Attendance by age differs based on the child's birthday. For children who turned 11 before Dec. 1, 2009, or those who entered sixth grade before 2009, the ages of required school attendance are 6 through 16.
For children who turned 11 after Dec. 1, 2009, or entered sixth grade in 2009 or later, the ages of required attendance are 6 through 18. These children are also from attendance if they are at least 16 and a parent notifies the school district in writing that the child has permission to stop attending school.
Unlike some states, Michigan has not set a mandatory number of school days for each year. However, parents are encouraged to set a calendar close to that of the public school district, which is 180 calendar days.
Michigan homeschools are required to classify themselves as either a home school or a non-public school. Each of these classifications then have their own separate regulations for parents or teachers.
Schools qualified as homeschools carry no requirements to notify the school district of intent to homeschool, to seek approval from the state, to test, to file forms, or to have any certain teacher qualifications.
Home schools operating as nonpublic schools do not need to be approved by the state. However, those operating as nonpublic schools must furnish the local school district superintendent with the name and age of each child enrolled in the school, the name of the school district and town where the parent resides, and the name and address of the parent.
Those classified as nonpublic schools are required to submit enrollment records, courses of study and teacher qualifications. These qualifications include a teaching certificate, a teaching permit, or a bachelor's degree unless there is a religious objection by the family. At that point, there are no further teacher requirements.
It is required for all homeschooling families that parents teach reading, spelling, mathematics, science, history, civics, literature, writing, and English grammar.
For high school grades, the U.S. Constitution, Michigan Constitution, and the history and present form of civil government of the U.S., Michigan, and the political subdivisions and municipalities of Michigan are required in non-public school classifications.