Washington asks for one short form a year and one test or assessment a year, and the test result stays in your own files. The rest is yours to decide, as long as you can show the hours and the subjects.
Verified against primary sources November 2026. Laws change; sources are linked at the bottom of this page.
For each child age 8 through 17, file a signed declaration of intent with your local school district superintendent every year by September 15, or within two weeks of the start of any public school quarter, trimester, or semester. Qualify as the teacher in one of three ways, cover the eleven subjects the law lists, and provide instruction equal to the private school standard of 1,000 hours a year for grades 1 through 12. Once a year, have your child take an approved standardized test or get a written assessment from a certificated teacher, and keep the result in your child's permanent records. Nothing else is filed.
The standard Washington homeschool. A parent teaches only their own children, meets one of the parent qualification options, and files a declaration each year. The parent decides curriculum, books, methods, timing, and place, except for the items the law names.
The same pathway, using teacher supervision as the parent's qualification. The teacher, certified in Washington, plans objectives with the parent, averages at least one contact hour per week with the child each month, and evaluates the child's progress. One teacher may supervise no more than 30 children. You check the supervision box on the declaration.
An approved private school may run an extension program where parents teach their own children at home under the school's supervision. Legally the child is a private school student, not a home-based student, so the home-based declaration and testing rules do not apply. The statute requires a certificated school employee to supervise the parent, plan objectives with the parent, average at least one contact hour per week with each student each month, evaluate each student's progress, and supervise no more than 30 extension students.
For each school year, file a signed declaration of intent with the superintendent of the public school district where you live, or with a nonresident district that accepts a transfer. The deadline is September 15, or within two weeks of the start of any public school quarter, trimester, or semester if you begin partway through the year. The statute requires the child's name and age and whether a certificated person will supervise the instruction, in a format prescribed by OSPI. OSPI publishes a sample form, and your district supplies its own version. It is a notice, not an application: nobody approves it.
You must be teaching only your own children and meet one of these: you have earned 45 college-level quarter credit hours or the semester equivalent; or you completed a course in home-based instruction at a college or a vocational-technical institute; or a Washington certificated teacher supervises the instruction; or your local superintendent deems you sufficiently qualified. OSPI notes the statute sets no hour count or content for the qualifying course, and that a superintendent is not required to review a request for the superintendent option.
Home-based instruction must be planned and supervised and include a curriculum and 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. You choose how: subjects can be combined, and the law gives all decisions about books, curriculum, methods, timing, and place to the parent.
Instruction must be provided for a number of hours equal to the total annual program hours set for approved private schools. That standard is a school-wide annual average of 1,000 instructional hours for grades 1 through 12, and at least 450 hours for kindergarten. There is no daily minimum, and the 180 day figure applies to private schools, not to home-based instruction. The law says the rules on the nature and quantity of home instruction are to be liberally construed.
Each year, either have your child take a standardized achievement test approved by the State Board of Education, given by a qualified individual, or have a certificated person currently working in education write an assessment of your child's academic progress. The result becomes part of the child's permanent records. You do not file it. If the result shows your child is not making reasonable progress for their age or stage of development, you must make a good faith effort to fix the gap. The State Board keeps a list of example tests, and other standardized tests evaluated by a recognized review organization also count.
If your child moves to a public or private school, make sure test scores or assessments, immunization records, and any other records you kept about instruction are sent to the new school. A public school may give a standardized test on enrollment and decides grade and course placement after talking with you and reviewing the records.
| By September 15 each year | File the signed declaration of intent with your district superintendent for every child age 8 or older. |
| Starting partway through the year | File within two weeks of the start of the next public school quarter, trimester, or semester. |
| Throughout the year | Teach the listed subjects and keep track of hours toward the 1,000 hour annual average. |
| Once each year | Arrange the approved standardized test or the certificated teacher's written assessment, and put the result in your child's permanent file. |
| If your child enrolls in a school | Forward the test or assessment results, immunization records, and other instruction records to the new school. |
No. Compulsory attendance starts at age 8, and the declaration duty applies to children receiving home-based instruction under that law. One exception: if your 6 or 7 year old is enrolled full time in public school, the child must attend until you formally remove the child from enrollment. A 2026 bill (SB 6261) would have required a declaration at ages 6 and 7. It did not pass.
No. The law says the test or assessment result becomes part of the child's permanent records, which you keep. You forward records only if your child transfers to a public or private school.
The law borrows the approved private school number: an annual average of 1,000 hours for grades 1 through 12 (450 for kindergarten). There is no daily hour rule and no 180 day count for home-based instruction, and the law says the hour and content rules are to be read liberally because home learning is less structured than a classroom.
No. You qualify with 45 college quarter credits (or the semester equivalent), or a course in home-based instruction at a college or vocational-technical school, or supervision by a Washington certificated teacher, or approval by your local superintendent.
A free parent account comes with a Home class. Add your children as students and see every project they make and every lesson they finish. See what they can make, by age.
Make a free parent accountReference information reviewed August 2026 against primary sources (statutes, NCAA and Common App published requirements). This is general information, not legal advice; requirements change, so verify anything load-bearing for your family against your state's current law.