Are you considering homeschooling your child? You can do it! As you get started, it’s important to make sure you comply with the education laws where you live. This page helps you understand how to homeschool legally in Virginia—step-by-step.
To homeschool under Virginia’s home instruction option, you’ll need to follow these requirements.
You may qualify to provide home instruction in one of the following four ways:
You need to file a notice with your school district superintendent that you intend to provide home instruction to your child and indicate your home instructor qualification. With the notice, you need to provide a curriculum description (which is just a list of subjects) for each child. This needs to be done every year by August 15.
If you are moving into your school district or beginning to provide home instruction after the school year has begun, you need to submit this notice “as soon as practicable.” HSLDA provides a notice form for our members’ use, found below.
Note: You do not need the superintendent’s approval to start homeschooling—you just need to file your notice.
Each year by August 1, you must provide to your superintendent an evaluation showing that your child has achieved an adequate level of educational growth and progress. (This does not apply if your child was 5 or younger on September 30 at the start of the school year.)
There are four types of evaluations you can submit:
Visit our Testing and Evaluation page for more information on annual assessment options.
It may be possible to continue homeschooling, but you will need to write a remediation plan and get the school system to accept it. If your child still does not show adequate progress after another year, you will have to stop home instruction. If you believe the superintendent has given you a wrong decision, you have 30 days to appeal.
Note: It's a good idea to get your assessment done early. That way, if the results show that your child did not make adequate progress, you have time to do a different type of assessment that allows your child to show adequate progress and turn in this assessment instead.
Under Virginia law, your school board must excuse your child from school if the child, “together with his parents, by reason of bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to attendance at school.” To homeschool under this option, you need to follow these requirements:
To homeschool under Virginia’s religious exemption option, you need to write an application letter to your school board. In your letter, you should:
Your application letter should not discuss philosophical, moral, political, or social issues, because the law says that those cannot be grounds for receiving an exemption.
Promptly mail your application letter to your school board as soon as possible. Keep a copy of the application letter for your records.
The school board may ask you to forward a couple of letters from people who will confirm that you are sincere in your beliefs. The school board may also ask for a letter from a pastor, priest, etc., to confirm that your beliefs are of a religious nature.
If the school board asks you to fill out a form, or asks you to meet with someone, you should seek additional guidance immediately.
If you are a member of HSLDA, we strongly urge you to contact us about homeschooling under the religious exemption option. We offer detailed guidance for writing your application letter, which can be found below in the downloads section of this page. If you are a member, it is a very good idea to allow HSLDA to review your letter before you submit it and to contact us regarding any follow-up issues.
As long as you have your application letter on file, you can proceed to homeschool with reasonable confidence—even though technically your child is not excused until the board acts on your letter.
Many school boards meet only once or twice a month. If you have not heard back from your board within two months, you may need to send them a reminder.
If your school system becomes belligerent and tries to insist that your child must stay in school until the board actually approves the exemption, consider simply filing a notice of intent to provide home instruction (as described above in the “Homeschooling under the home instruction option” section) until you get a reply granting your exemption.
When you get your letter from the school board granting your exemption, read it very carefully and be sure you understand it. Not all exemption letters say the same thing. Keep the exemption letter in a safe, permanent place—school boards have been known to lose their own copies.
Once your child is excused, he or she does not need to attend public school (or follow the requirements for any of the other homeschool options) while the exemption is in force.
Depending on how your exemption letter was worded, additional children may or may not be exempted.
Your exemption letter may say that you need to reapply next year. If it does, HSLDA recommends that you comply.
A person with a current Virginia teacher license can ask the school superintendent to approve him or her as a tutor. Once approved, the person can tutor any children he or she wants—including his or her own. If a child is being taught under such a tutor, the child is in compliance with compulsory attendance.
When you ask to be approved as a tutor, you should not list the children you plan to tutor. It is not required and not relevant. Do not mention homeschooling or home instruction, as this will only cause confusion that could take much effort to straighten out.
HSLDA has a letter that our members can use to obtain the superintendent’s approval—download it below. Once the superintendent confirms that the teacher license is valid, he or she does not have discretion to refuse approval.
Virginia law allows private school students to attend their school without physically being present at the school if the student’s attendance is for the same number of hours per day, for the same number of days per year, and during the same period of the year as public schools. If a private school student receives his instruction while he is at home, it will resemble homeschooling in many ways.
Creating a private school involves a number of issues. We explain these issues here for HSLDA members who are thinking about establishing a private school where instruction takes place in the student’s home.
Please note: The information on this page has been reviewed by an attorney, but it should not be taken as legal advice specific to your individual situation.
RESOURCEFill out this report and mail it "Certified Mail/Return Receipt Requested" to the superintendent of your school district by August 15 of each year.
This is an exclusive members-only resource!
RESOURCEMany people with strong religious convictions believe that it would be wrong (i.e., sin) in the eyes of God for them to put their children in (or leave their children in) the public schools. The Virginia legislature created the religious exemption to protect such people. Here’s some information on the exemption.
This is an exclusive members-only resource!
RESOURCEYou may send this letter to the county school board and waive the requirement that you file a notice of intent for your 5-year-old.
This is an exclusive members-only resource!
RESOURCEThis is an exclusive members-only resource!
RESOURCEIn Virginia, a homeschooled teen under age 18 can obtain his driver’s license without hiring a driver education instructor. Instead, parents can provide both the classroom instruction and in-car instruction if certain requirements are met.
This is an exclusive members-only resource!
RESOURCEFill out this letter and mail it "Certified Mail/Return Receipt Requested" to the superintendent of your school district.
This is an exclusive members-only resource!