Home Instruction

Documents (all required)

• Notification by parent or guardian of intent to provide home instruction
• Evidence of meeting one of the four qualifications described above
• Description of curriculum limited to a list of subjects to be studied during the coming year

Home Instruction Form

Time Frame

• By August 15 prior to the school year in which the child will receive home instruction.
• A parent or guardian who moves into Virginia Beach City Public Schools or who begins home instruction after the school year has begun, shall provide notification as soon as practicable and comply with all notification requirements within 30 days.

Acknowledgement

The information submitted is reviewed and a letter is sent to the parent or guardian indicating whether or not the notification documents comply with Section 22.1-254.1 of the Code of Virginia.

Documents and Time

The parent who elects to provide home instruction shall provide the division superintendent by August 1 following the school year in which the child has received home instruction with either.

• (i) evidence that the child has attained a composite score in or above the fourth stanine on any nationally normed standardized achievement test, r an equivalent score on the ACT, SAT or PSAT test or
• (ii) an evaluation or assessment which the division superintendent determines to indicate that the child is achieving an adequate level of educational growth and progress, including but not limited to:
  • (a) an evaluation letter from a person licensed to teach in any state or a person with a master's degree or higher in an academic discipline, having knowledge of the child's academic progress, stating that the child is achieving an adequate level of educational growth and progress; or
  • (b) a report card or transcript from a community college or college, college distance learning program, or home-education correspondence school.

Parents or guardians should send evidence of progress by email, fax or mail by August 1.

Acknowledgement

The information submitted is reviewed and a letter is sent to the parent indicating whether or not the evidence of achievement complies with Section 22.1-254.1 of the Code of Virginia.

Probation or Denial

If the required evidence of progress is not provided by the parent or guardian and the evidence does not meet satisfactory evidence of progress, the home instruction program for the child may be place on probation for one year. The parent or guardian shall file with the Division Superintendent evidence of ability to provide an adequate education and a remediation plan for the probationary year that indicates how the parent of guardian will address any educational deficiency. Upon acceptance of such evidence and plan by the Division Superintendent, the home instruction many continue for one probationary year. If the remediation plan and evidence of achievement are not accepted, or the required evidence or progress is not provided by August 1, following the probationary year, home instruction shall cease and the parent or guardian shall make other arrangements for the education of the child that comply with the Section 22.1-254.1 of the Code of Virginia.

The following examinations are available to VBCPS students that are registered as receiving home instruction: Advance Placement (AP), Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) and Pre-Act.

Fee waiver eligibility information is available on The College Board website or on the ACT website.

Please contact the school counselor at your zone school to confirm test location, times, and availability. You may access the VBCPS school locator at vbschools.com to determine the assigned school.

GED Testing

In Accordance with Section 22.1-254 of the Code of Virginia, applicants under eighteen years of age, but at least sixteen years of age who have been home schooled and who have completed their home schooling, are entitled to take the GED. Applicants must provide the GED examiner with a letter signed by the VBCPS superintendent or designee certifying that the applicant has completed a home instruction program.

Students enrolled in private or parochial schools and home instruction shall not be permitted to enroll in this school division on a part-time basis or participate in academic or extracurricular activity except as required by law. For more information, please see the School Board policies and regulations here.

In accordance with Section 22.1-254.B.1 of the Code of Virginia, the School Board shall excuse from attendance at school any pupil who, together with his or her parents or guardians, by reason of bona fide religious training or belief, is conscientiously opposed to attendance as School. For purposes of this subdivision, "bona fide religious training or belief" does not include essentially political, sociological, or philosophical views or a merely personal moral code.

Parents or guardians shall submit a written request to the School Board for exemption stating their religious beliefs that are in conflict with public school attendance. Older children (13 years or older) should provide their own individual statements of their religious beliefs that conflict with school attendance. Parents or guardians should provide at least two letters of support from their religious leader or persons who can vouch for the authenticity of their beliefs.

The School Board will review the request for religious exemptions at their regularly scheduled School Board meetings A letter of approval for religious exemptions will be sent to the parent/guardian.

Once granted, the exemption applies for future years. Parents should notify the School Board in writing as younger children come of compulsory school attendance age.

Upon request by the Division Superintendent, evidence of immunizations, medical contraindication certified by a licensed physician, or affidavit attesting that the administration of immunizing agents’ conflicts with religious tenets or practices.

VBCPS is responsible for identifying, locating, and evaluating children who reside in Virginia Beach who are in need of special education and related services, including students receiving home instruction. Parents who suspect their child has a disability and is in need of special education, should contact the principal of their students’ zoned school. You may determine your child's school by typing in your address into the School Locator app.

If you are an approved home schooler, driver education can be taught at home. The student must currently be enrolled in a home-schooled program. The acknowledgement letter received from VBCPS may be presented for verification of enrollment in a home school program.

Please visit the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Driver Education Information for Home Schoolers website at http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/drivers/homeschoolers.asp for details.

1. Placement of students will be in accordance with the requirements of the Board of Education's Regulations Establishing Standards for Accrediting Public Schools in Virginia.
2. Students will provide to the school in which he/she desires to enroll the following information:
   1. A list of courses taken;
   2. Evidence of achievement in course work; and
   3. Documentation of hours of study.
3. Students may be administered appropriate placement tests as determined by the principal.
4. Placement of students will be determined by the principal and will be tentative depending upon emotional adjustment and academic success. Any credit received will be recorded as pass/fail.

Home instruction Resources

Virginia Department of Education
The Organization of Virginia Home Schoolers
Home Educators Association of Virginia