Homeschooling in Western Australia: The Complete 2026 Guide to Registering and Staying Compliant

Home education is legal in Western Australia, and the two things that define it are a tight application deadline and an annual moderator visit. You register with the Department of Education, build a program aligned to the Western Australian Curriculum across the eight learning areas, and keep evidence so your yearly moderator visit goes smoothly. This guide walks through every step in plain English, with links to the official sources.

For the one-page checklist version, see our Western Australia quick-steps guide. This article is the full explainer.

Is homeschooling legal in Western Australia?

Yes — home education is legal in WA for children in the compulsory education period, provided you register with the Department of Education. The governing law is the School Education Act 1999 (WA). The parent or legal guardian taking primary responsibility for the child’s education registers as the home educator.

You do not need a teaching qualification. What WA does require is timely registration, a program aligned to the state curriculum, and openness to an annual moderator visit. The most important thing to know up front is the deadline: you must apply within 14 days of your child’s last day at school, or within 14 days of when they would otherwise have first enrolled.

Who can register, and at what age?

Registration covers children in the compulsory education period. In WA that period runs from the start of the year a child turns 5 years 6 months to the end of the year they turn 17 years 6 months (or age 18, whichever comes first). Home educators must be registered to teach a child within this window.

A couple of practical points:

• Because of the 14-day application deadline, don’t wait — begin your registration the moment you decide to home educate.
• Registration is tied to the home educator and the child; lodge for each child you’ll be educating.

Not sure how to map your child’s stage to the WA Curriculum? The free Cordia Start Wizard helps you shape a starting plan in a couple of minutes.

How registration works: apply within 14 days

WA’s timing rule is stricter than most states. Applications must be made within 14 days of the child’s last day of school attendance, or within 14 days of when the child would otherwise have first enrolled at school. The parent taking primary responsibility registers as the home educator, and the Department then arranges moderation of the program.

The practical sequence is:

1. Decide to home educate and register immediately — the 14-day clock is short.
2. Prepare your educational program covering the eight learning areas.
3. Register with the Department as the home educator.
4. An education moderator is assigned; your first and subsequent moderation visits assess the program and your child’s progress.

WA does not publish a single fixed “registration validity” period in the way some states do; instead, the annual moderator visit is the recurring checkpoint that keeps your registration on track.

What you need: an educational program across eight learning areas

Your core document is an educational program — defined by the Department as “an organised set of learning activities designed to enable a student to develop knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes relevant to the student’s individual needs.” It must cover the eight learning areas: English, Mathematics, Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, the Arts, Technologies, Health and Physical Education, and Languages.

Just as important, your program must demonstrate an adequate system for planning, supervising and recording teaching and learning experiences. In other words, WA wants to see not just what you’ll teach, but that you have a workable way to plan it, deliver it, and record what your child does. Keep a certified copy of your child’s birth certificate and any prior school records on hand to support the registration.

Do you have to follow the Western Australian Curriculum?

In practice, yes. WA is an own-curriculum state. The Home Education Procedures say moderators assess “the extent to which it is consistent with the Western Australian Curriculum,” and Department guidance states your program should align with the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline — Kindergarten to Year 6 core curriculum, Years 7–10, and Years 11–12 senior secondary.

Note the framing: moderators judge the extent of consistency, so this is a matter of degree rather than a rigid tick-box. You still choose your resources and teaching methods, and the WA Curriculum is itself based on the Australian Curriculum — but the compliance reference the Department cites is the WA-badged version, not ACARA content directly.

This is where a structured, WA-Curriculum-aligned plan earns its keep: it lets you show a moderator clear coverage of the required areas while still teaching in your own way at home. Mapping the WA Curriculum to real, personalised lessons is exactly what Cordia is built to do — see how it fits on our pricing and founding-families page.

Record-keeping and the annual moderator visit

Each year, an education moderator visits your home to monitor and assess the learning program and your child’s progress — so keeping evidence through the year is the single most important habit in WA. Moderators are noted as unavailable during school holidays, which means visits are scheduled within school terms.

The Department describes acceptable evidence as “recorded proof of learning and achievement” which “can include photos, work samples, videos, portfolios, workbooks, written reports, lists, discussion, and more.” Parents are advised to build an ongoing habit of retaining work samples and photos throughout the year.

A simple system — a dated work-sample folder per learning area, a short learning log, and photos of hands-on work — turns the moderator visit from a scramble into a straightforward conversation about what your child has been doing. A planning tool that logs completed lessons against the WA Curriculum makes that evidence build itself.

What the moderator is looking for

It helps to know that the annual moderator visit is a supportive, professional conversation, not an exam. The moderator’s job is to assess the extent to which your program is consistent with the Western Australian Curriculum and how your child is progressing — so they’re looking for two things: a program that credibly covers the eight learning areas, and evidence that your child is actually learning from it.

In practice, that means you don’t need polished folders or a school-like classroom. What lands well is a clear sense of what you’re teaching in each learning area, a handful of real work samples that show progress over time, and your own account of how your child is going. Because “the extent to which” is a matter of degree, a program that thoughtfully covers the WA Curriculum’s areas — even in your own style and sequence — is what’s being judged, not word-for-word adherence to a school scope-and-sequence.

Two small habits make the visit easy: date your work samples so progress is visible across the year, and keep a short running log of what you covered. If you use an online program, its parent dashboard is itself useful evidence. Moderators schedule visits within school terms (they’re generally unavailable during holidays), so you’ll have notice — treat it as a chance to talk about what’s working for your child.

A simple step-by-step to get registered

1. Confirm your child is in the compulsory period (from the year they turn 5½ to the year they turn 17½).
2. Act within 14 days of leaving school or of when enrolment would have started.
3. Build an educational program across the eight learning areas, aligned to the WA Curriculum, with a clear system for planning and recording.
4. Register with the Department as the home educator.
5. Keep evidence as you go — work samples, photos, portfolios, logs.
6. Host the annual moderator visit within school terms, with your evidence ready.

WA rewards parents who move quickly on registration and keep evidence steadily. The curriculum bar is real, but a structured plan makes it very manageable.

Ready to build a WA-Curriculum-aligned plan for your child? Start with the free Cordia Wizard, compare the flexible states with our Victoria guide, or browse more guides on the blog. Wherever you are, you can find your state’s official steps here.

Sources

This guide draws on WA Department of Education primary sources, accessed July 2026. Always confirm the current detail on the official pages before you lodge:

• WA Department of Education — Home schooling (overview, registering as a home educator, the 14-day rule).
• WA Department of Education — Home Education Procedures (the educational program, moderation, WA Curriculum consistency).
• WA legislation — School Education Act 1999 (the governing framework and compulsory education period).