My Learning Source Virginia › Homeschooling in Virginia › Virginia Homeschool Options — Home Instruction Law, the Religious Exemption, Where Virginia Stands on School Choice, Dual Enrollment and Driver's Ed

Virginia Homeschool Options — Home Instruction Law, the Religious Exemption, Where Virginia Stands on School Choice, Dual Enrollment and Driver's Ed

Virginia gives parents three legal ways to teach children at home: home instruction under § 22.1-254.1 of the Code of Virginia (the route most families use), a religious exemption under § 22.1-254(B)(1), or a tutor who meets the Board of Education's teacher qualifications. Under home instruction you notify your division superintendent by August 15 each year, list the subjects you'll teach, and show you meet one of four options — and by August 1 after each year you send evidence of progress, either a test score at or above the 4th stanine or an evaluation. Virginia has no state program that pays homeschool costs; its only private-choice program, the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credit, funds private school scholarships.

Overseen by	Your local division superintendent, under §§ 22.1-254 and 22.1-254.1 of the Code of Virginia. The Virginia Department of Education doesn't approve home schools, and a superintendent may not share your filings outside the school division without your written consent (§ 22.1-254.1(G)).
Who it covers	Children who turn 5 on or before September 30 and haven't passed their 18th birthday (§ 22.1-254). The evidence-of-progress rule doesn't apply to children under 6 on September 30 of the school year.
Notice	Every year, by August 15: notify the division superintendent that you'll provide home instruction, with a list of subjects for the coming year and evidence that you meet one of the four options. Starting after the school year began or moving in mid-year: notify as soon as practicable and complete the requirements within 30 days.
The four home instruction options	The parent (i) holds a high school diploma; (ii) is a teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education; (iii) provides a program of study or curriculum, which may be delivered through a correspondence course, distance learning program or any other manner; or (iv) provides evidence of being able to provide an adequate education.
Evidence of progress	By August 1 after each year: a composite score in or above the 4th stanine on a nationally normed standardized achievement test (or an equivalent ACT, SAT or PSAT score), or an evaluation the superintendent accepts — a letter from a person licensed to teach in any state or with a master's degree or higher in an academic discipline who knows the child's progress, or a report card or transcript from a college, college distance learning program or home-education correspondence school.
Religious exemption	A school board must excuse a pupil who, with his parents, is conscientiously opposed to school attendance by reason of bona fide religious training or belief (§ 22.1-254(B)(1)). It is a separate route from home instruction, with no annual notice or testing requirement in the statute; the local school board decides requests.
School choice status	As of November 2026, Virginia's only private-choice program is the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credit: donors get a 65% state tax credit for gifts to approved scholarship foundations, which fund scholarships at private schools (statewide cap 5 million a fiscal year). There is no ESA or voucher, and no state program pays homeschool costs. The IRS lists Virginia as taking part in the federal scholarship tax credit for 2027 (as of October 22, 2026).

Home instruction step by step (§ 22.1-254.1)

Home instruction is the route most Virginia homeschool families use. The statute calls it "an acceptable alternative form of education under the policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia" once its requirements are met.

Each year, by August 15, send your division superintendent a notice of intent to provide home instruction. Include a description of the curriculum — the law limits this to a list of subjects you'll teach in the coming year — and evidence that you meet one of the four options: you hold a high school diploma; you're a teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education; you provide a program of study or curriculum (which may be a correspondence course, distance learning program or anything else); or you provide evidence that you can provide an adequate education. Most families use the diploma option and attach a copy of the diploma.

If you begin home instruction after the school year has started, or move into a new school division, notify the superintendent as soon as practicable and complete the requirements within 30 days.

By August 1 after each year of home instruction, send evidence of progress: either (i) a composite score in or above the 4th stanine on any nationally normed standardized achievement test, or an equivalent score on the ACT, SAT or PSAT, or (ii) an evaluation or assessment the superintendent determines shows adequate educational growth and progress — for example, a letter from a person licensed to teach in any state, or with a master's degree or higher in an academic discipline, who knows the child's progress, or a report card or transcript from an institution of higher education, college distance learning program or home-education correspondence school. This doesn't apply to a child under 6 on September 30 of the school year.

If you don't provide evidence of progress, the program may be placed on probation for one year: you file evidence of your ability to provide an adequate education and a remediation plan. If the superintendent doesn't accept them, or evidence of progress isn't provided by August 1 after the probationary year, home instruction must stop. Any decision of the superintendent can be appealed within 30 days to an independent hearing officer.

