Homeschooling in North Carolina is on the rise once again after a brief decrease following the spike during the COVID-19 pandemic; the same seems to be true in the country at large. This article looks at how North Carolina’s homeschooling policies compare to other states’ and what recent changes have been made.

History of homeschooling in the United States

There is a long history of parents educating their own children, but modern American homeschooling as we know it only developed in the mid-to-late 20th century, starting as bifurcated resistance to public schools: some wanted to “unschool” their children after the emergence of the counterculture movement, and others sought to integrate religion into their children’s education.

As legal battles were fought in the states throughout the 1980s, homeschooling hopefuls became more organized. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), a Christian nonprofit still prominent today, was founded in 1983 as advocacy became more robust.

Education in the U.S. is largely left up to the individual states, and the Supreme Court has left the water murky when it comes to federal homeschooling policy. On one hand, it has reinforced the right of parents to direct their children’s education, while on the other it has asserted the government’s authority to regulate the actions and treatment of children, including requiring school attendance.

But by the early 1990s, homeschooling without a teaching certification was legal in some form in all 50 states.

Different homeschooling regulations across the states

How homeschooling is or isn’t codified can make it difficult to compare regulations, with some states categorizing home instruction as non-accredited private schools and others (e.g. New Jersey) leaving room for homeschooling in their state education requirements without enumerating it as an option. Many states have more than one option for homeschooling, such as using a private tutor or enrolling part-time in public schools.

That said, regulations vary widely across the states, ranging from laissez-faire to fairly strict. (Homeschooling in other countries can be much more restricted, or even outlawed entirely.)

In Kansas, for example, homeschools are not required to teach specific subjects; Texas, Alaska, Idaho, and others don’t require administrators to notify the state government that a child is being homeschooled.

Meanwhile, states including New York and Washington require homeschool instructors to submit annual notices of intent, teach required subjects, and perform assessments of student progress.

And some states, such as Michigan, require teaching certificates or bachelor’s degrees in some situations, but others have no teaching qualification mandates.

How North Carolina stacks up to the rest of the field

In North Carolina, a homeschool is defined as a “non public school consisting of the children of not more than two families or households, where the parents or legal guardians or members of either household determine the scope and sequence of the academic instruction, provide academic instruction, and determine additional sources of academic instruction.” According to the North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education (DNPE), homeschools are also allowed to use tutors and participate in co-operative groups.

Though the spectrum of homeschooling policy isn’t exactly linear, North Carolina fits somewhere in the middle when compared with the rest of the country; the HSLDA categorizes North Carolina as a state with “moderate regulation.”

N.C. homeschool instructors must hold at least a high school diploma (or equivalent qualification) and submit a one-time notice of intent, among other requirements like keeping attendance and immunization records and administering an annual standardized test.

However, instructors in N.C. need not teach any specific subjects. And though recommended, the DNPE does not require retaining records, maintaining a certain number of hours of instruction per day, or even offering instruction of a similar quality as local conventional schools.

North Carolina requires annual standardized testing, but there is no broad tracking of test scores. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-549 and § 115C-557 state, “For one year after the testing, all records shall be made available… at the principal office of [the home] school, at all reasonable times, for annual inspection by a duly authorized representative of the State.”

Recent and proposed changes to North Carolina homeschooling policy

A number of bills in the North Carolina legislature have been introduced in the past two years that would affect homeschooling, though many haven’t made it to the governor’s desk.

House Bill 746, introduced in 2023, would have required annual reporting and prevented those convicted of certain crimes like child abuse or kidnapping from being homeschool administrators, but the bill died in committee.

Another bill, HB800, which also died in committee, would have required all school districts in N.C. to allow part-time enrollment in public schools by students that attend nonpublic school. As it stands, the decision is left up to individual school boards, with many allowing part-time enrollment (often worded as “dual enrollment” in policy manuals), and a few explicitly disallowing it.

Finally, a bill introduced in April 2023, Senate Bill 655, included language expanding Opportunity Scholarship eligibility to homeschool students. North Carolinians for Home Education (NCHE) – also a Christian organization – opposed this, citing its general objection to public funding for homeschools. The final version of the budget, which became law in October 2023, expanded eligibility for Opportunity Scholarships by removing income requirements but did not include eligibility for homeschool students.

Despite some failed efforts, changes have been made. House Bill 600, which was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper but then overridden, allows homeschool co-ops exemption from child care laws that previously required licensing if they met more than once per week for at least four hours.

Looking forward

While homeschooling continues to gain popularity, there are differing opinions on whether that’s a good thing. Some, harkening back to homeschooling’s origins, hold dearly the right of parents to educate their children how they see fit, including taking into account religious beliefs. Others find homeschooling is the best option for kids with disabilities.

The benefits and drawbacks of homeschooling in North Carolina are largely anecdotal due to lack of regulation and reporting. As it stands, it’s hard to know whether homeschooled students perform better, worse, or the same as other students – and it doesn’t look like it will be any clearer soon.

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Editor’s Note: A clarification was made to this article on Aug. 21, 2024 to include the statutory language about testing records.