Kindergarten Options​

​Every prospective homeschooler approaches Virginia homeschooling law with questions, concerns, and a little apprehension. Yet no part of our state’s homeschooling law seems to provoke more confusion or strong emotional feelings as the sections about kindergarten-aged children.

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Virginia’s compulsory attendance law (§22.1-254, subsection A) states that all children who are 5 years old on or before September 30 of the school year must attend school. This could include public school, private school, a public or private preschool program, a private tutor, or home instruction.

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This means you have 3 main options to keep your homeschooled 5-year-old child “legal”:

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• Comply with the compulsory attendance code by either filing a Notice of Intent form with your local school system and officially registering your 5-year-old child as a homeschooler, or by notifying that you are homeschooling under the Approved Tutor provision.

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• Send a short letter to your local school board stating that you are delaying your 5-year-old child’s entry into school for a year because they are not ready for school (§22.1-254, subsection H). The following year, you may then register your child as either a kindergartner or a first grader, depending on the child’s academic level and social maturity at that time.

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• File a Religious Exemption for your child, stating that the family is “conscientiously opposed to attendance at school” due to “bona fide religious training or belief” (§22.1-254, subsection B.1).

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Virginia Homeschooling Law and Kindergarten

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§22.1-254, subsection A

§22.1-254, subsection H

§22.1-254.1, subs