Privacy: no division superintendent or school board may share the information you provide outside the school division without your written consent; the superintendent reports only the number of home-instructed students to the state (§ 22.1-254.1(G)).

The religious exemption and the tutor option

Religious exemption: under § 22.1-254(B)(1), a school board shall excuse from attendance any pupil who, together with his parents, by reason of bona fide religious training or belief is conscientiously opposed to attendance at school. The law says "bona fide religious training or belief" does not include essentially political, sociological or philosophical views or a merely personal moral code. Families request it from the local school board; the statute sets no annual notice or testing requirement for it. § 22.1-254.1(D) keeps this route open alongside home instruction.

Tutor option: § 22.1-254(A) also lets a child be "taught by a tutor or teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board and approved by the division superintendent."

Some programs and rules name only one route. Driver's ed at home is open to both home instruction and religious exemption families (§ 22.1-205); AP, PSAT and PreACT access, part-time enrollment funding, and the high school equivalency rule at 16 name home instruction under § 22.1-254.1; and the special education regulation covers home instruction and home-tutored students. Check which route a program covers before you choose.

Where Virginia stands on school choice (November 2026)

What exists: the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits program (Code of Virginia §§ 58.1-439.25 to -439.28, created in 2012). A person who gives money or marketable securities to a scholarship foundation on the Department of Education's annual list earns a Virginia tax credit of 65% of the donation. An individual must give at least $500, and credits are issued only on the first

25,000 an individual gives in a taxable year (the cap doesn't apply to businesses). The Department of Education issues credits first-come, first-served, with a statewide limit of

5 million a fiscal year. Unused credit carries forward five years.

Who the scholarships serve: Virginia students from lower-income families (the statute's income limits are 300% of the federal poverty guidelines, 400% for students with an IEP) who meet the law's school history rules — for example, attended a Virginia public school for at least half of the current or prior year, are eligible to enter kindergarten or first grade, already hold a scholarship, or just moved from another state. The scholarships pay qualified educational expenses at a nonpublic school, up to the lesser of the actual expenses or 100% of the state's per-pupil share of Standards of Quality costs in the student's home division (higher for certain students with disabilities at licensed special education schools). Homeschool students can't use them.

Sunset: as the Code reads in November 2026, the credit in § 58.1-439.26 applies to taxable years before January 1, 2028. Watch the 2027 General Assembly session for any extension.

What doesn't exist: Virginia has no education savings account, no voucher, and no state tax credit or deduction for homeschool or private school costs paid by parents. Public options the state supports — charter schools, college partnership laboratory schools, governor's schools and virtual programs run by school divisions — are public schools, not homeschooling.

The federal scholarship tax credit: the IRS lists Virginia among the states taking part for 2027 (as of October 22, 2026). From January 1, 2027, a donor may claim a federal credit of up to

,700 ($3,400 if filing jointly) for cash gifts to a scholarship-granting organization on a participating state's list. States elect each year. We did not find an official Virginia page on the election or its list of organizations as of November 2, 2026, and news reports in October 2026 said future years were unsettled; we'll update this when the Commonwealth posts its process.

What it means for homeschool families: no Virginia program pays homeschool costs. You pay your own way, and the money questions that matter are the August 1 evidence of progress (test fees or an evaluator), dual enrollment tuition, and driver's ed.

Testing, AP, PSAT and the evaluation option

A standardized test is one of two ways to show progress by August 1: a composite score in or above the 4th stanine on any nationally normed standardized achievement test, or an equivalent ACT, SAT or PSAT score. The other is an evaluation: a letter from a licensed teacher (any state) or a person with a master's degree or higher in an academic discipline who knows your child's progress, or a report card or transcript from a college, college distance learning program or home-education correspondence school. The superintendent decides whether an evaluation shows adequate growth.

AP, PSAT/NMSQT and PreACT: § 22.1-254.1(F) requires school boards to make these exams available to home-instructed students, set a written registration deadline for them, and tell families about the deadline and any financial help for low-income students. Ask your division for its deadline early in the school year.

High school equivalency: a person 16 or older who was taught at home under § 22.1-254.1 and has completed home instruction may take the state's high school equivalency test (§ 22.1-254.2).

