Homeschooling
Pierce itself offers no constitutional support for substituting the home for the schoolhouse. The right to avoid compulsory schooling was not enunciated by the high court until 1972, when it said in Wisconsin v. Yoder that Amish parents had a right to educate their children at home after they had completed 8th grade. Before that ruling, only three states had in place a statutory framework for the practice of homeschooling, and the share of school-age children being educated at home was estimated to be well under 1 percent.
Yoder induced a major shift in state policy. States adopted frameworks for the regulation of homeschooling and, by so doing, provided a statutory right to parents. Homeschooling is now legal in every state, though under widely varying conditions. Regulation is more intensive in states that lean Democratic than in those likely to vote Republican. In the latter, homeschoolers typically need only to notify the district of their intentions. In some Democratic states, homeschoolers must receive permission from the local school district, which may require a homeschooling plan and student participation in state standardized tests.
The proportion of school-age children educated at home has increased from about 3 percent before the Covid pandemic to around 6 percent currently—roughly the same as the percentage attending charter schools. That share dwarfs homeschooling levels in Europe. France, Sweden, Germany, and Greece, among other countries, simply forbid the practice. A former opera singer once told me she never sang in Germany because of its restrictive homeschooling laws—authorities would have taken her daughter from her to ensure she went to school. In some countries, one can obtain an exemption from compulsory education if one is qualified to teach, adopts an acceptable curriculum, and presents the child for annual examinations. Very few families succeed at navigating the rules. England’s laws are less stringent. Parents have the responsibility to provide “any . . . educational needs [the child] may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.” Still, only a little more than 1 percent of English children are homeschooled.
In the United States, the Home School Legal Defense Fund (HSLDF) protects and enhances statutory rights to homeschool. It promises parents, for a $150 membership fee, legal assistance if they are threatened with prosecution for noncompliance with compulsory education laws. Over 100,000 homeschoolers have joined the organization, giving HSLDF resources that historian Milton Gaither says are used to mobilize members in support of legislative objectives.
[B]ills aiming to increase homeschooling regulations almost always die in committee due to massive outcry from homeschoolers, responding to HSLDA alerts, and bills aiming to decrease homeschooling regulations are often successful, sometimes because of vocal advocacy by homeschoolers, and sometimes because of behind-the-scenes lobbying by HSLDA and its allies.
Since the Covid pandemic, homeschoolers have begun exploring new terrains. Parents have access to greatly expanded online instructional resources, facilitating homeschooling at the secondary school level. A growing number of homeschoolers are forming cooperatives where parents share the responsibilities of teaching small groups of students more general courses and hire tutors to provide specialized instruction. Other homeschoolers reach agreements with private schools, charters, or even friendly school districts, which allow children to be taught partly at home and partly at school. In some locales, homeschooled children are allowed to participate in district sports programs.
And the funds are starting to follow this burgeoning sector. Florida, Arizona, West Virginia, and 15 other states have enacted education savings accounts that set aside as much as $8,000 per child that families can use for educational purposes if a child is not attending public school. While that money is usually used to pay tuition at a private school, it can also be used for ancillary homeschool expenses, such as the purchase of computers, curricular materials, private tutoring, and music lessons.
However, the right to unfettered homeschooling does not go uncontested. In March 2025, a committee of the Illinois House of Representatives approved a bill resembling laws governing homeschooling in Europe. If enacted, the proposed legislation would require parents or guardians who teach their kids at home to notify their district of their intentions and show proof that they “have a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent.” If district officials believe a child is not receiving proper instruction at home, they could ask for teaching materials and examples of student work. As Gaither would expect, homeschooling parents crowded the hearing rooms and hallways of the state capitol, casting doubt on the likelihood the bill would succeed in navigating the legislative labyrinth.
Critics of permissionless homeschooling have become increasingly concerned about the rights of students vis-à-vis their parents. Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Bartholet argues that states should “deny the right to homeschool, subject to carefully delineated exceptions for situations in which homeschooling is needed.” Like other critics, she says most parents are not capable of providing an adequate education, that their children do not acquire the skills needed for successful careers, and that they are isolated from their peer group. Abuse is the headline charge. “Child abuse and neglect characterize a significant subset of homeschooling families,” Bartholet says. Child abuse is certainly a matter of public concern, but a recent study finds abuse is no greater in a homeschooling setting than otherwise, and even Bartholet admits “there is no way now to determine the exact scope of the child maltreatment problem in homeschooling.”
