How to Start Homeschooling in WA: Registration, First Steps, and What to Prepare

Starting homeschooling in Western Australia is more straightforward than most parents expect — but there are specific steps you must take in a specific order, and the clock starts the moment you withdraw your child from school. If you are pulling a child out mid-year, you have 14 days to lodge your registration. If you are starting fresh at the beginning of the year, registration closes by the last Friday in February.

Getting this right from day one prevents the anxiety that comes from operating in a legal grey area while you figure out what to do next.

Step 1: Understand What You Are Registering For

When you register as a home educator in WA, you are not enrolling your child in a school or signing up for a correspondence program. You are registering under Section 47 of the School Education Act 1999 (WA) as the responsible home educator. From the date on your registration certificate, you bear full legal responsibility for your child's education.

This is worth sitting with. You are not required to teach eight hours a day. You are not required to follow a fixed timetable. You are required to provide an organised educational program drawn from the WA Curriculum (WACAO) and to demonstrate, when the time comes, that your child is making progress.

Step 2: Submit Your Registration Application

Applications go to the WA Department of Education. The key deadline is the last Friday in February for families who want to start at the beginning of the school year. If you are withdrawing mid-year, lodge the application within 14 days of withdrawing.

When you apply, you do not need to have a complete curriculum plan ready. But you will need to start building your educational program, because your first moderator evaluation must occur within three months of registration.

After submission, the Department will process your application and issue a registration certificate. A Home Education Moderator from your region will then contact you to arrange the initial evaluation meeting.

Step 3: Build Your Educational Program Before the First Visit

Your educational program is a forward-looking document — it describes what you intend to teach over the coming year. It does not need to be rigid or prescriptive, but it must:

• Reference the WA Curriculum (WACAO) learning areas
• Address all eight learning areas: English, Mathematics, Science, HASS, The Arts, Technologies, HPE, and Languages (compulsory from Year 3)
• Describe the resources, activities, and approaches you plan to use
• Be tailored to your child's individual needs and current level

The Department publishes five exemplar educational program formats on its website (goal-based, general, traditional, topic-based, and curriculum-focused). These show you what a completed program looks like. They do not give you a blank template to fill in — you have to build your own structure.

Families who use the WA Portfolio & Assessment Templates get a ready-to-fill educational program template that is already structured around the eight learning areas and pre-referenced to SCSA. That alone saves most families three to five hours of staring at a blank document.

Step 4: Start Collecting Evidence From Week One

New home educators consistently make the same mistake: they focus entirely on curriculum and ignore documentation in the early months, then scramble to compile three months of evidence the week before the first moderator visit.

Start collecting evidence from day one. This does not mean running a formal test every Friday. It means:

• Keeping a reading log
• Dating any written work your child produces
• Photographing hands-on activities (cooking, building, craft, science experiments) with a brief note about what learning area it connects to
• Saving screenshots from online platforms (Mathletics, Reading Eggs, Khan Academy) that show progress over time

Three months of dated, annotated evidence — even thin evidence — is far more convincing to a moderator than three weeks of intensive worksheets compiled at the last minute.

What the First Moderator Visit Actually Looks Like

Your initial evaluation must occur within three months of registration. In practice, the moderator usually contacts you to arrange it once your certificate is issued. The visit typically lasts 1 to 2 hours and is conducted at your home, though an alternative location can be negotiated.

The moderator is not there to test your child with a formal exam. They will:

1. Look at your physical learning environment — workspace, books, materials, resources
2. Review your educational program to assess whether it draws from the WA Curriculum
3. Look through your evidence of learning — work samples, photos, logs, project documentation

The question they are asking is: does this child appear to be receiving an educational program, and is there evidence of progress? A new homeschooler with three months of records will not be expected to have a year's worth of evidence. What moderators want to see is that you are organised, intentional, and moving in the right direction.

After Registration: The Annual Rhythm

Once you are registered, evaluations happen at least once a year. Some families have the same moderator for years; others are reassigned. Moderator personalities and regional expectations vary — this is a known reality in the WA home education community, and HEWA actively advises families about their rights when a moderator's demands seem excessive.

Each year, the cycle repeats: maintain your evidence throughout the year, update your educational program before the annual evaluation, and sit the evaluation meeting with your portfolio ready.

The families who find this manageable are those who document consistently throughout the year rather than in a single pre-visit burst. A 15-minute weekly habit — selecting a few work samples, dating them, and filing them — keeps the portfolio current without adding significant work to your week.

Key Resources for New WA Home Educators

Home Education WA (HEWA) — the peak advocacy body for WA home educators. Provides advice on planning, moderator meetings, and your rights under the Act. Membership is not required to access most of their guidance.

Home Education Association (HEA) — national organisation with WA-specific registration flowcharts and a member helpline.

School of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE) — if your child needs access to specific WACE subjects in senior secondary, SIDE offers single-subject enrolments without full deregistration from home education.

For the practical documentation side — educational program templates, weekly evidence logs, work sample trackers, and the annual summary format — the Western Australia Portfolio & Assessment Templates cover every stage from registration through senior secondary, structured specifically around the WA Department of Education's evaluation criteria.

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