Under Article 5 of the Compulsory Education Law, parents may object to compulsory public education based on religious or moral doctrines or life philosophy, if all schools within a reasonable distance (20 km or about 12.5 miles) are objectionable. This exemption applies only to deeply held beliefs and the exemption status often depends on the appeal's wording and the parents' personal presentation. Once a child begins public education, this exemption is difficult to attain. File exemption requests yearly for each child, before July 1.
A child, by virtue of a special need, does not automatically qualify for an exemption. Proof that no school within a reasonable distance, typically 20 km, meets that child's needs, may qualify the child both for an exemption under Article 11 of the Compulsory Education Law and provide assistance to the parent via a correspondence school program.
If, under Article 5, the family is unable to attain an exemption, the family may move to a municipality that either has no school which is not objectionable, or whose municipal government is more open to granting exemptions.
Special dispensations allow families traveling abroad for temporary periods to home school. This option requires use of government-approved materials provided by Wereldschool (World School), which also offers instructional advice.
Parents intending to utilize the religious or moral exemption must do so before the child's first school year. Approvals for exemptions after a child has attended one year of school are less common. One exception to this legality is if the parents undergo a new religious or philosophical conversion and can present acceptable proof of the conversion.
Home school advocates seeking new rulings on the legality of home schooling in the Netherlands offer resources, including comprehensive studies of home schooling in other countries, to support their claims that home schooling is a valid educational option. One study, "Performance in Home Schooling: An Argument against Compulsory Schooling in the Netherlands," by Henk Blok, offers information from multiple studies of home-schooled children from the United States and Canada to support their claims.
Assistance in understanding the Netherlands Compulsory Education Law and how it applies in a given situation may be available through several associations, including the Homeschool Legal Defense Association and the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Thuisonderwijs (Netherlands Home School Association).