Intro to Homeschooling Part 2: Qualifying - Washington Homeschool Organization

Part 2: Qualifying

There’s four ways to qualify to homeschool in WA:

45 college quarter credits
Take a Parent Qualifying Course
Hire a WA state certificated teacher to provide oversight
Gain superintendent approval.

Some Notes on each:

45 college quarter credits
(This is about 24-30 semester credits, or 1 year, full time college. It does not have to be a US college. The credits do not have to be in education. They can be in welding, or history, or cosmetology, or astronomy, or culinary or math or anything else. They just need to be from a college).

Take a Parent Qualifying Course
Registration for the next Parent Qualifying Course WHO will be offering. I will be teaching that one. We also keep a list of folks who do a PQC around the state on the website.

Hire a WA state certificated teacher to provide oversight
If you have a teacher friend or relative, this works great, and can often be free. Your local homeschool group will be the best place to find this person if it’s a path you want to pursue.

Gain superintendent approval.
This has been done at least thrice in the history of homeschooling in WA state. I’ve been working on a webinar on how to do this successfully. It works best for someone who has homeschooled elsewhere and is coming new into WA without college credits.

Notes:

You do NOT have to prove how you qualify to homeschool, but the law requires that you do qualify in one of these four ways.

The check box on the Declaration of Intent is ONLY checked if you take the second option and hire a teacher, not if you take the Parent Qualifying Course. (You’d be surprised how many people are confused by this).

It is WHO’s position that being signed up for a Parent Qualifying Course is sufficient for removing your kids and beginning homeschooling. It’s our position that you don’t have to wait.

The Parent Qualifying Course certificate is good to infinity and beyond. It’s a one time class, and you’re done forever.

~Jen