Homeschooling in West Virginia: the law and how to start

Yes. West Virginia calls homeschooling home instruction, and it is one of the exemptions from compulsory attendance in W. Va. Code § 18-8-1. The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) publishes the law, but you deal with your county superintendent (often through the county's attendance director).

The statute gives you two routes:

• Notice of intent — the option most families use. You file a one-time notice with the county superintendent, teach the required subjects, and submit assessment results in certain grades.
• County board approval — you ask your county board of education to approve home instruction. The board sets conditions under the statute, so ask your county what it requires.

Separately, the Hope Scholarship is a state education savings account that homeschooled students can use from 2026–27 (see the funding section). It has its own rules, so check how taking it affects your reporting.

• Write your notice of intent. Include each child's name, address and age, and an assurance that you will teach reading, language, math, science and social studies. Many counties post a fill-in form on their website.
• Include proof of your diploma. The person teaching must have a high school diploma or equivalent, and counties ask for evidence of it with the notice.
• File it with your county superintendent. If your child is enrolled in public school, WVDE says the notice must be filed on or before the date home instruction begins. Telling the school in writing that you are withdrawing to home instruction, and keeping copies, avoids gaps that could be counted as absences.
• You only file once. The notice stays in effect until you tell the county you are stopping or moving. Notify the superintendent if you end home instruction while your child is still of compulsory age or if you move to another county.

Under the notice option you must teach reading, language, mathematics, science and social studies. You choose the curriculum, materials and teaching style.

West Virginia's notice option doesn't set a list of daily hours for you to log. Aim for steady, year-round progress, because your child's assessments in grades 3, 5, 8 and 11 are meant to show it.

West Virginia requires an academic assessment for homeschooled children, but you only send results to the county superintendent for grades 3, 5, 8 and 11, by June 30 of the year the assessment was done. You choose the method from those the statute allows:

• a nationally normed standardized achievement test;
• taking part in the state's own assessments through your county (counties set request deadlines, so ask early);
• a portfolio of your child's work reviewed by a certified teacher;
• another assessment that you and the county superintendent agree on.

Keep copies of your child's assessments for three years. The statute expects acceptable progress; if results fall short, the law provides for remediation, and ask your county how it applies this.

Homeschooled students don't receive a county diploma for home instruction. As the parent, you decide when your teen has finished high school and can issue your own diploma and transcript; keep course lists, grades and the grade 11 assessment with your records.

West Virginia colleges and community colleges offer early-entry and dual-credit courses to high school-age students; ask the college how it handles applicants who are homeschooled.

West Virginia law lets students on home instruction take part in interscholastic athletics and other extracurricular activities at the public secondary school serving their attendance zone, if they meet the conditions in § 18-2-25. Those conditions include evidence of academic progress, age and amateur rules, and following WVSSAC rules; check the current statute and WVSSAC eligibility rules with your local school.

A 2026 bill (SB 689) proposed letting homeschool teams play regular-season games against WVSSAC member schools; we could not confirm it was enacted.

If you think your child may have a disability, contact your county school system: under the federal IDEA, districts must locate and evaluate children who may need special education, including homeschooled children.

The Hope Scholarship is West Virginia's education savings account, run by the State Treasurer's Office. Families receive funds for approved education expenses such as tuition, curriculum, tutoring and other qualifying costs.

2026–27 is the first year of universal eligibility. Until now, applicants generally needed recent public school enrollment or to be entering kindergarten. For 2026–27, any West Virginia K–12 student who is eligible to attend public school can apply, including students who already homeschool, with no income limit.

The expected award for 2026–27 is about $5,435 per student; the amount changes each year with state aid per pupil. Families who applied by June 15, 2026 qualified for the full amount, and later applications are prorated. Check hopescholarshipwv.gov for current deadlines.

Hope Scholarship students follow the program's own requirements, which are separate from the home instruction notice and assessment rules. Read the program handbook before you apply so you know which rules will apply to you.

West Virginia has statewide homeschool organizations, county support groups and co-ops that share information on assessments and activities. Public libraries and state parks also run programs that suit homeschoolers.

Your county's attendance director or superintendent's office handles notices and assessment results and can give you the county's forms.