science | NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2(E) |
| All year | At least the length of your district’s school year | Attendance for Success Act (NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-4) |
| All year | Keep the immunization record or waiver | NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2.1 |
| June 1 | PED opens the next year’s notification | PED |
| By August 1, every later year | Notify PED again, for each child | NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2.1 |
How long to keep homeschool records in New Mexico
The law sets no period. Our advice: keep every year’s proof of notification for good. To qualify for New Mexico’s Lottery Scholarship, a home school student must have finished while registered with PED, which means you notified in those years. So that proof may matter long after.
HSLDA advises keeping attendance records, work samples, test results and letters from officials for at least two years. It says to keep high school records, and proof you followed the law in those years, forever. That’s advice, not law.
If your child goes back to school
Your local school board sets the rules for placing a child who comes from a home school (NMSA 1978 § 22-1-4(D)). Younger children are likely placed with children their age, PED says. For high school, the board or charter school decides which credits count.
PED lists the records that help: a transcript, the materials you used, the lessons you covered, test scores and a portfolio of work, exams included. A transcript isn’t required, but colleges and schools find one useful. New Mexico’s state colleges can’t demand an equivalency credential from a home school student whose test scores qualify (NMSA 1978 § 21-1-1(B)).
Will a school or college accept digital records?
The law doesn’t say what form your records must take. PED’s own proof of notification is a report you print or save as a PDF.
So whether a school, a coach or a college takes a digital homeschool portfolio is their call. Ask first. A printed copy works for anyone who wants paper.
What changes in 2026 and 2027
2026
No change to New Mexico’s home school law. No 2025 or 2026 law amended NMSA 1978 §§ 22-1-2 or 22-1-2.1, or the Attendance for Success Act (§ 22-12A-4).
Three 2026 bills on school attendance (House Bills 218 and 219, Senate Bill 105) died, as did a 2025 bill for a home school curriculum tax credit (House Bill 177). A 2025 special-session law (Senate Bill 3) changed how the Department of Health sets the shots children need, home schoolers included. Your duty to keep the record or waiver is the same.
2027
No change is scheduled. The 2027 session runs from January 19 to March 20, 2027, and no 2027 bills are posted yet.
Keeping the year’s work in KidsFoldr
The stack of worksheets can go, and the year stays organized with no sorting and nothing to type. Snap each page as you teach, and KidsFoldr files it by child, grade and type, with schoolwork and tests by subject too. It’s a homeschool record keeping app that does the filing for you.
- The paper goes, with no guilt. Scan a page for peace of mind, then toss it: no pile on the counter, no shelf of binders. Keep the originals that matter, though: the immunization record, any letter from PED or your district, test score reports, and high school work a school may need for credit.
- The paperwork keeps up. Save each year’s notification report PDF into KidsFoldr, or forward any email from PED, and it files the same way.
- Dates land on the calendar. Snap a sports sign-up sheet or a letter with a test date, or forward the email, and each date goes on your family calendar, linked back to its paper, with nothing to type.
- The record is ready when a school or college asks. Start a New portfolio, pick your dates or grades, and get one PDF with a cover and contents. Share or print it from your phone, or share your child’s Portfolios folder read-only.
- Keepsakes stay safe, artwork and projects included. Turn on automatic backup, and every paper goes to KidsFoldr Cloud as it is filed. One tap on Back up copies every paper to your own Google Drive or iCloud.
You pick the portfolio’s sections and their order. For the records PED suggests, you might switch on:
- Work samples, grouped by subject.
- A reading log (title, author and date) for the year’s books.
- An attendance or hours log. Fill from papers adds a day for every date your child has schoolwork, artwork or a test; you type the hours.
- Test results for any test you choose to give.
- Letters and notices for each year’s notification report.
Common questions
Do I have to keep a homeschool portfolio in New Mexico?
No. The law doesn’t require one. PED encourages a portfolio and other records anyway, because they help if your child moves to a school or applies to college.
Do I have to notify the state every year?
Yes. Notify PED within 30 days of starting, then on or before August 1 every year after, for each child (NMSA 1978 § 22-1-2.1).
Does my child have to take a standardized test?
No. New Mexico doesn’t require annual testing for home school students. You can choose to test, PED says.
How long do I have to keep homeschool records in New Mexico?
The law sets no period. Keep every year’s proof of notification, since the Lottery Scholarship looks at those years. HSLDA advises at least two years for most records, and high school records forever.
Is an online public school a home school?
No. A New Mexico online public school student is a public school student. A child in an out-of-state online program is a home school student, so you notify PED.