Yes and no. The precise laws and requirements vary from country to country.
(*For the United States and Switzerland legal status varies by state, color by most occurring) Legal under no conditions, or only registration Legal under regulating conditions, such as mandatory tests and checks Legal under restricting conditions, like a teaching certificate or permit Illegal No available data
Europe[]
| Country | Status | Statistics | Map | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Andorra | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Armenia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Austria | Legal under restrictive conditions, homeschooling is allowed as long as the instruction is at least equal to that of the state school. | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 |
| Azerbaijan | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Belarus | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Belgium | Legal under restrictive conditions, only legal for parents that have a teaching certificate. | 500/1million 2005-2006 | ███ | 1 2 3 |
| Bosnia and Herz. | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Bulgaria | Illegal, public education is mandatory. Only children with special needs can be homeschooled under strict government control. | Less than 100 families | ███ | 1 2 3 |
| Croatia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Cyprus | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Czech Republic | Legal under restrictive conditions by temporary experimental law for children aged 5-12 | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 3 |
| Denmark | Legal as alternative to the mandatory public school system. | 1% of students | ███ | 1 2 3 |
| Estonia | Legal under restrictive conditions, only allowed for exceptional cases. | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 |
| Finland | Legal as alternative to the mandatory public school system. Written and oral examinations to check on progress are mandatory. | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 3 |
| France | Legal under restrictive conditions, only allowed for some special circumstances including health reasons. Inspections are mandatory every year. | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 |
| Georgia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Germany | Illegal, public education is mandatory with the only exception for foreign families that live in the country for a short time. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Greece | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Hungary | Legal | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Iceland | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Ireland | Legal, homeschooling is allowed by the constitution. | Unknown | ███ | 1 |
| Italy | Illegal, elementary education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Unknown | ███ | 1 |
| Kazakhstan | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Latvia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Liechtenstein | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Lithuania | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Luxembourg | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Macedonia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Malta | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Moldova | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Monaco | ███ | |||
| Montenegro | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Netherlands | Legal under restrictive conditions, only legal for parents that can not find a public school fitting their beliefs in the area. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Norway | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Poland | Legal, no indications for a mandatory public school system. | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 |
| Portugal | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Romania | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Russia | Legal since 1992, law sometimes ignored and not made legal. | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 |
| San Marino | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Serbia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Slovakia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Slovenia | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Spain | Legal under restrictive conditions, parents are allowed to homeschool if they pass a test by the authorities. | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 3 |
| Sweden | Legal, testing and permission required; sometimes ignored and not allowed | 200 families—half legally | ███ | 1 2 3 4 |
| Switzerland | Legal under restrictive conditions in most cantons (states). | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Turkey | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| Ukraine | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 |
| United Kingdom | Legal as alternative to the mandatory public school system. | Unknown | ███ | 1 |
| Vatican City | No indication for educational laws to exist were found. | ███ |
North America[]
| Country | Status | Statistics | Map | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | Legal under regulating conditions (Alberta - regulation, British Columbia - registration, Manitoba - permit, Newfoundland - permit, New Brunswick - permit, Northwest Territories - regulation, Nova Scotia - regulation, Ontario - regulation, Prince Edward Island - regulation, Quebec - permit, Saskatchewan - permit, Yukon - regulation, 1xgreen/6xyellow/5xorange) | About 20,000 | ███ | 1 |
| Cuba | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 3 |
| Greenland | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Guatemala | Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. | Virtually no homeschooling* | ███ | 1 2 |
| Mexico | Legal, compulsory attendance laws unclear. | Unknown | ███ | 1 2 3 |
| United-States | Legal under regulating conditions, varies by state. | Around 1 million | ███ | 1 |
| Incomplete list of prominent countries by population, add extra countries on demand. |
New Zealand[]
In New Zealand you must fill out an "Exemption Form" in order to homeschool your children. As long as you know how to fill out the form (your local support group can help with this) it's easy and you can have your children out of school and back into the home learning environment within weeks.
However your children will then be assessed by the Education Review Office, or ERO. The ERO officer will go through your children's work and if you have not satisfied their requirements they can revoke your exemption form, meaning that (legally) you must send your children back to school.
Of course because there are so many homeschoolers and so few ERO officers, they will only visit about once or twice in the child's educational timespan. Indeed some families get missed out altogether.
Some parents, such as the self-titled "unschoolers"--who aim to teach only what the child wants to learn rather than forcing a broad spectrum--continue without an exemption form after their inevitable disqualification (due to inadequate range of education), or begin teaching without one, as their teaching methods cannot possibly meet the ERO's standards.
So far, none of these families have (reportedly) been caught doing this, so the repercussions are unknown (although the law makes them sound harsh), but even without a track record of punishments homeschooling without an exemption is not recommended.
Costa Rica
Illegal, public education is mandatory without known exceptions. More information: