What to teach in Kentucky

The subjects Kentucky requires

• No subjects mandated by statute for non-certified homeschools since 2023: KRS 158.080's English-language and subject requirements now apply only to state-certified private schools. HSLDA (2020) still advises teaching in English and covering reading, writing, spelling, grammar, history, mathematics, science, and civics.

Quoted from the statute or regulation cited on the law page. Requirements for Grades K–5 are listed where the state sets them, but this site teaches Grades 6–12, so only those are matched below.

Courses that cover them

Kentucky's list touches all four subjects taught here. Each course below is a full year.

Mathematics

English

Science

Social studies

Each is planned as a 36-week year of about 180 sessions, five a week — the year 20 of the 21 course guides set out explicitly. How long a session runs is yours to set.

Does this meet the hours?

No minimum term for non-certified homeschools (KDE). Certified private schools must meet the public minimum of 1,062 hours over at least 170 days, which KDE recommends for all homeschools.

Each course here plans a 36-week year of about 180 sessions, five a week — the year 20 of the 21 course guides set out explicitly. The length of a session is left to you, because a Grade 6 session and a Grade 12 one are not the same thing.

At 45 minutes a session — an assumption, not a rule — that is about 135 hours a course, so four courses come to roughly 540 hours. Against Kentucky's 1062 hours that leaves about 522 hours to account for: independent reading, the subjects below that this site does not teach, projects and field trips. Longer sessions close the gap quickly — at 60 minutes the same four courses come to 720 hours. Work it with your own session length rather than ours.

The four high school years

In most states the parent issues the diploma and writes the transcript, which makes the four-year plan the record — there is no school registrar keeping one for you. A full sequence of these courses looks like this.

Four subjects across four years is 16 full-year courses. Credits, grades and the diploma itself are Kentucky's business, not this site's — what Kentucky says about diplomas and transcripts.