Homeschool enrollment surges again following post-COVID lull

Minnesota homeschool enrollment increased 10 percent from the 2022-23 school year to the 2023-24 school year, a new surge since the post-COVID lull.

From the 2019-20 school year to the 2020-21 school year, the prime time of school closures, homeschool enrollment jumped 50 percent (over 10,000 students) and then decreased subsequent years.

However, enrollment numbers today are still 40 percent higher than they were pre-COVID, going from 20,701 enrolled during the 2019-20 school year to 29,062 this current school year.

Minnesota Homeschool Enrollment, 2000-Today

Source: Minnesota Department of Education, Data Reports and Analytics

Homeschooling didn’t become legal in Minnesota until 1987, when the legislature passed the Compulsory Attendance Law, and was officially recognized as a legal option in all 50 states in the early 1990s.

While Minnesota homeschools do not have to be accredited, if they are, they are waived from the annual requirement to administer a nationally normed achievement test for each student ages 7-17. Minnesota currently recognizes one accrediting agency for accrediting homeschools: the Home-Based Educators Accrediting Association.

Interested in learning more about homeschooling history, regulations, and participation across all 50 states? Check out the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy’s new Homeschool Hub, launched just in time for Homeschool Awareness Month.