Homeschool requirements · West Virginia
Homeschooling in West Virginia
Moderate paperwork · A notice and a yearly assessment or records check.
File a one-time notice of intent with your diploma, then assess annually and submit results in grades 3, 5, 8, and 11.
What West Virginia asks
| Notice | One-time notice of intent to the county superintendent (plus a new notice if you move). |
|---|---|
| Days and hours | West Virginia sets no number. HomeSchool Scribe plans against 180 days unless you change it. |
| Subjects | Reading, Language, Math, Science, Social Studies |
| Assessment | Annual assessment (standardized test, portfolio review, or alternative); results submitted in grades 3, 5, 8, and 11. |
| Records to keep | Assessment results kept for three years. |
| Parent qualification | High school diploma or equivalent. |
| Worth knowing | 180 days is a planning default only. |
Deadlines
West Virginia lets a family homeschool more than one way, and the paperwork differs by route. You pick the route once in the app and it tracks only those dates. Districts vary; the app lets you edit any of them.
Notice of intent
One notice to the county superintendent or county board with each child's name, address, and age, plus evidence of a high school diploma or equivalent. No set number of days or hours. An academic assessment every year, with results going to the county superintendent at grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 by June 30. W.Va. Code 18-8-1(c)(2), and the route the state's own form is written for.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice of intent to provide home instruction Notice · Mail it | Once, when you begin | County superintendent or county board | Filed once, under W.Va. Code 18-8-1(c)(2)(A), and it does not repeat: it stays in force until home instruction ends or the family moves to another county. The notice carries each child's name, address, and age, and the assurance that the child will be taught reading, language, mathematics, science, and social studies and assessed each year. Evidence of a high school diploma or equivalent, or a post-secondary degree or certificate from a regionally accredited or West Virginia authorized institution, goes with it; the state's own form has the line "I have included a copy of my Diploma or equivalent." Two things to watch. First, the notice is due when home instruction actually begins, and on or before that day for a child leaving public school, so a family starting partway through the year should move this off the first day of the school year onto their real start date. Second, the state's form also has a blank for the school year, although the statute describes a single notice, so it is worth asking the county whether they want a fresh one each year. Moving counties means telling the old county superintendent and filing a new notice in the new one; ending home instruction means telling the county superintendent. Neither of those is a dated reminder here. The statute names no delivery method, so mail is a planning default; counties differ. |
| Annual academic assessment Assessment · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files; the county superintendent sees it only at grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 | Your district sets this date, not the state. HomeSchool Scribe has deliberately left the reminder off, because any date it picked would be invented. Confirm the date with your district or in your approved plan, then add your own reminder. One assessment a year covering the previous school year, in any one of four ways under W.Va. Code 18-8-1(c)(2)(C): a nationally normed standardized achievement test published or normed within the last 10 years, in reading, language, mathematics, science, and social studies; the testing program the state's public schools use, taken at a public school in the county of residence; a portfolio of the child's work reviewed by a certified teacher who writes a narrative; or an alternative assessment the parent and the county superintendent agree on. On a test, progress counts as acceptable at or above the fourth stanine, or below it if it improves on the previous year's results. West Virginia sets no date for getting the assessment done, only the June 30 date for sending results in the four submission grades, so this year-end date is a planning anchor and not a legal deadline. The trap is a submission year: the assessment has to be finished with time to send it by June 30, which can fall before the end of a school year that runs late. A year without acceptable progress is followed by a remedial program; a second consecutive year means sending the county superintendent additional evidence that appropriate instruction is being provided. |
| Assessment results (grades 3, 5, 8, 11) Report · Mail it | By June 30 each year (grades 3, 5, 8, 11) | County superintendent | Results go to the county superintendent at grade levels three, five, eight, and 11, as applicable, by June 30 of the year the assessment was administered (W.Va. Code 18-8-1(c)(2)(E)). In every other grade the result stays in the family's own files and nothing is sent. The statute names no delivery method, so mail is a planning default; counties differ on what they accept. |
| Assessment copies kept three years Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | A copy of each child's academic assessment stays with the family for three years (W.Va. Code 18-8-1(c)(2)(D)). Nothing is sent; this is the copy to have on hand if the county asks. |
County board approval
W.Va. Code 18-8-1(c)(1). The county board approves the home or other place of instruction and, with the county superintendent, judges the instructor qualified, and instruction runs for a time equal to the public school instructional term, which 18-5-45 puts at at least 900 instructional hours. The county superintendent may ask for attendance, instruction, and progress records at any time. The annual assessment paragraphs sit inside subdivision (2), and HSLDA's summary table marks assessment as required for the notice and learning pod routes only, so what is assessed here is whatever the county board asks for.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| County board approval of home instruction Notice · Mail it | Once, when you begin | County board of education | The second home instruction route, W.Va. Code 18-8-1(c)(1): the county board approves the home or other place of instruction and, with the county superintendent, judges the instructor qualified to teach the subjects required in public elementary schools. A denial comes back in writing with good and reasonable justification. State law names no form, no filing address, and no date for this, and neither the Department of Education nor HSLDA publishes one, so this item carries no reminder on purpose rather than a date that is not in the law; the county office's own process is the thing to ask about first, and approval has to be in hand before instruction starts. Instruction on this route runs for a time equal to the instructional term in W.Va. Code 18-5-45, which that section puts at at least 900 instructional hours. The notice of intent route carries no day or hour figure at all. |
| Attendance, instruction, and progress records Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files; the county board on request | On the county board route the person providing instruction furnishes information and records on attendance, instruction, and progress whenever the county superintendent asks, which can be at any point in the year (W.Va. Code 18-8-1(c)(1)). There is no fixed date and nothing is sent unasked, so what matters is that the attendance, hours, and grades are current. The 900 instructional hours that 18-5-45 sets for the public school instructional term are the measure this route is held to. |
Learning pod or microschool
W.Va. Code 18-8-1(n). A notice of intent to participate goes to the county superintendent or county board, the person providing instruction shows a high school diploma or equivalent, and the same annual assessment applies, with results due at grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 by June 30. A pod or microschool may send composite results instead of each child's. The statute adds that making pods subject to the home instruction requirements does not make them the same as homeschooling.
