Choose to establish your home school under exception 3(a) to the rule about compulsory school attendance. Exception 3(a) establishes a non-public school home. Nothing formal needs to be done - a home can be used for schooling without a license or a permit.
Obtain certification as a teacher in Michigan or earn a bachelor's degree. This is necessary for teaching at a non-public home school unless you claim sincere religious objections to teacher certification.
Teach a curriculum that is comparable to what is being taught in public schools to students of the same age and grade level as your child. Michigan law states that the home school must offer an organized curriculum of reading, spelling, math, science, history, civics, literature, writing, English and grammar. You may choose to teach additional subjects, but those basics must be covered. You may also choose how to deliver those topics.
Provide local school districts with appropriate information when requested. The information they can legally demand includes the names of enrolled students, the course of studies and the qualifications of students. The Michigan Department of Education developed form SM4325 for easy reporting, but if you don't want to fill out the state-developed form, you can mail a letter that contains the required information.
Allow the local school superintendent to inspect your home, curriculum and students during occasional visits. This rarely happens, but non-public home schools are required to permit inspections or examinations at any time.
Choose to establish yourself as a home education program, which is exception 3(f) to the compulsory school attendance law. No permit or license is required.
Teach your children or legal wards only. There are no requirements for certification for teachers in a home education program. The only requirement is that the teachers are the parents or legal guardians of those being taught.
Organize a curriculum of appropriate level for the subjects including reading, spelling and math. The state does not regulate the content of the curriculum for home education programs. Representatives from the local school district do however have the option of inspecting a home education program to verify that these subjects are being taught.
Arrange for your students to receive appropriate auxiliary services. Public schools do not have to provide auxiliary services to students of a home-school program. You will have to find those services elsewhere. Auxiliary services include counseling, health services, speech and language classes and social services available through schools. You do have the option to send your child to non-core classes at the public school, which include band, choir, gym or driver's education.
Register your home school if your child has special needs and you plan to appeal to the school district for services. Inform your local school district that you are homeschooling so that your child won't be marked as absent and you won't be charged with truancy of a child. The form to be used is found on the Michigan Department of Education site and is called the Nonpublic School Membership Report to the Department.