Homeschooling is on the rise, bringing more attention to state oversight

Immediately following the first bell of the school day, teachers in the nation’s public and private schools are expected to document which students are present in their classroom, in accordance with compulsory school attendance laws.

But anywhere from 3 to 6 percent of U.S. children are not enrolled in these schools. They are homeschooled.

And getting an accurate census of these students is more complicated and varied, in part because of differences in state laws and regulations. Not every state, for example, requires parents/guardians to provide public notification about their decision to homeschool.

State-by-state variations also extend to areas such as what qualifications (if any) must be met by a homeschooling parent-teacher or whether a homeschooled student must take a standardized achievement test.

In some states, oversight includes requirements that families document student attendance, as well as submit individualized instructional plans, quarterly progress reports, and annual assessments with minimum benchmarks.

States in the Midwest have typically taken a much lighter regulatory approach (see maps).

This year, in at least two states in this region, lawmakers considered changes to some of their laws, albeit in much different ways. The goal of an Illinois proposal is to add reporting requirements, while a bill in Iowa eases some existing regulations.

Require public notification?

According to the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, Illinois is one of two Midwestern states that does not require public notification: alerting a local school district of the intent to have a child homeschooled.

Rep. Terra Costa Howard believes a notification requirement would help prevent educational neglect, as well as make it more difficult for bad actors to conceal evidence of child abuse. (Schools have mandated reporters of abuse, but their presence and supervision are absent in the homeschool environment.)

Her bill, HB 2827, would require that documented notices be filed by homeschooling families at the beginning of each school year or shortly after a mid-year removal from school occurs. For parents who fail to submit notification, the consequence could be greater oversight of at-home curriculum or a truancy investigation.

The legislation also would bar individuals who aren’t a student’s parent and who have been convicted of a sexual abuse offense from becoming homeschool instructors. Additionally, instructors would need to have at least a high school equivalency degree.

“There’s nothing in this bill that prohibits families from making homeschooling their education of choice,” says Costa Howard, noting the notification requirement would be met by filling out a one-page form developed by the Illinois State Board of Education.

During debate over HB 2827, opponents argued that increased state-level regulation would not guarantee greater academic performance or better safeguards for children, and could lead to parents facing criminal charges (based on truancy laws) for non-compliance.

The bill did not pass during Illinois’ regular session.

Varying state approaches

Illinois currently is one of 20 states that does not collect and report data on homeschool participation. HB 2827 would change that, requiring regional offices of education to annually report to the State Board of Education on the total number of homeschooled students in their districts.

The bill also stipulates confidential information about individual students and parents/guardians would not be subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

In addition to counting homeschool students, the measure also calls for mandatory registration of all non-public schools. (Such registration currently is voluntary in Illinois.)

By registering, non-public schools would agree to report student attendance data to the state and adhere to various state regulations such as immunization reporting, nondiscrimination policies and specific building codes. Those schools that register and are subsequently “recognized” by the State Board of Education can then have their students qualify to, for example, enter postsecondary institutions, participate in state athletic competitions, and enroll in work-based programs such as military training or nurse licensure pathways.

Although HB 2827 in its definition of “homeschooling” exempts learning done in a multi-household group setting, Costa Howard says it would be “interesting to see what the interpretation” of “non-public school” would be and if it would apply to, for example, homeschool co-ops or microschools.

According to Angela Watson, director of the Homeschool Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University, among the states that collect and publicly report homeschool data, practices vary. For example, some collect information from families annually; others collect it one time when a child transitions to homeschool; and others don’t account for when a child transitions back to public or private school.

This lack of uniform public reporting across states is one reason why it is unclear how many U.S. students are being homeschooled. Another factor is variation in defining exactly what “homeschooling” means.

“It’s very complicated; everybody calls it a different thing,” Watson says.

For example, in a 2023 Washington Post survey of homeschooled children, close to 60 percent reported taking live online classes, 20 percent were participating in homeschool cooperatives of some kind, and about 10 percent used microschools.

Last year, Watson authored and co-authored two reports that explored how homeschool attendance has changed over time, and how the definitions used in surveys can dramatically alter results.

For example, in her report “Homeschool Participation: Post-Pandemic Persistence and Growth Trends,” Watson references a U.S. Census Bureau  Pulse survey conducted during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although researchers concluded that around 11 percent of students were homeschooled nationwide, critics argued this self-reported data conflated actual homeschooling with public-health-mandated at-home education.

After a series of question revisions, the academic-year 2024 survey showed homeschoolers made up closer to 6 percent of all students.

However, according to another report Watson worked on, data collected in the academic-year 2023 National Household Education Survey — which more narrowly defines “homeschooling” as non-public/non-private school instruction that occurs primarily inside the home and excludes students with temporary illnesses — found the national estimate closer to 3 percent, or around 1.8 million students. This total is greater than pre-pandemic numbers, but on par with a recent peak in homeschool attendance that occurred during the 2011-12 school year.

The Homeschool Research Lab breaks down, by state and year (when available), the number of students being homeschooled. In the Midwest, participation has been on the rise in the states that report the data (see table).

Homeschool parents cite a variety of factors behind their decision, with concerns about the environment (safety, drugs, peer pressure) or academic instruction at local schools topping the list. Other reasons include wanting to provide religious instruction and to emphasize family life together.

What options do states and local districts have for helping integrate these homeschool families and their children into the broader community?

Watson suggests that policymakers consider a variety of “carrot” approaches. Open slots on school athletic teams. Provide free annual assessments and college-entrance tests. Offer professional development courses for parents/guardians. Provide free curriculum materials and give students access to library resources.

‘Gray zone’ of regulation

As in Illinois, homeschooling in Iowa is considered a form of private education. In Iowa, a parent can choose one of two main pathways — “independent private instruction” or “competent private instruction.”

The “independent private instruction” pathway is unaccredited, parent-instructed and does not require public notification.

In contrast, “competent private instruction” requires a one-time notification, and students can be taught by either a parent/guardian or a licensed teacher. For example, it is not uncommon for students in this pathway to be in dual enrollment, where they take classes for part of the day at a public school or at a community college.

Although education in this pathway is subject to annual assessments and educational portfolio reviews, adherence is optional if lessons are taught by a parent/guardian.

In addition to making various statutory changes to provide greater parity between the pathways, Iowa’s HF 888 (not passed during the 2025 session) calls for removing provisions in the law on independent private instruction — namely one that prevents parent-teachers from providing instruction to more than four unrelated students and another that does not allow for the charging of tuition and fees.

“You have these cooperative programs out there — there’s one nationally, a well-known one called Classical Conversations — and it’s always operated in this gray zone [of state regulation],” says Rep. Bill Gustoff, the chief author of HF 888 and a former lobbyist for Homeschool Iowa.

Under this Christian-based program, students meet regularly to be taught by either a licensed teacher or, more commonly, a parent-tutor. Parents often pay a stipend to help cover costs.

Gustoff says the reasoning behind this year’s legislation was to create parity with “pod schools” — small, at-home education groups taught by licensed teachers that are already allowed under the “competent private instruction” pathway. He adds that removal of the cap on non-related students would allow individuals to teach the children of large families.