Homeschooling in Virginia

Yes, you can do this here. Virginia provides a home-instruction route, a qualified-tutor route, and a religious exemption from school attendance.

If you are wondering whether homeschooling works where you live, the answer in Virginia is yes. Virginia law provides three separate provisions families may use when educating outside conventional school, and they do not carry the same requirements. This page focuses on home instruction under section 22.1-254.1 and explains the other two provisions separately.

Three provisions, and which one this page covers

Section 22.1-254 is Virginia’s compulsory attendance law. Three of the provisions families use are home instruction under section 22.1-254.1, instruction by a qualified tutor or teacher under section 22.1-254(A), and a religious exemption from school attendance under section 22.1-254(B)(1). The notice, qualification, subject-list, and evidence-of-progress rules described below come from section 22.1-254.1. Virginia’s separate health requirement comes from section 22.1-271.4 and is explained after the table; it also applies to religiously exempted and otherwise excused children.

One point of Virginia law is worth stating plainly, because families moving from other states often assume otherwise. Section 22.1-254(A) says that instruction in the home of a child by the parent, guardian, or other person having control or charge of the child “shall not be classified or defined as a private, denominational or parochial school.” A Virginia home instruction program is its own category.

Home instruction carries an annual notice and an annual evidence-of-progress requirement. A parent of a child who will have reached the fifth birthday on or before September 30 and has not passed the eighteenth birthday may elect home instruction by meeting any one of four qualifications: a high school diploma, the teacher qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education, providing the child with a program of study or curriculum, or evidence of being able to provide an adequate education. Section 22.1-254.1(A). The Department of Education’s Revised 2025 Home Instruction Handbook states that a high school equivalency certificate, including a GED, does not satisfy the diploma option. Filing the notice documents your decision to provide home instruction. Virginia law does not require superintendent approval or require a family to wait for an approval letter after the required notice has been given.

A qualified tutor or teacher must hold a current Virginia teaching license in any area and submit it to the division superintendent for verification. HEAV explains that once the current license is verified, the superintendent cannot deny tutor status and issues an acknowledgment letter. The tutor may be a parent who meets those qualifications. The section 22.1-254.1 notice, qualification options, subject list, and evidence-of-progress requirements do not apply to this provision.

Under the religious exemption from school attendance, a family petitions the local school board. The board shall excuse a pupil who, together with his parents, is conscientiously opposed to attendance at school by reason of bona fide religious training or belief. The statute states that this does not include essentially political, sociological or philosophical views or a merely personal moral code. Neither the statute nor the Handbook supplies a statewide petition form or deadline. Local procedures vary, so contact the local school board or HEAV before submitting religious-exemption documents. The section 22.1-254.1 requirements do not apply to this provision.

What Virginia asks under section 22.1-254.1 home instruction, and how to handle it

The list is shorter than most families expect. Notify your division superintendent by August 15 with a list of subjects and evidence of your qualification. Provide evidence of your child’s progress by the following August 1. Virginia also applies a separate health law to home-instructed children, which is explained below.

What Virginia asks under this pathway

  • Annual notice to your division superintendent of your intention to provide home instruction, no later than August 15
  • A description of the curriculum, limited to a list of the subjects to be studied during the coming year
  • Evidence of meeting one of the four qualification options
  • Evidence of progress for each applicable child, provided to the division superintendent by August 1 following the school year

How to handle it

  • No particular form is required. VDOE and HEAV publish sample Notice of Intent forms. Virginia law sets the information that must be provided, and a local form may request more. Compare any form with section 22.1-254.1 before supplying additional information. Keep proof of delivery, such as a postal receipt, time-stamped email, or dated hand-delivery acknowledgment
  • You provide the evidence for the qualification you use: a diploma or higher credential; a Virginia teaching license or letter of eligibility; evidence of enrollment and a subject list if using a correspondence or distance-learning program; a subject list if providing the curriculum in another manner; or locally determined evidence that you can provide an adequate education

What Virginia asks under this pathway

How to handle it

  • Annual notice to your division superintendent of your intention to provide home instruction, no later than August 15
  • No particular form is required. VDOE and HEAV publish sample Notice of Intent forms. Virginia law sets the information that must be provided, and a local form may request more. Compare any form with section 22.1-254.1 before supplying additional information. Keep proof of delivery, such as a postal receipt, time-stamped email, or dated hand-delivery acknowledgment
  • A description of the curriculum, limited to a list of the subjects to be studied during the coming year
  • Evidence of meeting one of the four qualification options
  • You provide the evidence for the qualification you use: a diploma or higher credential; a Virginia teaching license or letter of eligibility; evidence of enrollment and a subject list if using a correspondence or distance-learning program; a subject list if providing the curriculum in another manner; or locally determined evidence that you can provide an adequate education
  • Evidence of progress for each applicable child, provided to the division superintendent by August 1 following the school year

Your subjects. Section 22.1-254.1 asks you to submit a list of the subjects you have chosen. It does not prescribe a statewide subject list.

