Homeschooling in Washington
The rules Washington sets out for home education, what they mean for the records you keep, and where to check them yourself.
Verify this with Washington before you rely on it
Always verify this with your state before you rely on it. This is our summary of what your state publishes, with links to the source and the date we last checked. It is not legal advice, requirements change, and some districts add their own. Your state's department of education, or a homeschool legal organisation, is the authority — we are not.
What Washington publishes
moderate regulation- Do you have to tell anyone?
- Yes. By 15 September, or within two weeks of the school year starting; annually, to your local school district superintendent. A declaration of intent with the child's name and age, and whether a certificated person is supervising.
- Subjects named
- Reading · Writing · Spelling · Mathematics · Science · Social studies · History · Health · Occupational education · Art appreciation · Music appreciation
- Days and hours
- 1,000 instructional hours a year, or 180 school days.
- Testing or assessment
- Required. An annual standardised test or an assessment by a certificated person. Results are kept by you, not filed. If progress is not reasonable, you are expected to make a good-faith effort to remedy it.
- Records to keep
- Immunisation records
- Test or assessment results, and academic progress reports, kept by the parent
- Who may teach
- One of several routes: 45 college quarter credits, a parent-qualifying course, supervision by a certificated person, or being deemed sufficiently qualified by the superintendent.
- High school diploma
- The parent.
Sources · last checked 2026-08-24
What that means day to day
- Attendance or days of instruction→your attendance register
- Standardised test results→test results you add
- A course of study in the required subjects→your course list
- Evidence of progress→your report cards
Each of those builds itself here as your child works. That does not make you compliant — only Washington decides that — but it means the paperwork exists when you need it.
The records you will have either way
Whatever Washington asks for, these are the things homeschool families are commonly asked to produce — and here they build themselves as your child works, rather than being assembled in a panic in June.
Attendance
Days and instructional hours, derived from work actually finished.
Report cards
One a quarter, per subject, with the level each strand started and ended at.
Portfolio
Projects, writing and strong work, collected automatically.
Reading log
In the app and off it.
Transcript
Grades 9–10, parent-issued, with credits and GPA.
Export
Everything, one button, any time.
Everything on this page, and the records that satisfy it, are free with no account. Homeschool Year keeps those records for every child across devices and school years, and adds the print library — one payment, twelve months, no renewal.