Minnesota law allows a person under 18 years of age to complete the classroom portion of driver’s education, when the student is receiving full-time instruction in a home school, within the meaning of Minnesota Statutes 120A.22 and 120A.24, the student is working toward a home-school diploma, the student’s status as a home-school student has been certified by the superintendent of the school district in which the student resides and the student is using driver training classroom materials approved by the commissioner of public safety.
To qualify for completing the classroom portion of driver education, the following requirements must be met:
- Your son or daughter must be at least 15 years of age.
- You must comply with the Minnesota Rules 7411.0540 governing classroom instruction. Refer to the Home School Materials letter in the Forms and Documents area of this page.
- When your child has completed the required 30 hours of classroom instruction, you may complete the Home School Driver's Education Affidavit, print the completed affidavit and mail or fax it to the Office of Driver Education.
Upon receipt of your letter, DVS will send a proof-of-classroom completion document to you. You must present this document to the behind-the-wheel instruction provider to obtain a Certificate of Enrollment (blue card) for your student. Bring the blue card, along with a primary and a secondary form of identification when you go to the state examining station for the knowledge test.
Please refer to the Minnesota Class D Driver’s Manual for acceptable forms of identification. After your child has passed the knowledge test, he or she may apply for an instruction permit.
In order to take the skills test, your child must:
- Be at least 16 years old and have his or her original instruction permit or plastic instruction permit in possession.
- Completed driver's education and have the white course completion card.
- Held an instruction permit for at least six months with no convictions for moving violations or alcohol/controlled substance violations.
Present a supervised driving log verifying that you have driven under the supervision of a licensed driver at least 21 years of age, for not less than 50 hours, at least 15 of which were at night; or if a parent/guardian completes the parent class and submits a certificate of completion to the driver exam staff at the time of the road test, 40 hours, 15 of which were at night.
Refer to the Home School Materials Document for approved sources for driver education textbooks.
