The following are the minimal requirements for the operation of a home school in Kentucky:

1. Education is a fundamental right.  Rose V. Council for Better Education, Inc. Ky., 790 S.W. 2d 186 (1989).  Compulsory attendance laws (KRS 159.010) require that every child between the ages of 6 and 16 be enrolled in school.  KRS 159.030 exempts a child from attending public school who is enrolled and regularly attending a private, parochial or church regular day school.  Home schools are considered to be private schools in Kentucky, and the laws relating to private schools apply equally to home schools.  Therefore, when you decide to educate your children at home, you must first establish a bonafide school for your children to attend.  Furthermore, you are required to notify the local superintendent of schools by letter that you have established a school, and to report the names, ages, and place of residence of each pupil in attendance at the school, together with any facts that the superintendent may require to facilitate carrying out the laws relating to compulsory attendance and employment of children. (KRS 159.160)  It is recommended that you keep a copy of any information that you provide to the local school district.
2. The private, home, and parochial schools shall teach those subjects that will educate children to be intelligent citizens.  State law requires that instruction be offered in English and in the branches of study that are taught in the public schools.  This is interpreted to include at least reading, writing, spelling, grammar, history, mathematics and civics.  KRS 158.080, and Kentucky State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education v. Rudasill, Ky., 589 S.W. 2d 877 (1979).
3. Private, home and parochial schools shall provide instruction for a term at least as long as the term in effect for the public school in the district where the child resides. (KRS 158.080)  The minimum school term is defined in KRS 158.070 which states:  The minimum school term shall be 185 days, including no less than the equivalent of 175 six (6) hour instructional days.  This would be 1050 instructional hours.
4. The private and parochial schools shall record and maintain scholarship reports of each student’s progress at the same interval as in the local public school, grading all subjects taught. (KRS 159.040)
5. Kentucky requires that an accurate record of pupil attendance be kept. (KRS 159.040)  Attendance may be recorded in a notebook, or on a computer list or in a register provided by the Kentucky Department of Education to the local school district.
6. KRS 158.040 requires that all private schools be open to inspection by directors of pupil personnel or officials of the Department of Education.