Sports, activities and part-time public school classes

VHSL: the Virginia High School League's eligibility rules include a Bona Fide Student Rule (28A-2-1) and an Enrollment Rule (28A-3-1), and VHSL's handbook applies them to students at its member schools. We found no Virginia law that gives home-instructed students the right to play on a public school team. Bills to open VHSL activities to homeschoolers have come up in many sessions; we could not read their official histories (the LIS bill pages need JavaScript), and news reports in March 2026 described a federal lawsuit by a Roanoke County family challenging the rule. We'll report the outcome from the court record.

Part-time classes: Virginia law funds part-time enrollment. Under § 22.1-253.13:2(N), a home-instructed student enrolled part time in a public school math, science, English, history, social science, career and technical education, fine arts, foreign language, health or PE course is counted at 0.25 per course (up to half a student) in the division's funding. Whether to enroll home-instructed students part time is up to each school division — ask yours for its policy.

Dual enrollment and college

Community college dual enrollment: Virginia's community colleges admit home-school students studying at the junior and senior levels who are college-ready under VCCS Policy 6.6 (Reynolds Community College Policy 2-09); freshmen and sophomores are considered case by case with the college president's approval. Virginia Western Community College's criteria, for example: 11th or 12th grade (9th and 10th case by case), parental permission for homeschool students, and readiness for each course. Homeschool students usually take classes on campus or online at the college's standard tuition rate; contact the college's admissions or dual enrollment office.

College admission: there's no state homeschool diploma; parents issue their own. Each Virginia college sets its own homeschool admission requirements — check them by the start of junior year.

State aid: the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant helps Virginia residents attending eligible private nonprofit colleges in Virginia, and need-based state aid at public colleges runs through each college's financial aid office with the FAFSA. Ask each college how it handles homeschool graduates for state and institutional aid.

Special education when you homeschool

Virginia treats home-instructed students under § 22.1-254.1, and students who are home-tutored under § 22.1-254, as parentally placed private school students for special education (8VAC20-81-150). That means your school division must locate, identify and evaluate them (child find), and a child the division designates to receive services gets a services plan, paid from the division's proportionate share of federal special education funds. It's not an individual right to the full services an IEP gives in public school — the division consults with private school and parent representatives and decides which services it offers.

The regulation lists home instruction and home tutoring; it doesn't list the religious exemption. Ask your division how it treats a religious-exemption student.

Your child can enroll in public school at any time, and the division then owes a free appropriate public education.

Driver's ed for home-schooled teens

Learner's permit: at least 15 years and 6 months old; a parent or guardian signs the application for anyone under 18; vision screening and a two-part knowledge exam at DMV.

Classroom portion: home-schooled students (home instruction under § 22.1-254.1 or the religious exemption) can complete the classroom portion at a driver training school, a public or private school, or through one of the correspondence courses on DMV's list for home schoolers. The 90-minute parent/teen component is part of the classroom portion; in Planning District 8 (Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park) it must be done in person with a parent.

In-car portion taught by a parent: DMV's Home-Schooled In-Car Driver Education Information Sheet (HS-3) explains the requirements, and the parent applies with the Parental Authorization Application (HS-1), attaching the division's acknowledgment letter or a copy of the notice of intent to home-school, plus proof the classroom portion was completed — one HS-1 per child. § 22.1-205 allows behind-the-wheel training for home schoolers from a Board-approved course taught by the parent.

To get a license under 18: complete a state-approved driver education program, hold the learner's permit at least nine months, and have a parent certify at least 45 hours of driving, 15 after sunset. DMV notes new requirements from January 1, 2027 for first-time applicants 18 through 20.

For vendors: serving Virginia homeschool families

There's no state program that pays homeschool costs, no approved-vendor list and no state marketplace. Families pay you directly.

What sells in Virginia: standardized testing and evaluations before the August 1 evidence-of-progress deadline (an evaluator must be licensed to teach in any state or hold a master's degree or higher in an academic discipline); distance learning programs and correspondence schools whose report cards or transcripts can serve as evidence of progress; parent-taught driver's ed courses on DMV's list; and tutoring and classes that fill the year.

Private schools and microschools: the Education Improvement Scholarships go to students at nonpublic schools through approved scholarship foundations, not to individual vendors. Listing on My Learning Source is separate from any state program.

Official sources

My Learning Source is an independent marketplace. We are not affiliated with the Virginia Department of Education, any Virginia school division, the Virginia General Assembly, the Office of the Governor, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, the VHSL, the Virginia Community College System, any scholarship foundation or any college. The state does not approve vendors for homeschool families, and a listing here does not mean a purchase qualifies for any credit or scholarship. This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice.

As of November 2026.

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