| What | When | To whom | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice of intent to participate in a learning pod or microschool Notice · Mail it | Once, when you begin | County superintendent or county board | Filed once, under W.Va. Code 18-8-1(n)(2), and it does not repeat. It carries each participating child's name, address, and age, and the assurance that the child will be taught reading, language, mathematics, science, and social studies and assessed each year. The person providing instruction shows evidence of a high school diploma or equivalent, or a post-secondary degree or certificate from a regionally accredited or West Virginia authorized institution. The notice is due when participation begins, and on or before that day for a child leaving public school, so a family starting partway through the year should move this onto their real start date. Ending participation means telling the county superintendent; moving counties means telling the old county superintendent and filing a new notice in the new one. The statute names no delivery method, so mail is a planning default; counties differ. Note that the statute treats a learning pod or microschool as an alternative to homeschooling rather than a form of it, and the Department of Education's homeschool page does not cover this route. |
| Annual academic assessment Assessment · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files; the county superintendent sees it only at grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 | Your district sets this date, not the state. HomeSchool Scribe has deliberately left the reminder off, because any date it picked would be invented. Confirm the date with your district or in your approved plan, then add your own reminder. The same four ways as home instruction, under W.Va. Code 18-8-1(n)(4): a nationally normed standardized achievement test published or normed within the last 10 years; the state's public school testing program, taken at a public school in the county of residence; a certified teacher's review of a portfolio with a written narrative; or an alternative assessment the parent and the county superintendent agree on. On a test, progress counts as acceptable at or above the fourth stanine, or below it if it improves on the previous year's results. No date is set for getting it done, only the submission date in the four grades, so this year-end date is a planning anchor and not a legal deadline. A year without acceptable progress is followed by a remedial program; a second consecutive year means sending the county superintendent additional evidence that appropriate instruction is being provided. |
| Assessment results (grades 3, 5, 8, 11) Report · Mail it | By June 30 each year (grades 3, 5, 8, 11) | County superintendent | W.Va. Code 18-8-1(n)(6) does not set its own grades or date: it says results go to the county superintendent with the same frequency prescribed in 18-8-1(c)(2)(E), which is grade levels three, five, eight, and 11, as applicable, by June 30 of the year the assessment was administered. Reading that cross-reference as carrying the June 30 date across, and not only the grade levels, is the ordinary reading but it is not spelled out, so confirm with the county. A learning pod or microschool may send composite results for the group instead of each child's. The statute names no delivery method, so mail is a planning default. |
| Assessment copies kept three years Records · Keep in your files | By the end of the school year | Keep in your files | A copy of each child's academic assessment stays with the family for three years (W.Va. Code 18-8-1(n)(5)). Nothing is sent; this is the copy to have on hand if the county asks. |
What HomeSchool Scribe does in West Virginia
- Notice of intent to provide home instruction: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Annual academic assessment: Prepares the portfolio; keeps it in records.
- Assessment results (grades 3, 5, 8, 11): Prepares the portfolio; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Assessment copies kept three years: Prepares the portfolio; keeps it in records.
- County board approval of home instruction: Prepares the notice letter and the course of study; lets you mark it filed with the date.
- Attendance, instruction, and progress records: Prepares the attendance and hours report, the hours log and the report card; keeps it in records.
- Notice of intent to participate in a learning pod or microschool: Prepares the notice letter; reminds you 14 days and 2 days before; lets you mark it filed with the date.
Attendance and hours fill in from the lessons you check off, so the documents above come from records you already have. West Virginia asks families to keep these records for 3 years.
Read the law yourself
West Virginia Department of Education · HSLDA’s West Virginia summary · Notice of intent to provide home instruction portal
Not legal advicePlanning summaries in plain language, reviewed 2026-09-29. Deadlines and recipients vary by district; confirm with West Virginia’s current law or a homeschool legal organization before you file anything. If something here is out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it for every family in West Virginia.