Homeschooling in Washington
What Washington actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
United StatesFiling requiredWho is in charge
Superintendent of the resident public school district
Who actually reviews your child
No one. Results are kept, not filed.
What you must file
Declaration of Intent to Provide Home-Based Instruction
By 15 SEPTEMBER of the school year, or within two weeks of the beginning of any public school quarter, trimester or semester
Goes to: Resident district superintendent (or the district accepting the transfer)
Names and ages of the children, and whether a certificated person will supervise the instruction.
Annual test or academic progress assessment
n/a
Goes to: KEPT BY THE PARENT, not submitted
Either a standardized achievement test administered by a qualified person, or a written annual assessment by a certificated person. Immunization records are kept with it.
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for Washington, which today are Mathematics (487 of 496) and Science (525 of 535). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of Washington's published standards. We do not hold Washington's own standards for English and Social Studies yet, and they are being added. Physical Education is not in the app for Washington yet. A moment in any of those subjects is kept on the general map for your child's age and named that way in the record, so the record never cites Washington's curriculum where we hold none of it. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Other places in United States
Last read at the source on 2026-09-13: app.leg.wa.gov. That is the date we read it, not the date the rule last changed.
Check it yourself: the authority's own page.