My Learning Source Virginia › Homeschooling in Virginia › Special needs
🧩 Special Needs & Special Education Homeschooling in Virginia
What Virginia offers homeschool families of children with disabilities or learning differences — special-needs scholarships, evaluations and services — from our Virginia guide and articles.
Special education when you homeschool
Virginia treats home-instructed students under § 22.1-254.1, and students who are home-tutored under § 22.1-254, as parentally placed private school students for special education (8VAC20-81-150). That means your school division must locate, identify and evaluate them (child find), and a child the division designates to receive services gets a services plan, paid from the division's proportionate share of federal special education funds. It's not an individual right to the full services an IEP gives in public school — the division consults with private school and parent representatives and decides which services it offers.
The regulation lists home instruction and home tutoring; it doesn't list the religious exemption. Ask your division how it treats a religious-exemption student.
Your child can enroll in public school at any time, and the division then owes a free appropriate public education.
Read the full section in our Virginia guide
Official sources
Summarized from our Virginia guide (as of November 2026) and articles. Rules change — confirm on the official pages before you act.
More for Virginia homeschool families
- Virginia Homeschool Laws & Requirements
- How to Start Homeschooling in Virginia
- Virginia School Choice, ESAs & Scholarships
- Homeschool Sports & Activities in Virginia
- Dual Enrollment & College for Virginia Homeschoolers
Loading the full Virginia site… If it does not appear, everything on this page is readable above.