Colorado · Record-Keeping Guide

Homeschool Record Keeping in Colorado: The 172-Day Rule and the Odd-Grade Checkpoints

Colorado wants two weeks' notice, 172 four-hour days, records kept on file that the district can ask to see, and a test or evaluation in grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. In other words: Colorado homeschooling runs on records.

The Colorado framework: notify, teach, keep, and check in

Colorado's homeschool statute (C.R.S. § 22-33-104.5) asks four things:

File a notice of intent with a school district 14 days before you begin, and each year after - the children's names, ages, residence, and hours of attendance.
Teach 172 days a year, averaging four hours a day, covering reading, writing, and speaking, mathematics, history, civics, literature, science, and regular instruction in the U.S. Constitution.
Keep records: attendance, test and evaluation results, and immunization records. If the district has probable cause to believe the program isn't complying, it can ask to see them with 14 days' written notice.
Test or evaluate in grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11: a nationally normed standardized test (a composite score above the 13th percentile keeps you clear), or an evaluation by a qualified person showing sufficient academic progress. Results are submitted to the district that has your notice - or to an independent or parochial school you choose to hold them.

In Colorado, attendance isn't optional paperwork - it's the law's core 172 days at a four-hour average is a real count, and the attendance record proving it is one of the three things the statute explicitly requires you to keep. A tally kept daily is painless; a tally reconstructed in spring is a guessing game with legal stakes.

What a Colorado homeschool file should hold

The attendance count - days and the four-hour average, current at all times.
Test and evaluation results from every checkpoint grade, kept permanently.
Immunization records (or the applicable exemption).
Work samples and book lists - not named in the statute, but the evaluation option in checkpoint years is far easier when a qualified evaluator can leaf through a real year of work.

How The Homeschool Log maps to each requirement

✅ 172 days and the four-hour average, counted for you Set Colorado's targets once and every logged day and minute builds the attendance record the statute requires - visible at a glance all year.

📅 A dated log behind the count A sentence per subject per day means your attendance number isn't a bare tally - it's backed by a day-by-day record of what actually happened.

🖼️ Checkpoint years without the test Prefer the evaluation option in grades 3-5-7-9-11? A year of entries, photographed work samples, and the book log gives a qualified evaluator everything they need to certify progress.

🧾 Fourteen days' notice? Fourteen minutes' work If records are ever requested, generate the year's report - attendance register, subject summaries, book lists, samples - and print it. See a sample report →

Keep the records Colorado actually requires

The day count, the hour average, and the file behind them - all built from one sentence a day.

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Why records matter in every state →

Prefer paper for now? Take the free weekly log sheet. 🖨️

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This guide summarizes C.R.S. § 22-33-104.5 in plain language for convenience. It isn't legal advice, and district practices vary; verify current requirements with your district or a group like CHEC or HSLDA.