How to register for “homeschooling”
Alrighty! Turns out a lot of people want to know more about the registration process of ‘homeschooling’.
Whether you are unschooling, homeschooling, home-educating.. whatever word you like to use for your child living a life with no school, the good thing is it’s COMPLETELY legal for you to do so in Australia!! (WOO)
But, “legally”, part of the deal is that you do need to register, as in, you need to declare that your child is being educated at home. Same as if you were to enrol them in school, you are basically telling the government your plans.
Within this article, I’m not going to go through whether you should or not. That part is entirely up to you, I will not share opinions on this, that’s not something I feel comfortable sharing to the internet (with most other political stand-points). And I do urge you to do your own research. I will give you as much information as I can, but laws change, policies change & I am just an average person, I don’t work for the government or anything of the like = so PLEASE make sure what you do has nothing to do with me, I’m just a girl hehe ;)
With all that said, I am here to hopefully explain a bit about the process because I think for most of us, anxiety around forms and legal matters is high. I think having a rough idea on what to expect will help - and I want to lessen the anxiety even more by explaining the “approval” process & if and when one may be declined… it’s not as common as you may think… but let’s get into it.
So each state has different education laws and policies.
As I live in Victoria, I will be sharing Victoria’s examples, if you live in another state - I would highly suggest doing your own research on how the laws apply to you for age etc. QLD and NSW especially - from what I gather, your state is a little more full on with the process and policies! But for the most part they all have the same basic spine:
Children of compulsory school age must be either:
enrolled at a registered school or
registered / approved for home education.
In Victoria, the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) is the home education regulator. If you home educate a child aged 6–17, you are legally required to register them with the VRQA. And you need to do this from the start of the year they turn 6, or by their 6th birthday (this is the “required” age) This is whether or not anything actually changes in your life within that year or not, you might decide to go full ham into educating them that year or you may be like me and see my kids journey has been since she was born and I wont be adding anything drastic ever - doesn't matter - but for registration purposes, thats when you will.
Very simply, this is done by the VRQA website, its a form which is about 3-4 pages long and has the following:
Application form
Parent/guardian fills out the “Register to home educate” application - (which you can click here) .VRQA .
Application assessment
- VRQA can take up to 28 days to assess a complete application
- By law, while they assess, a child 6–17 must remain enrolled at a school unless/until registration is approved (This is only for those within those ages that are in school and changing to homeschool, if your child is 6 and you are just waiting don’t stress, I would’nt)
Approval & proof
- If approved, you get an official registration letter. This is your proof of registration for schools, Centrelink etc.
Once you are in the system, you are good for the year. Long-term obligations will be an email each year from VRQA asking if you are going to continue next year and so on. You will confirm this online. You will only have to contact VRQA if you change your address, or change the person responsible for the home educating or if your child changes their name or something. Other than that, you will be “registered” until the age of 18 when it automatically ends.
If you decide to stop home-educating and want your child to go to school, you will have to notify them and I suggest giving them a few weeks notice to go through the process. I’m pretty sure it can take up to 14 days to make the change.
(I’m going to go into more detail about what the form and the ‘learning plan’ part of it entails at the end if youd like more detail)
So what about combining school and home-education in Victoria (PARTIAL ENROLMENT)?
(This is a bit more confusing and one that many don’t understand)
There are formal “Home-schooling and Partial enrolments” guidelines published by the Department of Education. They say - registered home-educated students can partially enrol at their neighbourhood government school for specific activities (e.g. sport, art, languages, NAPLAN) but thats IF the principal agrees…
Principles should accept partial enrolment where they are capable. But that comes down to class size, capacity and literally the principles views and even if the principle does accept, they can decline or later cancel at a later stage if circumstances change.
So in theory, the option to “part-time” or “full-time” is on the standard Application to enrol in a Victorian school form, this is widely used, but not all schools will be on board with this option… if this is something you are looking into for your child I suggest just asking them about it upon filling the form, but BE ready.
If it was me and I wanted to partially enrol my child, I would already be ready with my APPROVED application for home-education, so that when I was talking to the school I wanted to attend - I would be prepared - have with me the approved paperwork, go in knowing what subjects I want my child attending school and what ones you dont. Have the relevant plan ready to explain it and any and all ‘proof’ on what your child is doing instead.
“But why don’t they offer this option in reality?? Or why isnt this widely offered or even accepted??“ (I had to actually research this part as much as I could) From what I gather..
