2026–2027 Homeschool Laws and Requirements
How to Homeschool in Washington
Yes, you can homeschool your child in Washington. You do not need a teaching license: 45 college credits, a course in home-based instruction, a certificated person's supervision, or your superintendent's approval qualifies you, and you choose your books and your methods. Washington calls it home-based instruction and asks for a declaration of intent to your school district each year, eleven subjects, and a yearly test or assessment whose results stay with you.
Updated 9 October 2026 · Sources read 9 October 2026
Free printable guide
The Washington homeschool quick reference, 2026–2027
One page to keep: what Washington requires, the dates, and the official links, checked for the 2026–2027 school year. Open it here first, then download it.
What Washington homeschool law requires
The whole list for the 2026–2027 school year, from RCW 28A.200.010 and 28A.225.010 and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction's home-based instruction page:
| Requirement | What Washington asks | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|
| Declaration of intent | A signed declaration filed each year with the superintendent of your resident district (or a nonresident district that accepts the transfer) by September 15, or within two weeks of the beginning of any public school quarter, trimester or semester: your child's name and age, and whether a certificated person supervises the instruction. | RCW 28A.200.010; OSPI, Home-Based Instruction |
| How you qualify | One of four: a parent supervised by a certificated person for an average of one contact hour a week, with progress evaluated; a parent with 45 college quarter credits or the equivalent; a parent who completed a course in home-based instruction at a postsecondary institution or vocational-technical institute; or a parent the superintendent of the local district deems sufficiently qualified. | RCW 28A.225.010(4) |
| Subjects and hours | Planned and supervised instruction in the basic skills of occupational education, science, mathematics, language, social studies, history, health, reading, writing, spelling, and the development of an appreciation of art and music, for the hours equivalent to the annual program hours set for approved private schools at each grade. Home-based students need not meet the state's learning goals, learn the state standards, or take the state assessments. | RCW 28A.225.010(4); RCW 28A.200.010 |
| Test or assessment | Each year, a standardized achievement test approved by the State Board, given by a qualified person, or an assessment of academic progress written by a certificated person currently working in education. The result stays with you as part of your child's permanent record; if it shows a child is not making reasonable progress, you make a good-faith effort to remedy it. | RCW 28A.200.010; OSPI |
| Records and ages | Keep the test scores or assessments, immunization records and the other records of the instruction you provide, and forward them when a child transfers to a school. Compulsory attendance from eight to under eighteen; part-time attendance and ancillary services at the public school are open on request. | RCW 28A.200.010; RCW 28A.225.010; OSPI |
OSPI: home-based instruction (the declaration form) RCW 28A.200.010, duties of parents
How to start homeschooling in Washington
- Qualify one of four ways: 45 college quarter credits or the equivalent; a course in home-based instruction at a postsecondary institution or vocational-technical institute; supervision by a certificated person for an average of one contact hour a week, with progress evaluated; or a finding by your local district's superintendent that you are sufficiently qualified.
- File a signed declaration of intent with the superintendent of your resident district (or a nonresident district that accepts the transfer) by September 15, or within two weeks of the beginning of any public school quarter, trimester or semester, and each year after: your child's name and age, and whether a certificated person supervises the instruction.
- Withdraw your child from the public school.
- Plan and supervise instruction in the basic skills of occupational education, science, mathematics, language, social studies, history, health, reading, writing, spelling, and the development of an appreciation of art and music, for the hours equivalent to the annual program hours set for approved private schools at each grade. Faith Schooling covers reading, writing, spelling, language and mathematics; you add the rest. The free Homeschool Rhythm Builder turns your week into a printable plan with an hour count.
- Each year, arrange a standardized achievement test approved by the State Board, given by a qualified person, or an assessment of academic progress written by a certificated person currently working in education. The result stays with you as part of your child's permanent record; if it shows a child is not making reasonable progress, you make a good-faith effort to remedy it.
- Keep the test scores or assessments, immunization records and the other records of the instruction you provide, and forward them when a child transfers to a school.
How Faith Schooling covers Washington's requirements
Washington asks for the yearly hours set for approved private schools, with no day count of its own for home-based instruction: 36 weeks of five days, or 45 weeks of four, is the common shape, and the daily arrangement is yours.
