Homeschooling in Minnesota
What Minnesota actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
United StatesFiling requiredWho is in charge
Resident school district superintendent
Who actually reviews your child
The district superintendent, for filing. Test results are reviewed only if requested.
What you must file
Initial Registration Form for Unaccredited Nonpublic Schools
By 1 October of the first year, or within 15 days of withdrawing the child from public school
How often: one-time (first year)
Goes to: Resident district superintendent
Includes the child's name, birth date and address, the annual tests intended to be used, the name of each instructor, and evidence of the instructor's qualification under § 120A.22 subd. 10.
Letter of Intent to Continue to Provide Instruction
By 1 October each subsequent year
Goes to: Resident district superintendent
Reports any change of name, birthday or address and the tests intended for the coming year.
Annual standardized test
n/a
Goes to: KEPT BY THE PARENT, results are not submitted unless the superintendent requests them
A nationally norm-referenced achievement test must be administered every year.
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for Minnesota, which today is Science (502 of 535). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of Minnesota's published standards. We do not hold Minnesota's own standards for English, Mathematics and Social Studies yet, and they are being added. Physical Education is not in the app for Minnesota yet. A moment in any of those subjects is kept on the general map for your child's age and named that way in the record, so the record never cites Minnesota's curriculum where we hold none of it. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Other places in United States
Sources last checked on 2026-08-11: education.mn.gov. That is the date we checked, not the date the rule last changed.