- The policy says principals should accept partial enrolments “where they are able”, but it is explicitly at their discretion
- Funding is pro-rata based on February census; so partial enrolment doesn’t always cover the staffing/timetabling headache
- Non-government schools (Catholic/independent) use their own enrolment forms and policies, and are not bound by the same departmental guidelines.
- Some schools simply don’t understand the partial enrolment policy well, or are worried about insurance / duty of care, timetable disruption and fairness to full-time students.
So the form exists, the policy exists, but whether it’s actually used depends heavily on the principal and school culture. (Ugh)
EXEMPTIONS vs PARTIAL ENROLMENT
Now this is where the right wording matters!!
Exemption from attendance: Child remains enrolled full-time in a school, but is allowed to not attend certain days (e.g for home-based learning, therapy, travel, off-campus program, farm school hehe) This is common in SA and ACT and also used in Victoria via the attendance policy
Partial or (dual) enrolment: Child is registered for homeschool but also enrolled part-time for specific subjects or days at a school (Victoria and Tasmania)
There is no Australian jurisdiction that says something like “If your child goes to school fewer than 3 days per week you must register as a homeschooler”. Instead the frameworks ask:
‘Is the child primarily enrolled at a school (with some exemptions)?’ or
‘Is the child primarily homeschooled with limited school attendance on top?’
There is also no database or list on what schools will or wont allow these options (I so wish there was!) But from what I gather “government schools” are bound by departmental policy but “catholic and independent schools” set their own policies and many simply dont permit anything less than full attendance.
So how do families actually find a school that will cooperate?
I suggest you look for alternative / flexi programs and schools, regional schools with community focus or principles who explicitly mention flexible or personalised learning on their websites. (We are bound by “zoning” for the most part, so that limits your options greatly, but theres no harm in trying.. especially if this is something you really want to do, get in early!)
Then book a meeting with the principal, bring your VRQA registration letter (if relevant), your learning plan and a clear proposal (“We’d like 2 mornings a week for literacy + PE,” etc.). Annnnd hope for the best.
What the Victorian Home Education Registration Form looks like
(These are the standard fields & questions)
The VRQA form is actually quite simple and nowhere near as intimidating as people imagine. The (current) form includes:
SECTION A - Parent / Guardian Details
Full name
Address
Phone number & email
Proof of identity (driver licence, passport or similar)
Confirmation you are the child’s parent or have legal responsibility
SECTION B - Child’s Details
You must include:
Child’s full name
Date of birth
Gender
Home address
Year level (approximate is fine)
Proof of age (birth certificate, passport)
SECTION C - Reason for Registration
Options include:
Starting home education from the beginning
Withdrawing from school
Moving into Victoria
Other reason (brief explanation)
SECTION D - Previous Schooling
Name of the previous school
Last date attended
Explanation if you’re withdrawing partway through a term
SECTION E - The Learning Plan
(Parents often panic at this section, but apparently it’s very flexible.)
The form asks for:
Your child’s current abilities and needs
Your educational goals for the coming year
The learning activities and resources you’ll use
How you’ll cover the Eight Learning Areas:
English
Maths
Science
Humanities & Social Sciences
The Arts
Health & PE
Languages
Technologies
You DO NOT need to follow the Victorian Curriculum.
You DO NOT need to replicate school hours.
You DO NOT need to submit work samples at registration.
SECTION F - Exemptions (optional)
You may request exemption from a learning area (e.g., Languages) if it’s:
Not reasonable
Not relevant
Causing anxiety
Not suited to your child’s needs
You simply explain why.
SECTION G - Parent Declaration
You sign to confirm:
You will provide a home education program
You understand your responsibilities
You will notify VRQA of any changes
ATTACHMENTS REQUIRED
Child’s ID
Parent’s ID
Learning Plan
And that’s it. The entire form is usually 3-4 pages.
Alright, the fun part… The dreaded “learning plan”…
Juuuust kidding. It’s not as bad as you probably think. So its been said that the VRQA are not there to judge parents. They do not inspect your home before they approve you and they are not looking for qualifications or professional teaching skills!
If your learning plan clearly explains how you intend to cover the eight learning areas, you will be approved. Apparently, they just want to know you have a general plan, that you understand your childs needs and that you cover the 8 areas that I spoke about earlier (English, Maths, Science, Humanities & Social sciences, The Arts, Health & PE, Languages & technologies)
They do not need: A timetable, work samples, tests or assessments, a curriculum purchased from a company, daily logs or even detailed lesson plans.
