Legal/Homeschool Laws
Laws that regulate home education vary from state to state. It is important to understand the legal requirements in your state and to be aware of legislative and other legal issues that affect homeschoolers in your community. We've compiled resources that will help you become informed. Although homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, and the vast majority of homeschoolers face no problems, you may find that you need legal assistance at some point in your homeschooling career. We've compiled a list of resources to help you find the support you need. And if you'd like to become more involved in working towards homeschooling freedoms, we discuss some of the issues facing homeschoolers that we hope you find compelling.
State Laws
Read the laws regulating home education in Virginia and browse through the case law and legal opinions relating to those laws, along with government publications relating to homeschooling and summaries of the laws.
Forms
Which forms do you need to fill out? Where can you get them? Here is a list of useful forms for homeschooling in Virginia.
Legal Support
If you need legal information or have run into a legal situation regarding your decision to homeschool, these resources will be helpful.
Lobbying Groups
A listing of local and national lobbying groups and information on how you can become involved in the political process to ensure the freedom to homeschool is protected.
Attorneys
When searching for an attorney, it is helpful to know whether he or she has experience working with homeschoolers and is interested in protecting the right to homeschool.
Legal Issues
Is homeschooling legal? Which laws pertain to homeschoolers and which don't? How do homeschoolers protect their rights to freely educate their children and to preserve their privacy?
Government Resources
A listing of local and state government resources, including your state's Department of Education, school districts, and Senate and House of Representative information.
What's Popular
Homeschooling and Child Abuse: No Connection
Recent news stories have highlighted several isolated cases of child abuse and presented them as indicative of problems in the homeschooling community, because they happened within families who claimed to be educating their children at home. Some of these reports have suggested that federal or state regulations requiring background checks and monitoring of homeschooling families would minimize such cases of child abuse. However, there is no need for intrusive regulation of the homeschooling comm...
22.1-254.1. Declaration of policy; requirements for home instruction of children.
A. When the requirements of this section have been satisfied, instruction of children by their parents is an acceptable alternative form of education under the policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Any parent of any child who will have reached the fifth birthday on or before September 30 of any school year and who has not passed the eighteenth birthday may elect to provide home instruction in lieu of school attendance if he (i) holds a baccalaureate degree in any subject from an accredited ins...
Option 1 Notice of Intent (NOI) - Sample from Albemarle County School District
Sample of an option (i) NOI that has been accepted by Albemarle County Public Schools.
Answering the CPS (Child Protective Services) Questions
Transcript of a talk given by Edwin Schuster of the Virginia Child Protective Services about the relationship between homeschoolers and CPS. The text is presented in question and answer format. Includes the rights that families have when contacted by CPS.
Virginia Home School Laws from HSLDA
The Home School Legal Defense Association provides a brief summary of the homeschooling laws in Virginia. Includes a link to a legal analysis of laws relating to homeschooling in Virginia.
22.1-271.4. Health requirements for home-instructed, exempted, and excused children.
In addition to compliance with the requirements of subsection B, C, or H of § 22.1-254 or § 22.1-254.1, any parent, guardian or other person having control or charge of a child being home instructed, exempted or excused from school attendance shall comply with the immunization requirements provided in § 32.1-46 in the same manner and to the same extent as if the child has been enrolled in and is attending school.
Upon request by the division superintendent, the parent shall submit to such di...
VHEA-announce
List intended to distribute the Virginia Home Education Association's free biweekly updates, in order to disseminate legislative and other time sensitive information. This list is announcement only. VHEA's Legislative Reports report on legislative matters that could affect homeschooling, offering information on pending legislation.
Should You Homeschool Another Person's Child?
Imagine this situation: You are happily homeschooling your children. Your sister-in-law has said many times that she would love to be able to homeschool her children too, if only she and her husband didn’t have to work full-time. She wonders if perhaps you wouldn’t mind including her children in your family’s homeschooling. She would file the Notice of Intent with the local superintendent, but you would do the actual instruction in your home. You tell her you’d be happy to—the more the merrier! ...
Evidence of Progress
Will Shaw answers the question, "What happens if the local school division rejects the test, results of the test, or the portfolio?"
22.1-254. Compulsory attendance required.
A. Except as otherwise provided in this article, every parent, guardian, or other person in the Commonwealth having control or charge of any child who will have reached the fifth birthday on or before September 30 of any school year and who has not passed the eighteenth birthday shall, during the period of each year the public schools are in session and for the same number of days and hours per day as the public schools, send such child to a public school or to a private, denominational or paroc...
32.1-46. Immunization of children against certain diseases; authority to share immunization records.
Text of the code relating to immunization of children and exemptions from these requirements.
Handling It Ourselves
With a little support and encouragement from each other, homeschoolers can effectively respond to superintendents’ offices that overstep their bounds.
Option 1 Notice of Intent (NOI) - Eclectic Curriculum
Sample of an option (i) NOI that has been accepted by Prince William County Public Schools.
Attorney General Baliles Nov 1984 Opinion
Families who homeschool based on the Religious Exemption may be interested to read a few Attorney General opinions that a school board has the right to review a family’s claim for Religious Exemption every few years or even annually. Religious beliefs, however sincere at a point in time, may change. Thus the school board’s recognition of an exemption could theoretically change as well. If so asked, the family could simply write to the school board, informing them that their status was unchange...
Johnson vs. Prince William County School Board
This court decision involved a dispute between Prince William County School Board and a family who homeschooled via the Religious Exemption.
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Featured Resources
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Waldorf Education: A Family Guide
Waldorf Education finds itself catapulted from its humble beginnings 80 years ago into the midst of the central educational and social issues of this decade.What draws parents and educators toward Waldorf Education today? "Waldorf Education - A Famil...
DMV Test Practice Driving Questions
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The Homeschooling Revolution
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Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives
For the first time, Basic Montessori opens the celebrated philosophy and method to a more general public. David Gettman has devised a clear and modern explanation of Montessori's revolutionary ideas about early intellectual development, and provides...
Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child
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