Field guide · Confirm with the authority before you file
Homeschooling in West Virginia
Notice of Intent, when home instruction starts. The full list is below.
Show progress, level 4 of 4
What West Virginia actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
You tell
County superintendent
By
When home instruction starts
If the child is enrolled in a public school, on or before the day home instruction begins. If you move to a new county, notify the previous county superintendent and submit a new notice of intent to the superintendent of the new county.
Who reviews it
The county superintendent receives the notice of intent
At grades 3, 5, 8 and 11, the superintendent also receives the assessment results. If you choose the portfolio option, a certified teacher reviews samples of the child's work, decides whether the child's academic progress for the year is in accordance with the child's abilities, and writes a narrative on the child's progress.
If you skip it
A child is exempt from compulsory school attendance when the home instruction requirements are met. A parent who fails to cause a child to attend school in violation of the attendance law is guilty of a misdemeanor: a first offense carries a fine of $50 to $100 plus the costs of prosecution, a second offense can bring the same fine or 5 to 20 days in jail, and every day a child is out of school contrary to the law is a separate offense. The county superintendent may, after a showing of probable cause, ask the circuit court for an order denying home instruction; the order may be granted on clear and convincing evidence that the child will suffer neglect in their education or that there are other compelling reasons to deny home instruction. If the child does not make acceptable progress for a second year in a row, you must give the county superintendent additional evidence that appropriate instruction is being provided.
Who is in charge
County superintendent / county board of education
Who reviews your child is set out at the top of this page, in the authority's own terms.
The year
What you must file
No fixed dateYou file
Notice of Intent
When home instruction starts. If the child is enrolled in a public school, on or before the day home instruction begins. If you move to a new county, notify the previous county superintendent and submit a new notice of intent to the superintendent of the new county.
Goes to: County superintendent
The notice gives the name, address and age of each child of compulsory school age to be taught at home, and an assurance that the child will receive instruction in reading, language, mathematics, science and social studies and will be assessed every year. The person providing home instruction must also give the county superintendent satisfactory evidence of a high school diploma or equivalent, or a post-secondary degree or certificate from a regionally accredited institution or from an institution authorized to confer one in West Virginia by the West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education or the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.
June 30You file
Annual academic assessment
Results for grades 3, 5, 8 and 11 by 30 JUNE of the year the assessment was given
How often: obtained every year; results submitted at grades 3, 5, 8 and 11
Goes to: SUBMITTED to the county superintendent at grades 3, 5, 8 and 11
Each year, get an assessment of the child's previous school year in one of four ways: (1) a nationally normed standardized achievement test in reading, language, mathematics, science and social studies, published or normed not more than 10 years before it is given, given under the test's published instructions by a person qualified under its published guidelines; (2) the testing program used in the state's public schools, given at a public school in your county of residence; (3) a portfolio of samples of the child's work reviewed by a certified teacher, who decides whether the child's academic progress for the year is in accordance with the child's abilities and writes a narrative on reading, language, mathematics, science and social studies, noting any areas that show need for improvement or remediation; or (4) an alternative assessment of proficiency that you and the county superintendent agree on. On the standardized test, progress is acceptable when the mean of the results is within or above the fourth stanine, or, if below it, shows improvement from the previous year. If an assessment does not show acceptable progress, you must start a remedial program.
No fixed dateYou file
Notice that home instruction has ended
When home instruction ends for a child who is still of compulsory attendance age
How often: each time home instruction ends
Goes to: County superintendent
Notify the county superintendent when home instruction ends for a child who is of compulsory attendance age.
No fixed dateYou file
Additional evidence of appropriate instruction
When the child does not achieve acceptable progress for a second consecutive year
How often: only after a second year in a row without acceptable progress
Goes to: County superintendent
After an annual assessment that does not show acceptable progress, you must start a remedial program. If the child still does not achieve acceptable progress for a second consecutive year, you must submit to the county superintendent additional evidence that appropriate instruction is being provided.
No fixed dateYou keep
Copies of each academic assessment
Keep a copy of each assessment for three years
How often: every year
Goes to: Kept by the parent for three years
A parent or legal guardian must keep copies of each child's academic assessment for three years.
The words a reviewer uses
'Academic progress in accordance with the child's abilities', like Colorado and Hawaii, an ability-relative standard.
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 West Virginia, which today are English (326 of 383), Mathematics (490 of 574), Science (336 of 604), Social Studies (3 of 1631), Physical Education (42 of 106) and Arts (3 of 115). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of West Virginia's published standards. A further 177 Social Studies topics are matched only to the national C3 Framework, which is guidance, not West Virginia's own standard. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Sources
- Checked 11 Aug 2026
- Checked 11 Aug 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
- Checked 7 Oct 2026
Sources last checked on 2026-10-07: West Virginia Code §18-8-1, Compulsory school attendance; exemptions. That is the date we checked, not the date the rule last changed.
Check it yourself: the source we used.
Guidance, not legal advice. Rules change and districts vary: confirm with the authority named above before you file.