National History Bee

There are no special rules for homeschoolers to compete in the History Bee, and they will be on equal footing with all other students as the National History Bee is an entirely individual event. A parent or homeschool coordinator may serve as their child’s sponsor when completing the initial registration.

National History Bowl

Homeschoolers may compete in one of four ways as a team in the National History Bowl, as explained here:

1. Preexisting homeschool associations may send teams made up of all students in their associations. Associations, however, are limited to 5000 students in grades 1-8; if your association is larger than this, you must “divide and conquer” as per one of the other two strategies discussed below.
2. Homeschoolers may compete with the regular (i.e. non-magnet) public schools within the district the homeschooler lives. Once a student has played with a particular school, however, the student must play all subsequent tournaments for the 2022-2023 academic year with that school unless the student’s family moves during the school year.
3. Homeschoolers may compete with other homeschoolers from the same county (no matter what the population), or with homeschoolers from neighboring counties, as long as all counties border each other contiguously, or are in the same state where the state population is less than 3,000,000. For jurisdictions that do not have counties, contact us for an ad hoc ruling on this question before registering.
4. Homeschoolers may play as a “team” of 1 or 2 students, the same way this is permissible for students in schools.

Determining Age Divisions for Homeschooled Students

If a homeschooled student has a formally recognized grade level, that will determine the division in which they will play. To determine grade eligibility for a homeschooled student who is not in a formally recognized grade level, the student’s birth date will be used. To be eligible to compete in the National History Bee, such students must have been born on or after October 1, 2008. Under these circumstances, division eligibility for the 2022-2023 season will be determined by the following dates of birth.

  • 8th Grade – Born on or after October 1, 2008 and before October 1, 2009
  • 7th Grade – Born on or after October 1, 2009 and before October 1, 2010
  • 6th Grade – Born on or after October 1, 2010 and before October 1, 2011
  • 5th Grade – Born on or after October 1, 2011 and before October 1, 2012
  • and Under (Elementary School) – Born on or after October 1, 2012

For further questions, please contact info@iacompetitions.com. Good luck, and we look forward to welcoming many homeschoolers and their teams to our tournaments this year!