Days, hours, and the state minimum — visible at a glance.
Pennsylvania asks for 180 days or 900/990 hours. Georgia wants 180 days at 4.5 hours/day. New York wants 900/990 hours with no day minimum. Florida and Texas don't ask for either. Whatever your state requires, Lightstead's homeschool attendance tracker shows a per-child dot-calendar (green for present, blue for field trip, gray for holiday) with the state's required minimum surfaced on every view. No spreadsheet, no end-of-year totaling — just attendance kept clean as you go.
- Per-childCalendars — track each child's year independently
- 5Day types — present, field trip, holiday, sick, excused
- LiveCompliance card — current days + hours vs state minimum
One dot per day — green for present, blue for field trip.
The attendance calendar is the simplest possible interface: a month view per child with one colored dot per day. Tap a day to set its state (present, field trip, holiday, sick, excused). Past dates are clickable for retroactive entries; future dates show empty until the day arrives.
- Per-child month view
- Tap-to-set day state
- Retroactive entry support
- Field-trip notes per day
Current days, current hours, state minimum — live.
The homeschool dashboard surfaces a compliance card per child showing days attended, hours logged, and the state's minimum threshold (PA's 180 days, GA's 180×4.5, NY's 900/990 hrs). The card turns gold as the minimum is met and stays gold for the year. No math, no spreadsheet, no end-of-year scramble.
- Per-child compliance card
- Live update as days log
- State-tuned thresholds
- Year-to-date hour totals
Hours when you need them, days when you don't.
Some states want days (PA, GA, NC's 9-month schedule). Some want hours (NY's 900/990, KY's 1062). Some want both (Georgia's 180 days × 4.5 hours). Lightstead tracks both quietly: the default hours-per-day setting handles the bulk of routine days, with the option to log specific hours for shorter or longer instructional periods.
- Default hours-per-day setting
- Per-day override for variance
- Lesson-timer for granular tracking
- Hour total by subject (NY IHIP-ready)
The summary the district or evaluator expects.
When NC's DNPE asks for an attendance record, when PA's evaluator wants the year's summary, when CA's PSA hypothetical inspection arrives, the export is one click: per-child year-summary PDF with a calendar grid, totals, and breakdowns by day-type. Lightstead's attendance export is what most state guides look for as evidence of "regular instruction."
- Per-child year summary PDF
- Visual calendar grid
- Day-type breakdowns
- State-format presets
It works alone — but it's better with the rest.
Common questions.
Does homeschool attendance count the same as public school attendance?
Functionally, yes, in most states. Public schools count instructional days where students received teaching; homeschool attendance follows the same logic. The difference is that homeschool families count their own days and hours rather than having a district track them — Lightstead's dot-calendar is the home-side equivalent of a school attendance system.
Which states require homeschool attendance records?
Most states with notification or registration requirements: Pennsylvania (180 days/900-990 hours), Georgia (180 days × 4.5 hours), Virginia (records via NOI), New York (hours per subject per quarter), California (attendance register under PSA), North Carolina (9-month regular schedule). No-notice states (Texas, Illinois, Indiana, etc.) require nothing — but the records are still useful for transcripts and college applications.
How many days does homeschool require per year?
Varies widely. Pennsylvania: 180 days or 900/990 hours. Georgia: 180 days × 4.5 hours. North Carolina: 9-month regular schedule. California: statute-silent under the PSA (the 175-day figure is the public-school year, not a PSA requirement). New York: no day minimum but 900 elementary / 990 secondary hours. Texas, Florida, Illinois: no day or hour minimum specified. Lightstead surfaces your state's specific minimum on every attendance view.
What counts as a homeschool instructional day?
A day where instruction in required subjects occurred — typically a half-day or full day of teaching. Field trips count when they're educational. Co-op meetings count. Library research time counts. Vacations, sick days, and holidays don't. The standard is reasonable interpretation: instruction happened, and it was substantive enough to call it school.
Do I need to log attendance every day?
Most families log a few days at a time — Friday afternoons are common — rather than every single day. Lightstead's calendar makes batch entry fast (tap-tap-tap across the week). The contemporaneous standard is satisfied as long as the entries match real instructional days; the lag of a few days between teaching and logging is fine.
Can I count field trips as attendance?
Yes, in every state that recognizes homeschool attendance. Field trips are instructional days when they include genuine educational content — a museum visit, a nature center, a historical site, a working farm. Lightstead's blue-dot field-trip marker lets you log them differently from regular days for portfolio context, but they count toward the state's day minimum.
What if I miss a day of attendance logging?
Log it when you remember. Lightstead allows retroactive entry on past dates. The state's contemporaneous standard is a guideline, not a stopwatch — a day logged a week later is fine as long as the records match real instruction. The only inappropriate case is fabricating days that didn't happen, which is what "contemporaneous" guards against.
Can I track attendance for multiple homeschooled children?
Yes. Each child has their own attendance calendar, their own day count, their own compliance card. Shared instructional time (family read-alouds, co-op classes that include all the kids) credits each child individually. Lightstead handles 1 or 10 children without making attendance burdensome for any of them.
Attendance tracking your homeschool year will respect in May.
30-day free trial. Per-child dot-calendars, state-aware record templates, year-summary export. Whatever your state asks for.
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