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🚀 How to Start Homeschooling in Texas
The first steps for a Texas family starting to homeschool: what to file, how to leave a public school, and where to find co-ops, classes and help — drawn from our Texas guide and articles.
Before you buy
- Check that the vendor participates in TEFA — the official finder tool lists participating schools and education services.
- Remember the 10% technology cap when you plan a computer or software purchase.
- Rules and amounts are set each year. Confirm anything important on the official site before you spend.
Read the full section in our Texas guide
Homeschooling in Texas: the basics
- Legal basis: Texas treats home schools as private schools. TEA says home schooling has been a legal alternative to public schooling since 1994. In Leeper et al. v. Arlington ISD et al., the Texas Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision that children taught at home are exempt from compulsory attendance to the same extent as private school students. The exemption is for a child who "attends a private or parochial school that includes in its course a study of good citizenship" (Tex. Educ. Code § 25.086(a)(1)). The Legislature has also written that "a home school is a private school" into the law on UIL participation (§ 33.0832(b)).
- What's required: parents who home school must follow a course of study that includes good citizenship. A district that learns a student may be home schooled may ask the parents, in writing, for a letter of assurance. That letter may ask you to confirm that your curriculum is designed to meet basic education goals including reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and a study of good citizenship. You don't have to send one every year (TEA Commissioner's letter, July 11, 2019).
- No state oversight: TEA says it does not regulate, index, monitor, approve, register or accredit home school programs. Neither TEA's home schooling page nor the Commissioner's letter sets a state notice, testing or reporting requirement. Texas does not award a diploma to home-schooled students.
- Leaving public school: the school should withdraw your child when it gets written notice, either signed withdrawal forms or a letter of withdrawal. You don't have to meet with school officials, show them your curriculum, or meet any other requirement. A signed, dated letter saying your child is being home schooled and the date home schooling began is enough for the school's records. Whether compulsory attendance has been violated is for the district or local judicial authorities to decide (TEA Commissioner's letter, July 11, 2019).
- PSAT and AP tests: districts must let home-school students take the PSAT and Advanced Placement tests they give enrolled students. They must post the test dates, that home-school students are eligible, and how to register, at the same time they tell their own students (Tex. Educ. Code § 29.916).
- Returning to public school: your child can enter public school at any time. Most districts assess what home-schooled students have mastered, and the results may set grade placement, credit or both. Students coming from a home school must be treated the same as students from unaccredited private schools (19 TAC § 74.26(a)(2)). Credit can be based on a review of your child's curriculum and work, or on tests. Whether to test is a local decision. TEA recommends a norm-referenced test or a released STAAR test for elementary students, and credit by exam or released STAAR end-of-course tests for secondary students, with the 70% standard for courses already taken (19 TAC § 74.24(c)). Ask your district for its placement policy.
- Colleges: Texas considers successful completion of a home school education equivalent to graduating from a public high school. Texas colleges must hold home-school graduates to the same general standards, including test score requirements, as public high school graduates (Tex. Educ. Code § 51.9241). From 2026 fall admissions, colleges that sort by class rank must assign home-school applicants a rank based on their test scores (see "Dual credit and college aid").
Read the full section in our Texas guide
Articles for Texas families
- Just Starting to Homeschool? Keep It Simple
If you are just starting to homeschool, you have probably already felt the weight of it. There are curricula to choose, methods to compare and families who already seem to have it all figured out. It… - Squeezing Real Value Out of