According to the Connecticut General Statutes, Chapter 168, Section 10-184, parents who have custody of a child between the ages of 5 and 18 must provide an education for them. Parents of children who are 5 and 6 years old can choose to delay the beginning of their education, but must begin providing education for their children by age 7. This obligation continues until the child obtains a high school diploma or until the child is 16, when he may withdraw from school with parental permission.
Connecticut requires that "...parents and those who have the care of children shall ...instruct them or cause them to be instructed in reading, writing, spelling, English grammar, geography, arithmetic and United States history and in citizenship, including a study of the town, state and federal governments". Parents must also be able to demonstrate that their children are receiving "equivalent instruction in the studies taught in the public schools." The Connecticut State Board of Education established recommendations for home-schooling families to prove that the instruction they offer is in compliance with this law, which include a portfolio review. The recommendations are not law, but they do provide a way for home-schooling families to show that their instruction meets legal requirements.
If you educate your children at home in Connecticut, neither the local, regional, nor state board of education is obligated to provide special education services. You can enroll your child in a public school and receive special education services, but if your child is not enrolled in a public school and you have chosen to educate your child at home, special education services will be provided from personal or private funding sources.
The Connecticut board of education for each local and regional school district must provide an annual report of school-aged children in their respective jurisdictions. This includes children in private schools and home-schooled children. Home schooling parents may be contacted requesting information on their children. Parents who educate their children at home are required to provide the name, age, and state that the children are taught at home. Failure to provide this information can result in a fine. No further information is legally required. This should not be confused with the Notice of Intent, a recommended notice submitted to the local school district with information on subjects taught by the home-schooling family and the children being educated at home.