Do I have to notify anyone to homeschool in Virginia?

Yes. Notice goes to Division superintendent of the local school division (home instruction option). Deadline: August 15 each year. If you move in or start after the school year begins, notify as soon as practicable and meet requirements within 30 days. It renews annual.

Homeschooling in Virginia

What the law requires, what you file and when, and what to keep — with the statute behind each rule.

notice and review 7 sources Verified 12 October 2026

What Virginia requires

Notify: Division superintendent of the local school division (home instruction option) — August 15 each year. If you move in or start after the school year begins, notify as soon as practicable and meet requirements within 30 days. (annual)
Testing or evaluation: Required. Home instruction only: each year submit either (i) a composite score at or above the 4th stanine (about the 23rd percentile) on a nationally normed standardized test, or an equivalent ACT, SAT or PSAT score; or (ii) an evaluation the superintendent accepts as showing adequate progress, such as a letter from a licensed teacher or someone with a master's degree or higher, or a report card/transcript from a college, distance learning program or home-education correspondence school.
Subjects set by the state: No subject list.
Teaching time: None specified for home instruction or religious exemption.
Compulsory school age: 5 until 18 — in detail
Records: None required by law; keep copies of notices, evidence of progress and any religious exemption approval letter.

Confidence in this record: medium. The facts below come from the sources listed, but at least one could not be confirmed against a primary source.

Taking your child out of school in Virginia

First move: Notify the school the child is leaving.

Home instruction: file the notice of intent (subject list plus evidence of qualification) with the division superintendent; mid-year starters notify as soon as practicable and comply within 30 days. Religious exemption: send an exemption request letter to the school board.

The legal routes

4 routes exist in Virginia. They carry different duties, and families often do not know the alternatives to the obvious one.

Home instruction (Va. Code § 22.1-254.1): Parent files an annual notice of intent with the division superintendent showing one of four qualifications, then submits evidence of progress each year.
Religious exemption (Va. Code § 22.1-254(B)(1)): The school board must excuse a child whose family is conscientiously opposed to school attendance because of bona fide religious training or belief; apply to the school board. No notice or testing afterward under the home instruction statute.
Certified tutor (Va. Code § 22.1-254(A)): Instruction by a tutor or teacher with Board-set qualifications (a Virginia teaching license) approved by the division superintendent; a licensed parent may tutor their own children.
Private school: Attendance at a private, denominational or parochial school; § 22.1-254(A) defines 'attend' to include participation in educational programs and courses at a site remote from the school (per HSLDA, a 2018 change allowing private school attendance from home). Home instruction by a parent is not itself a private school.

The notice, and who receives it

Goes to: Division superintendent of the local school division (home instruction option)
Deadline: August 15 each year. If you move in or start after the school year begins, notify as soon as practicable and meet requirements within 30 days.
Renews: annual
Form: Notice of Intent to Provide Home Instruction (VDOE sample form; a letter is acceptable). Include list of subjects and proof of your qualification option.

No official state form was found online for this route; the body above supplies it, or a letter serves.

Compulsory school age

5 (by Sept 30) until 18. A parent may delay kindergarten one year by notifying the school board if the child will not be 6 by Sept 30.

Teaching time

None specified for home instruction or religious exemption. Private schools/tutors must match public school daily hours and days.

Who may teach

Home instruction: parent must meet one of four options: (I) high school diploma or higher; (II) Board of Education teacher qualifications; (III) provide a program of study or curriculum (may be correspondence or distance learning); or (IV) evidence of ability to provide an adequate education. Certified tutor option requires a Virginia teaching license.

None for religious exemption.

Testing and evaluation

Home instruction only: each year submit either (i) a composite score at or above the 4th stanine (about the 23rd percentile) on a nationally normed standardized test, or an equivalent ACT, SAT or PSAT score; or (ii) an evaluation the superintendent accepts as showing adequate progress, such as a letter from a licensed teacher or someone with a master's degree or higher, or a report card/transcript from a college, distance learning program or home-education correspondence school. Not required for children under 6 on Sept 30.

If not met, one-year probation with a remediation plan; continued failure ends home instruction. Decisions can be appealed within 30 days. Not required under the religious exemption.

Deadline: August 1 following the school year

Records to keep

None required by law; keep copies of notices, evidence of progress and any religious exemption approval letter.

High school, diplomas and transcripts

Parent issues the diploma and transcript for home instruction students. Information submitted to the division is confidential and may not be disclosed outside the division without parent consent.

Public school classes, sports and activities

Part-time classes are at school board discretion; state funding counts home-instructed students taking courses in core subjects (0.25 per course, max one-half student). School boards must make AP, PSAT/NMSQT and PreACT exams available to home-instructed students.

No statewide right to VHSL interscholastic sports was found.

Funding: education savings accounts, vouchers and tax credits

No education savings account, voucher or tax-credit program open to homeschool families was found for Virginia. Families fund their own materials.

What changed recently

No amendments to the home instruction statute (§ 22.1-254.1) since 2022. The compulsory attendance statute (§ 22.1-254) was amended in 2026 (c.

193, HB 653); its content was not confirmed, but the home instruction and religious exemption provisions remain in the current code text. A 2025 bill backed by the Coalition for Responsible Home Education to repeal the religious exemption was not enacted (the exemption remains in § 22.1-254(B)(1)).

What we could not confirm

Exact content of the 2026 amendment to § 22.1-254 (HB 653) was not confirmed. Could not confirm from a primary source whether any statewide law now gives homeschoolers access to VHSL sports.

VDOE sample notice form URL not retrieved. The 2018 private-school-at-home provision was confirmed only via HSLDA.

Content of 2026 HB 653 (c. 193) amending § 22.1-254 (LIS bill page unreadable)

Listed because a legal summary that hides its gaps is harder to trust than one that names them. How these pages are checked.