How to Homeschool in Texas

What Texas homeschool law requires

The whole list for the 2026–2027 school year, from the Texas Education Agency's own guidance:

TEA's home schooling page

How to start homeschooling in Texas

1. If your child is enrolled in a public school, send the school a signed, dated letter saying the child is being homeschooled and the date it begins; no appearance and no curriculum review. Nothing is filed with the state.
2. Choose a real curriculum in visual form (books, workbooks, printed lessons or material on a screen) covering reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and a study of good citizenship. Faith Schooling's reading, language arts and mathematics programs cover the first four; you add good citizenship and whatever else you choose.
3. Plan the year. Texas counts no days or hours; the free Homeschool Rhythm Builder turns your week into a printable plan.
4. Keep a copy of your withdrawal letter and a dated stack of finished pages. A district that learns a child is homeschooled may ask once, in writing, for a letter of assurance that the curriculum covers the five subjects, and the pages are the transcript you will write at the end.

How Faith Schooling covers Texas's requirements

Texas sets no days or hours. A year of 36 weeks with four or five mornings a week is the common shape, and it is yours to set.

Texas asks for one thing a parent can hold in the hand: a real curriculum in visual form. Faith Schooling's textbooks and coursebooks are that in the plainest sense, printed pages for reading, spelling, grammar and mathematics, four of the five subjects Leeper names, with teaching guides that show the lesson you are about to give.

Good citizenship is the fifth, and it is yours to choose; the Apostolic Academy's free study guides and the character and Scripture work in every program are where many Texas families begin.

Texas asks you to keep no records. Keep them anyway: the dated, finished pages of each program are your own record of the year, and they answer any question a school ever asks when a child moves between home and classroom.

Reading

Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency K–5 reading textbooks in four quarterly volumes a year, with complete teaching guides

Spelling

Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency and Grammar Garden spelling patterns are taught with the phonics; grammar and writing in Grammar Garden

Grammar

Grammar Garden K–5 language and writing coursebooks, four a year, with Preceptor Guides

Mathematics

Building Number Sense K–5 mathematics textbooks; Kindergarten to Grade 2 add practice workbooks and teaching guides

Good citizenship

Your choice Faith Schooling does not publish this subject; choose what fits your family

Bible

The Apostolic Academy not something Texas requires; free: Scripture memory, Bible study and printables for the family

The curriculum map Phonics, Decoding, and Early Fluency Grammar Garden Building Number Sense HARVEST placement Homeschool Rhythm Builder

Financial assistance for Texas homeschoolers

Texas Education Freedom Accounts, run by the Comptroller, began with the 2026–2027 school year: an awarded child who is homeschooled, or not enrolled in a public school, receives $2,000 a year, paid in full at the start of the year (July 1, 2026 for the first year). A child is eligible if a U.S. citizen or lawfully present and eligible to attend a Texas school district, charter school or pre-K program, with a parent who is a Texas resident.

The first application window ran February 4 to March 31, 2026, and the site takes sign-ups for news of the 2027–2028 window. A family in the program follows its rules; Texas's own homeschool law, described above, asks nothing of a homeschool.

• An awarded child who is homeschooled or is not enrolled in a public school or a pre-K or kindergarten program will receive $2,000 annually. Source: Texas Comptroller, Texas Education Freedom Accounts, read 9 October 2026.
• Children are eligible if they are U.S. citizens or lawfully present in the United States and are eligible to attend a Texas school district, open-enrollment charter school or pre-K program, with a parent who is a Texas resident. Source: Texas Comptroller, Texas Education Freedom Accounts, read 9 October 2026.
• The 2026–27 application window ran February 4 to March 31, 2026; homeschool and other non-public students receive 100% of their award with initial funding on July 1, 2026, and families can sign up for updates on the 2027–28 application period. Source: Texas Comptroller, Texas Education Freedom Accounts, read 9 October 2026.

Texas Education Freedom Accounts (Texas Comptroller)

Public school access and other opportunities in Texas

Texas's districts open two college-track tests to homeschooled students, as the Education Agency told administrators:

• Districts must admit homeschooled students to the PSAT/NMSQT and Advanced Placement tests. Source: Texas Education Agency, Home Schools letter to administrators (11 July 2019), read 8 October 2026.

What Texas does not require, and you should still do

• Place your child before you buy anything. Texas tests no homeschooled child, so nobody will tell you where yours stands; HARVEST, the free placement check, names the grade and quarter to start in reading and math.
• Plan a year anyway. Texas counts no days or hours, but a child learns on a rhythm; the Homeschool Rhythm Builder turns your week into a printable plan.
• Keep the letter and a record. Keep a copy of your withdrawal letter, and a dated stack of finished pages: it is the assurance a district may ask for once, and the transcript you will write at the end.

HARVEST free placement Homeschool Rhythm Builder The Apostolic Academy