What they do need is a paragraph or 2 on each learning area, maybe a list of resources that you will use (like books, apps, websites, library, farm sctivities etc) and a general idea of your weekly flow. I would also add a statement on how you will adapt for your childs needs… I would imagine them asking themselves “Will this child receive a meaningful education?” and if the answer is clearly yes then you will be approved. (Better to be as explanatory as you can though than not enough and risk having to re-apply)
I actually looked into how often they decline or dont approve someone and it’s not often at all - and if they do, its usually a form issue. It usually comes down to an incomplete application (missing ID, missing signatures or your learning plan is too vague) The VRQA’s own website states that they can ‘refuse’ an application but that you can either fix it, reapply or appeal. They do say they will always try and contact you first to fix the issue before declining, so I guess always check your emails and respond to them if an issue does arise.
So 3 main things!! Actually fill in the entire form with no gaps, include a real learning plan that covers all 8 learning ares & respond promptly to VRQA if they ask for extra info. If you do all of that it is very unlikely you will be refused or stay refused.
Okay, so youve been approved and you can now LEGALLY homeschool, what happens now?
VRQA may do a review at a later date, not every year but occasionally.. and yes this does happen, I know a few families that have had a check-up. But they are usually just looking for a few examples of your journey.
This could mean examples of progress, work samples (drawings, worksheets, journals and photos), could just be a conversation about how your child learns or examples of you covering those 8 key learning areas (over time). So TAKE PHOTOS…. take photos of a basket of books, or any setups you do as you go or if you are like me you do any way! Any project you do with your child is good evidence you include them - garden beds, kids handling seeds, maybe you painted together or followed a recipe? Or any of the sit down lessons you have or outdoor educational days you do. Just get in the habit of taking photos of your journey!
Chances are youve kept your kid home from school because you lead a pretty good lifestyle, one that seems fitting for a child to stay in and enriching enough that you trust it to be their “classroom”.. so if you feel confident doing it then you should feel its enough.
Now I did say I wasnt going to get into ‘if you should register or not’, mainly because I have an audience and I dont want anyone making decisions on behalf of what I say, but, I found some information online that is easily accessible which I will share as it might make you feel less anxious about living a life without school…
Why should you register? How many do? And why are there families that dont?
In Victoria alone, VRQA reported 11,691 students registered for homeschooling since June 2025. In NSW the registrations have more than doubled between 2019 and 2024 (approx. 5,907 - 12,762). A study reviewing registration data also emphasised that official numbers will always undercount because unregistered families are, by definition, not in the data! So we dont actually know how many families are among us.. but its growing!
I will point out that there are a few reasons as to why you may need to register (obviously for legal reasons) but if you want access to school resources - partial enrolment options, distance ed, exam centres or programs that require proof of educational status then yes, this will be the only way you’ll be covered.
If you rely on government services such as Centrelink (family tax benefit, youth allowance) or any other government paperwork that requires proof your child is in an approved form of education then you will need to.
Another good reason to register is for advocacy and recognition, I do believe were always spoken to like a smaller minority than we actually are… stats and data don’t represent us and the government cant deny the books if it represented us fairly, and maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t disregard how important this kind of life is for our children if they saw the amount it is working for and needed.
So, why do some families not register?? Even though its technically required??
According to media reports and interviews ive researched the main reasons people try and be ‘under the radar’, is a mistrust in the government. This can be a concern about surveillance, inspection or an interference in parenting. The idea of registering via a form feels overwhelming or invasive - especially for families already stressed by school issues.
Some families may have a fear of being knocked back, like if they dont present as “school-ish” enough, or the fear of being judged or an unwanted outside pressure of doing it “right enough” to continue. Or some families dont register as a form of protest - ideological objections to the state licensing parents to educate their own children, which I mean (fair enough) haha but when I think like that I do try and remember that not all families treat their children with respect, or even well. We have a lot of these laws and over-shadowing in place for the ones that really do need it, as sad as that is. But anyway, you do you!
I hope this information has helped some of you have a deeper understanding on how it all works. I hope I have lessened the anxiety around the registration form and made it clearer as to how it works. Especially for those wanting a mix of both!
And if you want, I can write up a few examples for the ‘learning plan’? Ones that I think would be approved?? I could write up a few examples, in different formats for you to be inspired by and then altered to your own needs if you need, this may take me another week or so but I am happy to do it if anyone needs me to? Let me know! And happy homeschooling cool cats xoxo