How to Comply with Washington’s Homeschool Law

1. Meet the teacher qualifications. 

You must be qualified to operate a homeschool program by either:

1. instructing only your child and being supervised by a certificated person (i.e., the certificated person and the parent together plan the educational objectives; the certificated person has a minimum average of one contact hour per week with the child; and the certificated person evaluates the child’s progress); or
2. instructing only your child and having either 45 college quarter credits or the equivalent in semester credits (approximately 30 semester credits, since one quarter credit equals two-thirds of a semester credit); or
3. instructing only your child and having completed a course in home-based education at a postsecondary institution or a vocational-technical institute (these courses generally do not require an extensive time commitment); or
4. instructing only your child and being “deemed sufficiently qualified to provide home-based instruction by the superintendent of the local school district.”

2. File a notice of intent. 

You must annually file a signed declaration of intent to homeschool by September 15 or within two weeks of the beginning of any public school quarter, trimester, or semester. File with the local superintendent or with the superintendent of a nonresident district that accepts the homeschool student as a transfer student. The declaration must include the name and age of your child, specify whether a certificated person will be supervising the instruction, and be written in a format prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction. HSLDA has a declaration of intent form available for our members’ use, which you can find below.

3. Teach for the required number of days. 

You must teach 180 days per year, or average 1,000 hours per year.

4. Teach the required subjects. 

Your homeschool curriculum must include occupational education, science, math, language, social studies, history, health, reading, writing, spelling, and the development of an appreciation of art and music.

5. Conduct an annual assessment. 

You have two options for the required annual assessments. The results of the assessment do not need to be submitted to the public schools but must be retained as part of your child’s permanent school record.

The assessment options are:

1. Ensure that a standardized test approved by the state board is administered annually to your child by a “qualified” person (i.e., anyone qualified by the test publisher to administer the test), or
2. Have your child evaluated by a certificated person.

To learn more about types of annual assessments, visit our Testing and Evaluation page.

1. Enroll as an extension program of an approved private school.  

Approved private schools are permitted to allow families to operate their homeschools as extension programs of the school. You will need to locate an approved private school that allows extension programs and enroll your child in that school. The best way to determine if a school accepts extension students is to visit the school’s website or contact the school directly.

2. Comply with the private school’s requirements for its extension programs.