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An attendance calendar for a 180-day state

180 days is 36 weeks of five school days. Set your first and last day, mark as you go, and the calendar tells you how many are left.

A homeschool attendance calendar for a 180-day state is a school-year calendar where you mark each day taught until you reach 180, which is 36 weeks of five days. Peabody's state law pages give 180 days for 6 states, each quoted from its statute or education department. The free Record Book calendar counts the days, shows the weekdays left and prints the year.

Checked October 27, 2026.

By Peabody editors.

This is a plain-words summary, not legal advice. Laws change: check your state's current law and its education department before you act.

Which states say 180 days?

These are the states whose checked record gives one plain number of 180 days on the main homeschool route, in the law's own words. The second quote is a rule that goes with it.

StateThe law's wordsAlso
Georgia"180 school days a year""each school day at least four and one-half school hours"
Pennsylvania"180 days of instruction a year""or 900 hours a year at the elementary level or 990 hours a year at the secondary level"
Tennessee"180 days per school year""a minimum of four hours of instruction per day"
Indiana"180 days of instruction"
South Carolina"at least 180 days"
Louisiana"for at least 180 days in the school year"

States with a different number

Other states give no number, or give one only for another route such as a private tutor. Their pages say so.

StateCountsThe law's words
Colorado172 days"172 days of instruction"; "averaging four instructional contact hours per day"
Missouri1,000 hours"at least 1,000 hours of instruction"
Wisconsin875 hours"at least 875 hours of instruction"
Nebraska1,032 hours"1,032 hours of instruction (elementary grades)"; "1,080 hours of instruction (secondary grades)"
Washington1,000 hours"1,000 hours for grades 1 through 12"

How do I fit 180 days into a year?

  • 36 weeks of five days is 180. Count your weeks off (holidays, a week each season, summer) and see where the year must start and end.
  • Four days a week takes 45 weeks; a year-round calendar with short breaks fits that.
  • Half days count one half in the Record Book, so two half days make one day.
  • Days your child was at another school before you started count where your state's record says so: Indiana's says days at the first school count toward the 180.

How does the calendar help?

  • You type the school year's first and last day; the calendar shows every month in between, and days outside the year cannot be marked.
  • With your state set, it quotes the law's number and offers "Use 180". Your target stays empty until you tap it or type your own.
  • The totals show school days counted, days to go, weekdays left and school weeks left. Weekdays left does not know your holidays, so it is the most you could still teach.
  • "Mark Monday to Friday" fills a month; tap the days off afterward.

What do I print at the end?

The year sheet: one row per month, 31 columns, X for a school day, H for a half day, - for no school, the month's count at the end of each row, the totals, your day notes and a signature line. Tennessee's record says attendance records go to the director of schools at the end of each school year; other states ask you to keep them or ask for nothing. Check yours.

Set up your calendar

Open the attendance record, then check your state in what to file, by state. Pennsylvania's record lets a family count 900 or 990 hours instead of 180 days; for hours, use the hours log.

Sources