How to Homeschool High School in Wyoming (2026): New 2025 Rules, the Hathaway Scholarship, and College

How Homeschool High School Works in Wyoming

Wyoming changed its homeschool law in 2025. House Bill 46, effective July 1, 2025, ended the notice of intent and the requirement to submit your curriculum to the local school district, so a family that has not enrolled a child in public school files nothing at all. If you are withdrawing a student who was enrolled, you still notify the district of that withdrawal. You continue to provide a basic academic program that is sequentially progressive and covers the seven required subjects: reading, writing, mathematics, civics, history, literature, and science. Wyoming sets no graduation requirements, so through high school you decide what your diploma requires, you keep the transcript, and you issue the diploma. A parent-issued Wyoming homeschool diploma is a valid completion credential, best paired with a notarized transcript. We cover the new rules in the Wyoming homeschooling guide.

The change matters most for families entering high school, because those are the four years where paperwork used to feel heaviest. Under the old law, a family filed a notice with the local board and submitted a curriculum outline before the school year began. That review step is gone now. You still owe your student a real education in the seven subjects, and you still owe yourself good records, but no one outside your household reviews your course list or approves your plan before you teach it. The freedom that comes with that also means the standards you hold your program to are entirely your own.

One distinction worth keeping straight: House Bill 46 removed the notice of intent for families who have never enrolled a child in Wyoming public school. If your student is currently enrolled and you plan to start homeschooling for ninth grade or any later grade, you still send the district a withdrawal notice so the enrollment record closes cleanly.

Set Graduation Requirements and Build the Transcript

Because Wyoming sets no requirements for homeschoolers, you set your own, and it pays to aim at the Hathaway success curriculum from ninth grade: four years of English, four of math, four of science, three of social studies, plus a world language or career and technical sequence. Write the plan at the start of ninth grade and build the transcript as you go, listing each course, its credits, and the grade, with a cumulative grade average, then have it notarized and signed. Keep it clean, because your transcript proves you met the success curriculum, which the Hathaway Scholarship requires, and colleges read it for admission. Aiming at that curriculum early is the single best thing you can do for your student's aid. Run a free reading assessment here so you can see where your student stands before you map the four-year plan.

A four-year plan does not need to be complicated to be useful. List the subject, the course title, the credit value, and the grading scale before ninth grade starts, then update the transcript at the close of each semester rather than reconstructing four years of coursework the summer before graduation. A semester-by-semester habit avoids gaps and gives you a document that matches the success curriculum line for line when you apply for Hathaway.

Notarizing the transcript is a small step that carries real weight with both the scholarship program and college admissions offices, since neither has a district record to check your work against. A notary public confirms your signature, not the content of the transcript, so the accuracy of the record is still on you. Many parents notarize once a year rather than waiting until graduation.

The Hathaway Scholarship: Your ACT Score Is the Lever

This is the section Wyoming families should plan around from ninth grade. The Hathaway Scholarship is open to homeschool graduates, and it treats them differently from public school applicants in a way that works in your favor: it does not count a grade average, because homeschoolers do not have a district-verified one. Instead, award levels rest on the ACT or SAT score plus proof that your student completed the success curriculum. A higher ACT moves your student up the award tiers, so the test is the lever, with a composite around 21 reaching the Performance level and lower scores or the WorkKeys assessment reaching the Provisional Opportunity level. Plan the ACT for junior year and leave room to retake, since each attempt can raise the award. One deadline to hold: homeschool students have until their 21st birthday to apply. Pair the success curriculum on your notarized transcript with a strong ACT and your student has done everything Hathaway asks. We link the details in our Wyoming homeschooling guide.

Because Hathaway leans so heavily on a single test score for homeschoolers, the testing calendar deserves its own plan. A first attempt in the fall of junior year gives your student a baseline score and a full year to close any gaps before graduation. If the first score lands below where your student hoped, a targeted retake in the spring of junior year or the fall of senior year is normal and often raises the composite enough to move up a tier.

Keep your student's ACT and SAT score reports alongside the transcript in the same folder you use for course records. When you apply for Hathaway, the program wants both the score and the documentation that your student completed the success curriculum. Confirm the current award tiers and score thresholds directly at hathawayscholarship.org before applying, since the program updates its requirements from time to time.

Concurrent Enrollment, the Diploma, and College Admission

Wyoming's community colleges enroll high schoolers in concurrent and dual enrollment courses, letting your student earn college and high school credit at once, and that credit transfers and strengthens an application. For admission, the University of Wyoming and the community colleges admit homeschool graduates on a notarized parent transcript, and the ACT you already planned for Hathaway doubles as your admissions score, so one test serves both. Keep any concurrent enrollment college transcripts with your records. When your student meets the requirements you set, you issue the diploma, dated and signed, and it stands for college, employment, and the military, with no GED required. The planning guide is a resource for mapping out the high school years.

Concurrent enrollment is worth building into the four-year plan early rather than treating it as an eleventh-hour addition. A student who takes a community college English or math course in tenth or eleventh grade arrives at senior year with college credit already banked and firsthand experience with a college classroom. List each concurrent course on your homeschool transcript, and request an official transcript from the college as well, since some scholarship and admissions offices want to see both.

When you write the diploma, keep it simple: your student's full name, the date, a statement that the graduation requirements you set were completed, and your signature as the issuing parent or guardian. Pair it with the notarized transcript, since the transcript carries the detail colleges, employers, and Hathaway want to see. Wyoming does not template or approve homeschool diplomas, so there is no wrong format as long as it is clear, dated, and signed.

Students With Learning Differences

If your student had an Individualized Education Program in public school, those services end when you begin homeschooling, and that includes high school. You can build accommodations into your own program, and college disability services open once your student enrolls, including through concurrent enrollment. Plan documentation early, since colleges and ACT testing accommodations can ask for recent records.

If your student needs testing accommodations for the ACT, such as extended time, start that process well before junior year, since accommodation requests need documentation from a qualified professional and can take weeks to process. A recent evaluation carries more weight than an old public school IEP, so budget for updated testing if your student's last evaluation predates high school.

A Note from Homeschool Teacher Guide: What This Really Means for You

Wyoming lightened the paperwork in 2025, so the notice and curriculum filing are gone, and the focus of the high school years can shift entirely to the two things that pay off. First, aim your course plan at the Hathaway success curriculum from ninth grade, because your notarized transcript is the proof the scholarship wants. Second, treat the ACT as the centerpiece, since Hathaway reads your student's score, not a grade average, and every retake can raise the award. Do both, apply before the 21st birthday, and a Wyoming homeschool diploma comes with real scholarship money attached. Our Wyoming homeschooling guide covers the new rules.