Bilingual Homeschooling in Washington State: Teaching in Two Languages

Washington has one of the most linguistically diverse populations in the country. The Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area has large Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, and Russian-speaking communities, and the state's homeschool population reflects that diversity. For families who speak a language other than English at home, the question of bilingual homeschooling comes up quickly: can you teach in your home language, can you count second-language instruction toward Washington's required subjects, and how do you document it for the annual assessment?

The short answer: Washington's home-based instruction law does not require instruction in English. The practical implications are more nuanced.

What Washington Law Says About Language of Instruction

Washington's home-based instruction statute (RCW 28A.225.010) specifies the subjects that must be covered and the qualification requirements for the parent. It does not specify the language of instruction.

This means a family can homeschool entirely in Spanish, Chinese, or any other language. There is no requirement that instruction be delivered in English, and there is no requirement that the child demonstrate English proficiency as a condition of complying with home-based instruction law.

This is a meaningful distinction from public school bilingual education, which operates under both state and federal requirements about language of instruction, English Language Development services, and monitoring of students' English acquisition.

Bilingual Families and the Annual Assessment

The annual assessment requirement is where language of instruction becomes most practically significant.

Washington requires homeschooled students to complete an annual assessment in one of these forms:

1. A standardized achievement test administered by a qualified person
2. A portfolio review by a Washington state certificated teacher

Standardized testing: Most standardized tests used in Washington homeschooling (Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Stanford Achievement Test, PASS) are administered in English. A child educated primarily in Spanish or another language may perform below grade level on an English-language standardized test even if they are academically proficient — because the test is measuring English reading and writing alongside subject mastery.

Some families address this by using the portfolio review route rather than standardized testing, which allows more flexibility in how academic progress is demonstrated. Others use both: a standardized test to establish a benchmark and a portfolio review to show the depth of the child's actual learning.

Portfolio reviews for bilingual students: A Washington state certificated teacher reviewing a portfolio has more flexibility to assess work samples in various languages, particularly if the evaluator is bilingual or willing to review translated summaries of work samples. When seeking a portfolio evaluator, ask specifically about their experience with bilingual or multilingual learners.

Counting Language Study Toward Washington's 11 Required Subjects

Washington's 11 required subjects include "language arts" (reading, writing, spelling) but do not specify English language arts. A family educating in Spanish can document Spanish reading and writing as satisfying this requirement.

Additionally, formal second language instruction — whether a child is adding English to a primary non-English language foundation, or a native English-speaking family adding a second language — can be documented as part of the curriculum. Washington's subject list doesn't include "foreign language" as a standalone required subject, but language arts in any language satisfies that category, and a second language can be noted in the curriculum record as an enrichment course or additional subject.

For high school students, second language courses are typically listed on the transcript. Washington universities, Running Start community colleges, and most national universities accept world languages as elective or core credits. The University of Washington's admission requirements include world language study as recommended preparation.

Practical Documentation for Bilingual Families

The biggest documentation challenge for bilingual families is showing Washington's 11 subjects are covered when instruction happens in a language other than English. A portfolio evaluator who doesn't speak your home language may have difficulty evaluating work samples directly.

Practical approaches:

• Bilingual summaries. For each subject covered, write a brief description in English of what was taught and how, even if the instruction itself happened in another language. This gives the portfolio evaluator a framework for the work samples.

• Translated work samples. If a child writes a history essay in Spanish, a brief English translation or summary allows the evaluator to assess the substance of the work, not just the language.

• Curriculum documentation in English. Even if you use a Spanish-language curriculum (like Abeka en Español, various Catholic Spanish-language curricula, or materials from Mexico or Spain), documenting the curriculum titles and subject coverage in English makes the portfolio more accessible to evaluators.

• Explicit subject mapping. Washington's crosswalk requirement — mapping activities to the 11 statutory subjects — is particularly useful for bilingual families. An activity description in English noting "This project covered Science (biology of local plants), Language Arts (Spanish writing and oral narration), and Art Appreciation (botanical illustration)" gives the evaluator what they need regardless of the language of the underlying materials.

Running Start for Bilingual Students

Washington's Running Start program is available to homeschool students who meet college placement requirements. Community colleges administer placement tests (Accuplacer or similar) that assess English reading and writing proficiency alongside mathematics.

A student who has been educated bilingually with strong academic content in both languages typically places into college-level coursework. A student whose English academic development has lagged behind their content knowledge may need to strengthen English writing before Running Start placement testing.

For families where English is a second language, the years between 9th and 11th grade are the window to develop the academic English writing proficiency Running Start requires — not as a replacement for the home language, but as a parallel academic skill set.

Bilingual Homeschool Resources in Washington

Washington's homeschool community has growing resources for bilingual and multilingual families:

• The Washington Homeschool Organization (WHO) maintains state-specific legal guidance applicable to all families regardless of language background
• Spanish-speaking homeschool families in King and Pierce counties have established support networks and co-ops
• WAPAVE (Washington's parent advocacy organization) provides resources in multiple languages for families navigating Washington's education system

For families who need their portfolio documentation to hold up at an annual assessment, the Washington Portfolio & Assessment Templates at /us/washington/portfolio/ include subject tracking frameworks designed to be adapted for any instructional language — with the crosswalk matrix being especially useful for demonstrating how bilingual instruction maps to Washington's 11 statutory subjects.

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