In Michigan, public schools must make classes available to students being educated at home under certain circumstances. The courses homeschool students are allowed to take are commonly referred to as “nonessential elective” courses.
Some classes are included as “nonessential elective” courses, while others are excluded.
Courses that are excluded
A course is excluded if it is one home education students must receive as part of their home education:
- reading
- spelling
- math
- science
- history
- civics
- literature
- writing
- English grammar.
All remedial courses are excluded.
Courses that are included
For a home education student in grades 1-8, a course is included if it is a course other than a math, science, social studies, or English course that the school district in which the student lives requires a student to take in order to move to the next grade level.
For a home education student in grades 9-12, a course is included if it is a course other than Algebra 1, Algebra 2, English 9–12, geometry, biology, chemistry, physics, economics, geography, American history, world history, the Constitution, government, and civics, or a course that fulfills the same credit requirement as one of these courses.
Regardless of the student’s grade level, a course is included (as per the Michigan Department of Education) if it is one of these: a career and technical education program course, physical education, art, foreign language, music, driver’s education, or computer science.
Under state law, these are included: kindergarten, Advanced Placement courses, International Baccalaureate courses, and college level courses taken by high school students for college credit.
Postsecondary Enrollment Options College Course Access
Under state law, for a student to be eligible for college courses under the Postsecondary Enrollment Options program, the student must be enrolled in at least one class in the public school where the student lives. Read here for more details.
Public School Test Access
State law gives homes education students the right to take the Michigan Merit Examination at the local public school. Details are available here.
Public School Interscholastic Sports Access
A public school may decide to give a homeschool student access to interscholastic sports but home education students do not have a right to participate. Home education students do, however, have access to physical education course as noted above.
Please note: We strive toward keeping this information 100 percent up to date in this rapidly changing area of the law. However, this post should not be considered authoritative because of the possibility of unobserved changes in association rules, statutes, regulations, or case decisions, and because of lag time between changes and the publication of updates.
The information on this page has been reviewed by an attorney, but it should not be taken as legal advice specific to your individual situation.