Homeschool Tracker & Planner › Homeschool requirements by state › Alabama
Homeschool record-keeping
Attendance log: Not stated; keep one anyway
Portfolio: Not required by the state
No days/hours for the church-school option that most Alabama homeschoolers use. The only statutory figure is for the private-tutor option: at least 3 hours a day for 140 days a year, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. (Ala. Code 16-28-5). The 180-day / 1,080-hour term in 16-13-231 binds local boards of education, not church schools or tutors.
Most families enroll the child in a church school, which ALSDE says it has no authority to license or regulate; there is no state testing, curriculum approval, or portfolio. The separate private-tutor option requires a teaching certificate, filing with the superintendent before starting, 3 hours a day for 140 days, and a daily register of work showing hours and attendance.
Whatever Alabama asks for, a daily log covers it: the date, which student, minutes or hours of instruction, the subjects touched, and a line of notes. Add a photo of one piece of work a week and you also have a portfolio. Keep the log all year and the end-of-year form is a matter of copying totals.
Keep Alabama records in the app
Homeschool Tracker & Planner has the Alabama rules built in, logs a school day in a few taps, and exports the attendance and hours PDF with a signature line. Free for the first 14 entries.
How many days or hours of homeschool does Alabama require?
No days/hours for the church-school option that most Alabama homeschoolers use. The only statutory figure is for the private-tutor option: at least 3 hours a day for 140 days a year, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. (Ala. Code 16-28-5). The 180-day / 1,080-hour term in 16-13-231 binds local boards of education, not church schools or tutors.
Do I have to keep attendance records to homeschool in Alabama?
Alabama's rules do not say either way. Most families keep one regardless: it is the fastest way to answer a district question, it feeds the year-end paperwork, and it settles any later dispute about days of instruction. A log with the date, hours and subjects for each school day is enough.
What do I file to homeschool in Alabama?
Most families enroll the child in a church school, which ALSDE says it has no authority to license or regulate; there is no state testing, curriculum approval, or portfolio. The separate private-tutor option requires a teaching certificate, filing with the superintendent before starting, 3 hours a day for 140 days, and a daily register of work showing hours and attendance.
What is the easiest way to keep the records?
Homeschool Tracker & Planner for iPhone logs each school day in a few taps (student, minutes, subject, notes and a photo of the work), tracks days and hours against the Alabama target, and exports an attendance and hours PDF with a parent certification line, plus a portfolio PDF. Records stay on the phone; no account is needed.
https://www.alabamaachieves.org/knowledge-base/homeschool-faqs/
Verified against the official source, September 13, 2026.