Compare states by

• Notification of Homeschooling

  Many states require parents to notify local school districts that their children will be homeschooled, but 11 states don't require parents to alert anyone. Most also don’t require tests or portfolio reviews as proof of educational progress.

• Parent Education Minimums

  Most states have no minimum education requirements for parents who homeschool. Some states require parents to be "competent" or "capable" but don’t define what this means. No state requires a parent to have a college degree.

• Criminal Bans

  Only two states prohibit some parents from homeschooling based on their criminal history or that of someone living in the home. In the other 48 states, parents' criminal history cannot legally be used as a reason to prevent them from homeschooling.

• State Mandated Subjects

  Thirty-three states require parents to teach certain subjects. But 22 of these have no means of checking whether they are. Children in these states are not assessed or if they are, their low test scores can’t be used to intervene in homeschooling.

• Assessment Requirements

  While public school students face routine assessments of their progress, homeschooled students are largely exempt from this requirement. In several states, homeschooled students are never assessed.

• Vaccination Requirements

  The vast majority of states don’t require homeschoolers to be vaccinated. Some states — particularly those that consider homeschools to be private schools — may require them to be immunized by law. But proof of immunization is not submitted to any authority.