Texas
Texas does not register, approve, monitor or accredit home schools. There is no notice to file with the state and no annual renewal. The practical steps are withdrawing from the school your child currently attends and teaching a course of study that includes good citizenship.
Reference only, not legal advice. Requirements change; verify with your state’s education agency before you file. This page describes what the linked official sources say as of the verification date, and nothing here is a determination that a program is compliant.
Deadlines
Dates to plan around
4 dates that drive the year in Texas. Each one is tied to the source listed with it at the bottom of the page.
TEA does not require a family to register, notify or seek approval. Its FAQ says you do not need to call TEA to say you intend to home school.
Tell the school where your child is enrolled, in writing. A signed and dated letter stating that the student is being home schooled and the start date is sufficient for the leaver record.
A district that becomes aware of a potentially home-schooled student may ask in writing for assurance that the student is being home schooled. The letter is not required every year.
No state filing, evaluation or test result is submitted to TEA.
Notice and registration
Texas regulates home schooling by exempting it, not by licensing it. The legal hook is the private-school exemption in the compulsory attendance statute.
The Texas Education Code exempts a child from compulsory attendance if the child attends a private or parochial school that includes a study of good citizenship. In Leeper v. Arlington ISD the Texas Supreme Court treated a bona fide home program as falling within that private-school exemption.
TEA’s own page is direct about the consequence: the agency does not regulate, index, monitor, approve, register or accredit home school programs. There is no state application and no state deadline.
What remains is the local withdrawal. TEA’s 2019 Commissioner’s letter says a district should dis-enroll the student on written notice, and that parents do not need to appear in person, present curriculum for review, or meet other requirements to withdraw.
“The TEA does not regulate, index, monitor, approve, register, or accredit the programs available to parents who choose to home school.”
Texas Education Agency, Home Schooling
Required subjects
Texas does not publish a grade-by-grade required course list for home schools. The standard is a course of study built around basic education goals.
TEA says parents who home school are required to follow a course of study that includes good citizenship. The Commissioner’s 2019 guidance describes the basic education goals a district may ask about in a letter of assurance.
- Reading
- Spelling
- Grammar
- Mathematics
- A study of good citizenship
TEA links the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for families who want to see the state’s curriculum standards. Its home schooling page sets no separate course list for home schools.
Hours and days
No state-set day count or hourly requirement is published for Texas home schools.
TEA states that it does not regulate home schools. No 180-day or hourly rule for a home program appears in the home schooling page, the Commissioner’s 2019 letter, or the compulsory attendance chapter reviewed for this pack.
That is a statement about what the state publishes, not a statement that time does not matter. A workable record of what was taught is still the easiest way to answer a district’s question if you re-enroll later.
Assessment and testing
No state test is required and no evaluation is filed with TEA.
The exemption in Leeper was based on the private-school clause; the state does not attach a testing condition to it in the materials TEA publishes.
If a student later enrolls in a public school, the district may assess for grade placement or credit. TEA’s letter says home-school transfers should get the same treatment as students from unaccredited private schools, and suggests nationally normed tests or released STAAR items as options.
The state does not issue a diploma to home-schooled students. TEA notes that Texas higher education institutions must treat a home-school graduate to the same general standards as a public high school graduate.
Record-keeping checklist
0 of 7 recordedNone of these are required by the state; this is a practical file you keep for yourself. Ticks are saved in this browser only.
Instruction log (optional)
Texas does not require this log. It is a private record for your own file: useful if a district asks what was covered, or if your child later returns to school.
Texas — Instruction log (optional)
Homeschool Pack · homeschoolpack.pages.dev
| Date | Subjects covered | Time | Materials / reading titles | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Official sources
Every requirement above is tied to one of these pages. They were fetched and read on 21 October 2026; the date is repeated on each entry.
- Agency pageHome SchoolingTexas Education Agencyhttps://tea.texas.gov/families-and-students/finding-school-your-child/home-schooling
- Agency pageHome Schools — Commissioner’s correspondence (July 2019)Texas Education Agencyhttps://tea.texas.gov/administrator-addressed-taa/taa-letters/home-schools
- Agency pageGeneral Frequently Asked Questions — home school registrationTexas Education Agencyhttps://tea.texas.gov/about-tea/contact-us/general-inquiry/general-frequently-asked-questions
- StatuteTexas Education Code § 25.086 — Exemptions (compulsory school attendance)Texas Constitution and Statuteshttps://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.25.htm#25.086
Not verified here — check with your state or district
- Texas publishes no day or hour requirement for home schools. We found none in the compulsory attendance chapter or in TEA guidance; confirm with TEA or counsel if a district asserts one.
- No state testing requirement is published. Any assessment when a student returns to public school is a district placement decision, not a state home-school requirement.
- Special education services for home-schooled students are outside the scope of this v1 pack.