Homeschool portfolio requirements in Wisconsin (2026-2027)

What Wisconsin requires instead of a portfolio

Wisconsin has no portfolio rule. Your homeschool must meet the program criteria in § 118.165(1), and each year you tell the state it does (§§ 118.15(4), 115.30(3)).

Here’s the easy part. The law names no number of days, no daily hours and no form for tracking your 875 hours. It doesn’t say how to count them, either.

Your curriculum doesn’t have to include anything that conflicts with your family’s religious doctrines (§ 118.165(1)(d)). You need no teaching license or degree, and you can teach or name someone else to (§ 115.001(3g); DPI). A program taught to more than one family together is not a home-based program.

The PI-1206, every year by October 15

The one thing you file is the PI-1206 Homeschool Enrollment Report, online, on or before October 15 each school year (§ 115.30(3); DPI). It reports how many children you homeschool, in elementary and high school grades, and states that your program meets § 118.165(1).

It is not an application. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) says neither it nor your school district can approve or deny your homeschool. Your resident district sees the report online as soon as you submit it.

Filing opens July 1 for the new school year. If you pull your child out of a school after October 15, file by the day your child stops attending. DPI says no district can make you file before October 15.

Update the report if you move to another district or the number of children you homeschool changes. If your child won’t turn 6 by September 1, you don’t file for that child that year (DPI).

Who checks your homeschool

No one, on a schedule. Wisconsin law has no testing, no evaluator and no yearly review of your records (DPI).

DPI says no agency or school district has express authority to monitor a home-based program or verify your hours and curriculum. But a district may look into a complaint that a program does not meet the law. It could invite you to a meeting to document your hours and the curriculum you use in each subject.

Testing is your choice. A district may offer its local tests for a fee, but it doesn’t have to. Public districts can’t give state-required tests to homeschooled students (DPI).

The Wisconsin homeschool year, date by date

Wisconsin’s school year runs July 1 to June 30. One date matters every year: October 15.

School is required from age 6 until the end of the term in which your child turns 18 (§ 118.15(1)(a)). A home-based program that meets the criteria takes the place of school (§ 118.15(4)).

How long to keep homeschool records in Wisconsin

The law sets no time, because it asks for no records. DPI keeps your PI-1206 reports for seven years and says keeping copies is your job.

DPI calls the PI-1206 the only state record that shows you homeschooled. Your child may need copies for college, the military, a job, an apprenticeship or programs like Social Security.

The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) suggests keeping most records, like hours, book lists and work samples, at least two years. It says to keep high school records and every PI-1206 forever. Both are advice, not law.

Our advice: keep a few originals on paper. Those are every PI-1206 printout or confirmation, any letter from a school district or DPI, test score reports if you test, and high school work you may need for a transcript or credit. Everything else can be a scan.

Work samples: not required, still worth keeping

Wisconsin asks for no work samples. DPI still recommends keeping records of the instruction you give.

They help if a district ever looks into a complaint. They help if your child goes back to school, where placement and credits are the school’s call (DPI). And a college may ask for your PI-1206 copies plus records of hours, curriculum and progress (DPI).

What counts is up to you. Examples, not rules: a dated math page, a writing piece, a book list, a science lab sheet, a health project.

There is no public diploma for homeschoolers. DPI says you may make your own.

Homeschool, virtual charter or private school

The rules on this page are for a home-based program. Some learning at home is not homeschooling under Wisconsin law (DPI).

Public school classes and sports

A school board must let your homeschooled child take up to 2 courses a semester at a public school, if there is space (§ 118.53). Your child can take one course in each of 2 districts, but no more than 2 a semester. DPI says to register with the district office.

Your resident district must also let your child join its sports and extracurricular activities on the same basis as its own students (§ 118.133). For sports, the district can ask you for a written statement that your child meets its age, academic and discipline rules. It can’t question the statement or ask for more.

Can your records be digital?

Yes, as far as the law goes. It sets no format for any record, and no evaluator reviews them. Even DPI’s own PI-1206 is filed online and saved as a PDF.

Keep copies you could print if a district asks after a complaint, or a college asks for proof. That is advice, not law.

What changes in 2026 and 2027

2026

No change to Wisconsin’s homeschool law. No 2025 or 2026 act changed the rules on this page, so 875 hours, six subjects and the October 15 PI-1206 all stand.

DPI’s PI-1206 for the 2026-27 school year is open now. It is due on or before October 15, 2026.

2027

No change is scheduled. The PI-1206 for 2027-28 opens July 1, 2027, and is due October 15, 2027.

The 2027 Legislature convenes January 4, 2027. Any new bill would come after that.

Keeping your records in KidsFoldr

No law tells you what to keep, so the easy answer is to keep it all, on your phone instead of a shelf of binders. Snap each paper for peace of mind, and the paper can go. Years of hours logs, book lists and work fit on your phone, filed by child, grade and type (and subject for schoolwork), with nobody sorting and nothing to type.

The few originals named above stay on paper. Snap them too, so a copy is always at hand. Snap a letter from your district, a test appointment or a public school course schedule, and the date lands on your family calendar, linked back to the paper, with nothing to type.

Attendance can fill itself in from your papers. In the Attendance or hours log, Fill from papers adds a day for every date your child has schoolwork, artwork or a test on file. Add your hours toward the 875.

If a district or a college asks, the year is ready. Start a New portfolio for a grade or your own dates, like July 1 to June 30, and print or share the PDF. You pick the sections. For Wisconsin, you might switch on:

• The attendance or hours log, for your 875 hours
• Work samples, sorted by subject, for the six required subjects
• A reading log, for your book list
• Letters and notices, for each year’s PI-1206

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, and every paper is searchable by any word on it.