Homeschooling in Denmark:

Homeschooling in Denmark is growing

Across Europe, more and more families are choosing to educate their children from home — for the flexibility, for travel, for wellbeing, or simply because it fits their child better than a traditional classroom.

In Denmark, educating your child from home — known locally as Hjemmeundervisning — comes with its own rules, which we walk through below. Increasingly, families meet them by enrolling in an accredited online school, so their child still gets live teaching, structure, and real friendships.

If you’re exploring your options, here’s what you need to know — and how bina can help if you’d rather not figure it all out on your own.

Is schooling from home legal in Denmark?

Yes. Section 76 of the Danish Constitution (Grundloven) sets out compulsory education (undervisningspligt) rather than compulsory school attendance: parents who themselves ensure their child receives teaching that measures up to what is generally required in the public school (folkeskole) are not obliged to send the child to school. Home education, hjemmeundervisning, is therefore a long-established legal option, regulated under the Free Schools Act (friskoleloven, Chapter 8).

It works by notification, not approval. You inform your local municipality (kommune) that your child will be educated at home, stating who will teach and where. The kommune then supervises and may hold tests — at most once a year — in Danish, arithmetic/mathematics, English, and history/science subjects to confirm the child is reaching a comparable level. You don't have to follow the national curriculum (Fælles Mål) exactly, but the education must be broadly equivalent in scope and standard. Note that supervision practice varies considerably between municipalities, and there is no fixed legal frequency for inspection visits.

The teaching does not have to be delivered by you personally — a tutor, family member, free school or a recognised online/distance school may provide it, while you remain legally responsible for compliance. Enrolling in an accredited online school such as bina is a clean way to meet the equivalence standard: your child follows a full, structured curriculum with live teachers, and you can show the municipality exactly what and how they are learning.

What are the steps to school from home in Denmark?

1. Notify your municipality (kommune) — Before you begin, send written notice to your local kommune that your child will be home-educated, stating who will teach and the address where teaching takes place. This is a notification — you do not need approval to start.
2. Plan an education equivalent to the folkeskole — Cover the core subjects supervision can look at — Danish, mathematics, English, plus history and science — alongside a broad general education. Danish must be taught in Danish; other subjects may use another language. You have freedom in method, but the standard must be comparable to public school.
3. Enrol in an accredited online school like bina (optional but recommended) — A live, accredited online school gives your child a complete, recognised curriculum with qualified teachers and clear records of progress — an easy, compliant way to satisfy the equivalence standard and to evidence the teaching during municipal supervision.
4. Cooperate with municipal supervision — The kommune supervises and may hold a test, normally no more than once a year, in Danish, maths, English and history/science. By law the test is conducted by whoever taught the child, by arrangement with the kommune. Keep simple records of work and progress.
5. Maintain the standard year to year — If a test finds the education insufficient, the kommune sets a retest after three months; if it is still inadequate, the child must attend school. Staying consistent — or using a structured school like bina — keeps you comfortably above that line.

An accredited online school like bina makes much of this simpler: we provide the curriculum, the live teaching, and the progress records your authority may ask to see — so you can focus on being the parent.