How to Start Homeschooling in Virginia

Required hours

No state minimum

Required subjects

Your choice

Notice

Required each year

Testing / evaluation

Parent's choice (testing or evaluation)

Recordkeeping

Recommended

Jump to the full Virginia requirements for plain-English detail on each of these.

Step by step

1. 1

   Understand Virginia's homeschool law

   Virginia has light but formal homeschool requirements with no mandated hour or day minimums, and you'll file notice with your local school district.

2. 2

   Withdraw from public school (if enrolled)

   Moving a child from public school to homeschool in Virginia starts with a written withdrawal to the current school and a notice of intent to the local district. Together they put the new arrangement on record. Homeschool Fox can draft the withdrawal letter for you. It fills in the student, district, and date fields automatically.

3. 3

   File your notice of intent

   Yes, Virginia requires you to file notice of your intent to homeschool. You must notify your local school district. The notice is filed again each school year.

4. 4

   Plan your subjects

   Virginia does not mandate specific subjects. Families have complete flexibility in designing their curriculum and choosing what to teach.

5. 5

   Set your hours or days target

   Virginia does not mandate a specific number of instructional hours. Families have flexibility in determining their own schedule and pace of learning.

6. 6

   Plan for assessment and records

   Virginia requires evidence of academic progress filed with the division superintendent by August 1 after each year of home instruction. Options are a composite score in or above the fourth stanine (about the 23rd percentile) on a nationally normed achievement test or an equivalent ACT, SAT, or PSAT score, or an evaluation the superintendent accepts, such as a letter from a licensed teacher or someone with a master's degree who knows the child's work, or a report card or transcript from a college, college distance program, or home-education correspondence school. A child under 6 on September 30 of the school year is exempt.

7. 7

   Track your hours and keep records

   Log activities as they happen so hours, attendance, and subject coverage build up automatically. Homeschool Fox lets you log from your phone or by voice and generates a Virginia-specific compliance report when you need it.

Free Virginia printables

Three ready-to-use PDFs for Virginia homeschoolers. No account needed.

Templates, not legal advice. Confirm the current rule with your state or district.

Free tool

Calculate your homeschool pace

Virginia doesn't set a minimum. If you want a personal target, 900 hours/year is a common one. Enter your end date to see the pace.

What Homeschool Fox tracks for Virginia

Virginia leaves the records to you. Keep them in one place anyway. No spreadsheets, no lost notebooks.

• Parent's choice (testing or evaluation)
• Daily activity logs
• Printable PDF reports
• Progress tracking
• High school transcripts

More Virginia guides

• Virginia Homeschool Requirements Hours, notice, assessment, and subjects at a glance.
• Homeschooling High School in Virginia Credits, GPA, transcripts, and graduation.
• Record Keeping in Virginia What to document, how to organize it, and staying compliant.
• How to Withdraw From School in Virginia The steps, the letter, and timing to avoid truancy issues.
• Moving to Virginia What to file when you arrive and whether your records transfer.
• Virginia Letter of Intent Who to file with, when it's due, and a free generator.
• Virginia Year End Report What goes in it, when it's due, and who reviews it.
• Homeschool Testing in Virginia What the state asks for, when, and low-score rules.