Your evidence of progress. For each applicable child, section 22.1-254.1(C) accepts a composite score in or above the fourth stanine on any nationally normed standardized achievement test, an equivalent ACT, SAT, or PSAT score, or an evaluation or assessment the division superintendent determines shows adequate growth and progress. The statute includes an evaluation letter from a person licensed to teach in any state or holding a master’s degree or higher in an academic discipline who knows the child’s progress. It also includes certain report cards or transcripts from an institution of higher education, college distance-learning program, or home-education correspondence school. VDOE states that a percentile score of 23 or above is equivalent to the fourth stanine.

Your separate health-law obligations. Immunization is not one of the section 22.1-254.1 home-instruction requirements described in the table. Section 22.1-271.4 separately applies Virginia’s immunization requirements to home-instructed children. Keep ordinary immunization records and provide documentary proof if the division superintendent requests it. To claim a religious exemption from immunization, submit an affidavit to the division superintendent stating that immunization conflicts with the parent’s or guardian’s religious tenets or practices. To claim a medical exemption, submit the written certification described in section 22.1-271.4. Keep a copy of anything you submit. The immunization-related religious exemption is subject to the limitation in section 32.1-46(D)(1) when the Board of Health has declared an emergency or epidemic. Virginia also provides a separate parental HPV opt-out, which a parent or guardian may elect at his or her sole discretion after reviewing the materials approved by the Board of Health.

Your Virginia year

When compulsory attendance applies. Virginia’s compulsory attendance law covers a child who will have reached the fifth birthday on or before September 30 and has not passed the eighteenth birthday. It does not apply to a child who has obtained a high school diploma or its equivalent, a certificate of completion, has achieved a passing score on a Board-approved high school equivalency examination, or has otherwise complied with the article’s requirements.

If your child will not have reached six by September 30. You may delay compulsory attendance for one year by notifying the local school board that, in your opinion, your child is not mentally, physically, or emotionally prepared to attend school.

By August 15 each year. File your notice of intent with the division superintendent, along with the list of subjects and evidence of your qualification.

If you begin after the school year has started. Notify the division superintendent as soon as practicable. The Handbook explains the sequence: notify the division first, home instruction may then begin, and the remaining qualification and curriculum information is due within thirty days of that notice.

If your child is enrolled in a school now. Notify the division superintendent first. Then complete the school’s withdrawal procedure so your child is properly accounted for. Following that order helps prevent inappropriate truancy concerns. Virginia does not prescribe a statewide withdrawal form, so follow the school’s withdrawal procedure without treating the Notice of Intent as a request for approval.

By August 1 each year. Provide evidence of progress for each applicable child. Evidence is not required for a child who is under six as of September 30 of that school year, has reached eighteen, has graduated or otherwise satisfied Virginia’s compulsory-attendance requirements, or no longer lives in the division.

If acceptable evidence of progress is not provided. The home instruction program for that child may be placed on probation for one year. The parent files evidence of the ability to provide an adequate education for the child, along with a remediation plan. The superintendent is not required to place the home instruction program for that child on probation or to accept the plan. If the plan is not accepted, or the required evidence is not provided by the following August 1, home instruction for that child shall cease.

If you disagree with a decision. Any party aggrieved by a decision of the division superintendent may appeal within thirty days to an independent hearing officer.

Virginia’s general compulsory-attendance statute contains same-days-and-hours language. HEAV explains that it is unclear whether that language applies to home instruction. Section 22.1-254.1 does not require an attendance log or the filing of days or instructional hours, and VDOE does not list an attendance report among the annual submissions required of home-instruction families. Families who receive a local request for additional documentation can consult HEAV before responding.

For Virginia-specific compliance help, the Home Educators Association of Virginia provides a Notice of Intent form, a law flowchart, testing and evaluator resources, and family support at 804-278-9200.

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You do not need a teaching degree

A teaching license is one of the four ways to qualify for home instruction in Virginia, not the only one. A high school diploma qualifies. So does providing your child with a program of study or curriculum, or providing evidence that you are able to provide an adequate education.

Your child is being discipled either way, whether at your kitchen table or in a classroom across town. Someone is answering the big questions. Someone is teaching whom he answers to. You get to be the one.

Questions? Call 1.888.718.HOME or email customerservice@theoldschoolhouse.com. A real homeschooler answers.

Requirements vary and change. Confirm current requirements with your division superintendent’s office or the Virginia Department of Education before you file. SchoolhouseTeachers.com provides curriculum and recordkeeping tools. It is not a school, it is not accredited, and nothing on this page is legal advice.

Sources: Va. Code §§ 22.1-254, 22.1-254.1, 22.1-271.4, and 32.1-46; 12VAC5-110-80(C) and 12VAC5-110-130; the Virginia Department of Education’s Revised 2025 Home Instruction Handbook and Home Instruction webpage; and current guidance from the Home Educators Association of Virginia concerning notices, withdrawal, the qualified-tutor and religious-exemption provisions, evidence of progress, instructional time, and local compliance practices.

Last reviewed: August 2026