Washington names eleven subjects and then says in the same chapter that home-based students need not meet the state's learning goals or take its assessments: the subjects are yours to plan. Four of the eleven are ours in full: reading and spelling are Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency, language and writing are Grammar Garden, mathematics is Building Number Sense, each a sequenced textbook with a teaching guide for every grade from Kindergarten to Grade 5, and their dated, finished pages are what a certificated person reads when you choose the written assessment over the test. Occupational education, science, social studies, history, health, and art and music appreciation are yours to choose.
Washington asks for the yearly test or assessment result, immunization records and your instruction records, kept at home as the child's permanent record. The dated, finished pages of each program are that record, and a HARVEST report is a placement note for the file.
- Mathematics
- Building Number Sense K–5 mathematics textbooks; Kindergarten to Grade 2 add practice workbooks and teaching guides
- Language
- Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency and Grammar Garden reading in Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency; grammar, writing and composition in Grammar Garden
- Reading
- Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency K–5 reading textbooks in four quarterly volumes a year, with complete teaching guides
- Writing
- Grammar Garden K–5 language and writing coursebooks, four a year, with Preceptor Guides
- Spelling
- Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency and Grammar Garden spelling patterns are taught with the phonics; grammar and writing in Grammar Garden
- Occupational education, science, social studies, history, health and the development of an appreciation of art and music
- Your choice Faith Schooling does not publish these subjects; choose what fits your family
- Bible
- The Apostolic Academy not something Washington requires; free: Scripture memory, Bible study and printables for the family
The curriculum map Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency Grammar Garden Building Number Sense HARVEST placement Homeschool Rhythm Builder
Public school access and other opportunities in Washington
Washington's public schools stay open part time to a home-based student, on the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction's Form A-1:
- Part-time attendance and ancillary services at the public school are open to home-based students on request. Source: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Home-Based Instruction, read 9 October 2026.
What Washington does not require, and you should still do
- Place your child. Washington's yearly test or assessment reports after the year; HARVEST, the free placement check, tells you at the start where your child stands in reading and math and names the grade and quarter to begin.
- Plan the hours. The Homeschool Rhythm Builder turns your week into a printable plan with an hour count, so the private-school hours the law names are a schedule rather than a guess.
- Keep the records the law names in one folder: the yearly result, immunizations, and the dated pages of the year, which are the instruction records a school asks for on a transfer.
HARVEST free placement Homeschool Rhythm Builder The Apostolic Academy
Common questions
- What is required to homeschool in Washington?
- A yearly declaration of intent to your district superintendent by September 15, a parent who qualifies one of four ways, planned and supervised instruction in the eleven basic skills for the hours set for approved private schools, and a yearly test or written assessment kept at home. No curriculum approval; home-based students need not meet the state standards or take the state assessments.
- How do I start homeschooling in Washington?
- Confirm how you qualify, file the declaration of intent by September 15 (or within two weeks of a new term), withdraw your child, and plan the hours.
- Are standardized tests required for Washington homeschoolers?
- Each year, one of two: a State Board-approved standardized achievement test given by a qualified person, or an assessment of academic progress written by a certificated person currently working in education. The result stays with you.
- How many instructional hours does Washington require?
- The hours equivalent to the annual program hours set for approved private schools at each grade, on a calendar you choose.
- Can I homeschool kindergarten in Washington?
- Yes. Compulsory attendance begins at eight, so the early years need no declaration; file it from the year your child is eight.
- Can my homeschooled child attend public school part time in Washington?
- Yes. Part-time attendance and ancillary services at the public school are open on request.
Official Washington homeschool resources
Read from the state's own pages for the 2026–2027 school year on the date shown. The Revised Code of Washington and your school district are the final word; this page is a plain-language guide, not legal advice.
- RCW 28A.200.010 — home-based instruction, duties of parents: the signed declaration of intent by September 15 or within two weeks of the start of a quarter, trimester or semester, its contents, the yearly standardized test by a qualified person or assessment by a certificated person, the records kept and forwarded on transfer, and that home-based students need not meet the state's learning goals, standards or assessments (last amended 2019) — checked 2026-10-09
- RCW 28A.225.010 — attendance mandatory: ages eight to under eighteen; subsection (4): what home-based instruction is, the eleven subjects, the hours equivalent to approved private schools' annual program hours, and the four ways a parent qualifies — checked 2026-10-09
- Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction — Home-Based Instruction: the declaration of intent to the resident district by September 15 (or a nonresident district that accepts the transfer), the yearly test or assessment with results kept by the parent, part-time attendance and ancillary services (Form A-1), the Pink Book (2023) — checked 2026-10-09