Texas Homeschool Laws
Homeschools in Texas are considered private schools. You are not subject to the same compulsory attendance laws as public school kids.
There are only three requirements to homeschool in Texas:
The instruction must be bona fide (i.e., not a sham).
The curriculum must be in visual form (e.g., books, workbooks, video monitor).
The curriculum must include the five basic subjects of reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and good citizenship.
There are no reporting agencies and no testing requirements for homeschoolers. The state of Texas does not regulate homeschoolers once they have been removed from the public school system.
Record Keeping:
Legally no records have to be kept in the state of Texas, but many parents choose to keep some sort of records. Here are a few different ways to do that:
• Box—keep everything done that year into a box and either sort it at the end of the year into a profile or leave it as is.
• Files—Label files by subject and keep everything for the year in those. This includes digital files if you have a scanner and a computer!
• Notebook/Planner—keep everything in order in a notebook by documenting planned or accomplished work, or write it down in a planner (We offer a FREE planner every June to EPHA Members)
• Computer—there are several planning programs where you can keep plans and track student progress. Our Partner, Texas Homeschool Coalition, offers such resources to homeschoolers, and an annual discount code to EPHA Members. Our members also have access to cloud based services in GSUITE for Education, such as Google Classroom and Google Drive where you can upload grades and keep track of your child’s work over the year.
• Lists— Book lists, or lists of activities/lessons completed.
Records become more important as students get older and transcripts will be needed. Texas Homeschool Coalition has resources for help with high school transcripts.
To withdraw your child(ren) from public school:
You are not legally required to register with your local school district or receive their permission to homeschool, but you must withdraw your child(ren) from public school if they are already enrolled.
Note: The date that you will begin homeschooling is now required by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in order to withdraw a child from public school. It is important to make certain that students are withdrawn before homeschooling begins and that homeschooling begins as soon as the student is withdrawn in order to avoid schools counting the student absent prior to withdrawal and potentially filing truancy charges.
Withdrawal by email is the preferred method as you are not required to fill out any additional forms or make an appearance at the school.
Texas Homeschool Coalition has a withdrawal email as well as more details on their website.
If the school follows up and asks you to come in or for more information you will need to respond with a letter of assurance. You do not need to go in to the school or provide any more details than what is in this letter.
You are always welcome to copy your withdrawal emails and letters of assurance to El Paso Homeschool Association and disenroll@thsc.org so they have copies of your information in case there are problems.