Light requirements
Homeschooling in Missouri
Nothing is filed with anyone and nobody tests your child. You do owe real hours and three kinds of records, kept at home.
Getting started (notice)
none required. A declaration of enrollment may be filed with the county recorder of deeds or the county clerk, and filing it is optional.
Required subjects
1,000 hours of instruction each school year, at least 600 of them in reading, mathematics, social studies, language arts and science, and at least 400 of those 600 delivered at the regular home school location. The statute does not define that location.
Records you must keep
three things, kept by you and shown to nobody routinely: a plan book, diary or other written record showing subjects taught and activities engaged in, a portfolio of samples of the child's academic work, and a record of evaluations of academic progress. Keeping at least two years on hand is the usual advice, and high school records are worth keeping indefinitely.
Testing / evaluation
no testing required. Evaluations are simply one of the three records you keep, and their form is yours to choose.
Parent qualifications
none.
Where Letters & Devotion fits in Missouri
Whatever Missouri asks you to keep, keeping it should not be a job. Letters & Devotion logs instructional hours automatically while your child works, tracks mastery per skill as a ready-made portfolio record, and prints a transcript in one click, so notices, portfolios and evaluations start from records that already exist. The curriculum itself covers every core subject, K through 12.
Read all 84 courses in full before you pay anythingEvery unit, every skill, every objective. No account, no card.$29 a month after the first month. Cancel anytime, in one click.
This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice, and laws change. Last verified 2026-08. Always confirm current requirements with your state before relying on them. Sources:
- https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=167.031
- https://dese.mo.gov/mosis-subjects/homeschool
HSLDA also publishes a plain-language summary of Missouri's law, at hslda.org/legal/missouri, and sells a paid legal-defense membership built on top of it. It is an advocacy organization, not a legal authority: its leadership is explicitly Christian, and it lobbies on homeschool legislation, positions a family may or may not share. Read what membership actually costs and covers before joining anything.