New Mexico Homeschool Laws
New Mexico is a fairly easy state to homeschool in, but the laws do differ from Texas.
New Mexico defines home education as homeschools that are operated by a parent or legal guardian of a school-age person who instructs a home study program, including, but not limited to, reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science. Students who are home schooled are not considered public school students.
Notification + Requirements
Parents are required to submit notification to the New Mexico Public Education Department by August 1st of each year or within 30 days of the creation of a home school. More information about who to contact and what they require for the notification can be found on their website.
Homeschooled students in New Mexico are required to follow the states compulsory school attendance laws, meaning that all children between 5 and 18 are required to attend school and there are criminal penalties for those who do not comply.
New Mexico also has requirements for a home school operator: As a home school operator, you must fulfill these requirements: (from the NM PED website)
be the student’s parent or the legal guardian
have a high school diploma or GED (You must also ensure that anyone instructing your child also has a high school diploma or GED.)
keep a copy of your own diploma or degree in your own files
meet minimum instructional hours as established in Section 22-2-8.1 NMSA 1978 and Section 22-12-2 NMSA 1978
provide instruction in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science
keep a copy of your child’s immunization records or objection to immunization waiver form in your own files (see below)
send electronic or written notification using an unmodified version of the PED form to the state’s Secretary of Education within thirty (30) days of the establishment of the home school
renew the home school’s establishment every year on or before August 1st by submitting written notification to the state
PLEASE NOTE: There were issues with the notification process in the summer of 2018. HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) and CAPE NM were working together to make the process more in line with the law as they believe NMPED was overstepping what it was allowed to do. Here is a link to the HSLDA article from 2018.
Record Keeping
It is recommended that parents keep records in New Mexico for 2 years at a time and then for all of high school. HSLDA has recommendations on how to keep high school records.
For other school years it is recommended to keep information on:
attendance
textbooks
workbooks
samples of student work
any correspondence with school officials
immunization records or waivers
portfolios and test scores
anything else that would help you in you were to be investigated.