How to Start Homeschooling in Washington State

If you live in Washington and you’re thinking about homeschooling, the legal part is probably the piece making you most nervous. Let’s get it out of the way — because it’s genuinely simpler than it looks, and once it’s done you rarely think about it again.

I homeschool my three here in Washington. Here’s the whole thing in plain English.

One honest note first: I’m a homeschool mum, not an attorney. This is a plain-English summary of the law as I understand it, with links to the actual statutes so you can read them yourself. Requirements do change — verify with OSPI or your district before you rely on it.

First: is your child even old enough to need this?

In Washington, compulsory attendance starts at age eight. The law requires parents of “any child eight years of age and under eighteen years of age” to have that child in school (RCW 28A.225.010).

So if your child is five, six, or seven and has never been enrolled, you are not legally behind and you don’t have paperwork to file yet. You can simply start reading together and doing kindergarten at home.

If your child is currently enrolled in a school, don’t just stop sending them — notify the school and withdraw them properly so they aren’t marked truant. A short written notice is normally all it takes.

Step 1: Make sure you qualify (you probably already do)

Washington asks that the parent providing home-based instruction meet one of four conditions (RCW 28A.225.010):

1. Be supervised by a certificated person — someone with a teaching certificate who meets with you, averaging an hour a week, and evaluates your child’s progress.
2. Have earned 45 college quarter credit hours (or the semester equivalent). That’s roughly one year of college — most parents with any college clear this easily.
3. Complete a course in home-based instruction at a postsecondary institution or a vocational-technical institute. These are short, inexpensive, and offered around the state specifically so parents can qualify.
4. Be deemed sufficiently qualified by your local school district superintendent.

Most Washington families qualify under #2 or #3. You don’t apply, get approved, or prove anything up front — you just need to actually meet one of them.

I took the course route when we started. The Washington Homeschool Organization offers a parent qualifying course — it was relatively inexpensive, took an afternoon, and walked through every requirement. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, and it left me confident I was doing everything I needed to. They also keep up with any changes to the law.

Step 2: File your Declaration of Intent

This is the only form you file, and it’s one page.

Each year, you send a signed Declaration of Intent to the superintendent of the school district where you live (or to a nonresident district that accepts the transfer). It states your child’s name and age, and whether a certificated person will be supervising (RCW 28A.200.010).

The deadline is September 15 — or within two weeks of the start of any public school quarter, trimester, or semester. That second half matters: you can start homeschooling mid-year. You are not stuck waiting until fall.

I was nervous about getting this one form right. It turned out to be a single sheet of paper: your child’s name and birthday, your signature, and you mail it to your district superintendent.

Most districts post the form on their website. Here in Clark County that means Vancouver, Evergreen, Battle Ground, Camas, Washougal, Ridgefield, or La Center — search your district name plus “declaration of intent.” The one I use every year is the Washington Homeschool Organization’s form — fill in the blanks and send it in the mail.

One thing I always do, just in case: photocopy it and keep the copy in a folder. Then you’re done until next September.

Step 3: Teach the required subjects

Washington names eleven subject areas for home-based instruction: occupational education, science, mathematics, language, social studies, history, health, reading, writing, spelling, and the development of an appreciation of art and music.

Take a breath — that list looks much scarier than it is.

Nobody checks a schedule. There’s no approval, no lesson-plan submission, and no rule that each subject gets its own daily block. In the early years most of these overlap naturally: a read-aloud covers reading and language, a nature walk is science, baking is math and health, and “occupational education” at six years old looks like chores and learning how work gets done. My whole rhythm — what a homeschool day actually looks like — covers this list without ever feeling like eleven subjects.

The law also expects your instruction to add up to roughly the same annual hours as an approved private school at that grade level. Again: this is a yearly total, not a stopwatch.

Step 4: Do an annual assessment (and keep it at home)

Once a year, one of two things has to happen (RCW 28A.200.010):

• A standardized achievement test approved by the State Board of Education, given by a qualified individual, or
• A written assessment of your child’s academic progress by a certificated person.

Here’s the part that surprises people: you don’t send the results to anyone. You keep them. They only leave your house if your child later transfers into a school, at which point you pass along the test scores or assessments along with immunization records.

There’s also no minimum score and no consequence written into the statute for a low one. The requirement is that the assessment happens.

Step 5: Keep simple records

Hang on to your declaration copies, your annual assessments, and immunization records. A folder in a drawer is genuinely enough.

Beyond that, keep whatever helps you — I like keeping a daily journal of copywork and drawings, which doubles as a portfolio and is far more fun to look back on than a spreadsheet.

What Washington does not require

Worth saying plainly, because new homeschoolers assume the opposite:

• You do not need a teaching degree or a certificate.
• You do not submit lesson plans or curriculum for approval.
• You do not report attendance or grades to the district.
• You do not have to use a specific curriculum. (In fact, please don’t buy curriculum yet.)
• Your child does not have to be tested by the district.

The whole thing, in order

1. Confirm your child’s age — compulsory attendance begins at 8.
2. Withdraw them properly if they’re currently enrolled.
3. Meet one of the four parent qualifications (45 college credits is the common one).
4. File your Declaration of Intent with your district by September 15, or within two weeks of a term starting.
5. Teach the eleven subject areas — most of which overlap in ordinary life.
6. Do an annual test or assessment, and keep it in a folder at home.

That’s it. That’s the legal part of homeschooling in Washington.

Now for the part that actually matters

The paperwork takes an hour, or an afternoon if you take the parent course. The question that can keep you up at night comes after: I’ve done all the requirements, and now I’m sitting at the table with my child — am I going to give them enough? That was my biggest question too.

My years as a classroom teacher have shown me the answer is yes. That concentrated time, side by side with your child, is giving them what they need. You are enough to do this. When you’re ready for that piece, start with how to start homeschooling, then give yourself two weeks of deschooling before you open a single workbook. My seasonal lesson plans are there when you want the weeks planned for you.

And if you’re here in Clark County, I also work with families in person — tutoring, and homeschool days where your kids come to me. You can see what that looks like here.

Want your first week handed to you? Grab my free Starter Week — five real days of reading, writing, math, science, art, and time outside, using a library card and a notebook. It’s the easiest possible first step. 💛