State guide
Homeschooling in Texas: what the law actually requires
Texas asks nothing of you on paper — no notice, no registration, no testing. What it does require is a real curriculum, in visual form, covering five named subjects. This page states the three conditions, explains withdrawing from a public school, and maps Faith Schooling against each subject.
Checked 31 August 2026
What does Texas require to homeschool?
Texas requires no notice, no registration, no approval and no testing. In TEA v. Leeper the Texas Supreme Court held that a home school is a type of private school, exempt from compulsory attendance. Three conditions attach: the instruction must be bona fide, the curriculum must be in visual form, and it must cover reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and good citizenship.
The decision came on 15 June 1994, after a nine-year court battle, and was unanimous. Texas is often mis-stated in both directions. It does not mean there are no requirements; it means the requirements are substantive rather than procedural. Nobody checks in advance, but a program that fails the three conditions is not a lawful home school, and homeschools in Texas are legal but unaccredited private schools.
| Condition | What it means in practice | Governing authority |
|---|---|---|
| Bona fide instruction | The curriculum is pursued in a bona fide — that is, not a sham — manner. | TEA v. Leeper (Tex. 1994), as summarized by the Texas Home School Coalition |
| Curriculum in visual form | The curriculum exists in a form that can be seen and shown: books, workbooks, printed material or material on a screen, rather than only in a parent's intentions. | TEA v. Leeper (Tex. 1994), as summarized by the Texas Home School Coalition |
| Five subjects | Reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and good citizenship. Good citizenship is usually taken to mean civics. | TEA v. Leeper (Tex. 1994), as summarized by the Texas Home School Coalition |
| Legal status | Homeschools are classified as a type of private school under the Texas Education Code and the Leeper decision, and are not accredited by the state. | Texas Home School Coalition |
| Not required | No notice of intent, no registration, no approval, no standardized testing, no hour or day count, no teacher qualification, no records submitted to anyone. | Texas Home School Coalition |
| One exception | There is no need to register or contact the local school or the state before homeschooling — unless your child is currently enrolled in a public school, in which case the withdrawal rules apply. | Texas Home School Coalition |
Visual form is the condition worth planning around
Of the three conditions, the visual-form requirement is the one that produces evidence. A curriculum in visual form is something you can hand to someone: a printed textbook, a workbook, a bound scope and sequence, completed pages. It is the difference between a school and a good intention.
Print-ready material answers it plainly. The Faith Readers reading sequence exists as six full-year student textbooks — 8,952 student pages, each grade with a teaching guide — and as 210 printable weekly lesson sets. Building Number Sense exists as a student text for every grade K–5. Whatever curriculum you choose, keep the books and keep the finished work; assembling that record later is much harder than keeping it as you go.
Withdrawing a child from a public school
This is the one procedural point in Texas, and it belongs to the school district rather than to homeschool law. The Texas Home School Coalition advises making certain your student is withdrawn before homeschooling begins, and that homeschooling begins as soon as the student is withdrawn, so the school does not record absences and potentially file truancy charges. THSC also notes that the Texas Education Agency now requires the date homeschooling will begin in order to withdraw a child.
If a district asks for more than a withdrawal notice, THSC's guidance is that you are not required to complete any requirements except to submit a valid notice of withdrawal, and that you may respond by email or mail with a letter of assurance — letters the TEA has instructed districts meet the guidelines of cooperation with compulsory attendance law. Keep a copy of whatever you send.
How Faith Schooling maps to the five Texas subjects
Texas names five subjects rather than six, and the list is unusual in including good citizenship. Faith Schooling covers reading, spelling, grammar and mathematics, and does not address good citizenship at all.
Read the status column honestly. There is no standalone grammar textbook in the catalog; grammar sits inside the reading and language arts sequence, the Grammar Garden browser game and the language arts practice sets. Good citizenship — civics, government, the duties of a citizen — is not published here, and Bible or discipleship material is not a substitute for it.
| Required subject | Faith Schooling material | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | Phonics, Decoding and Early Fluency — six full-year student texts (8,952 student pages) with teaching guides; 300 decodable readers, fifty per grade; Foundations to Fluency, 96 workbooks arranged by pattern; Phonics Lab | Covered |
| Spelling | Phonics Lab encoding-and-decoding worksheets with answer keys; the weekly check day of each lesson set; spelling and word-work sets in the practice library | Covered |
| Grammar | The reading and language arts sequence, which the publisher describes as complete for language arts; the Grammar Garden browser game; language arts sets in the practice library | Covered — there is no standalone grammar textbook |
| Mathematics | Building Number Sense — a student text for every grade K–5, with practice workbooks and teaching guides for Kindergarten through Grade 2 today; the Faith Thinkers math practice library underneath it | Sequenced and growing — each grade page lists exactly what exists now |
| Good citizenship | None published | You supply this |
How much of a school year does this fill?
Texas sets no hour or day requirement, so there is no number to hit. That freedom is real, but it makes it easy to under-build a year without noticing, and no external check will tell you.
Faith Schooling publishes a time estimate for two things. The Faith Readers Weekly Lessons show 10 to 15 minutes for a daily lesson and 50 to 75 minutes for a week, across 35 weeks per grade — roughly 29 to 44 hours of lesson time in a year. Learning Cursive is published as 10 to 15 minutes a day. Nothing else on the site carries a published time, and independent reading, written work and mathematics sit on top of those figures. Set your own daily target in August and time an ordinary week early, so the plan matches the year you are actually teaching.
Texas organizations and co-ops
The Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) publishes the requirement guidance most Texas families work from, tracks the Leeper decision's application, and works on homeschool legislation. Its site is the sensible first stop for current event listings and local group information, because Texas is large enough that regional practice varies.
Christian co-ops in Texas run the full range: church-hosted enrichment days, academic co-ops with graded classes, university-model schools, and sports and fine arts leagues. Statements of faith, tuition and commitment levels differ sharply, so ask before you enroll. Where a group has no web presence — many do not — ask at local churches and at the nearest support group.
Field study for good citizenship
Because Texas names good citizenship and Faith Schooling does not publish it, field study is a practical way to build that subject rather than a diversion from school. THSC notes that good citizenship is usually taken to mean civics.
Categories worth planning around: state government at the Capitol in Austin; local civic institutions — county courthouses, city council meetings, fire and police departments — which are the most direct route into good citizenship for a K–5 child; Spanish colonial history at the San Antonio missions; Gulf coast marine and estuary science; ranching, farming and agricultural science; energy and industry; and space and applied science at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Photograph the visits, keep the child's write-ups, and file them with the year's work.
Before you rely on this page
This is a plain-language summary written to help you plan. It is not legal advice. The Texas Education Code and the courts are the final word; the Texas Education Agency does not regulate, approve or accredit home schools, and homeschools in Texas are unaccredited private schools. Confirm anything that matters with a Texas attorney or a statewide homeschool organization before you rely on it.
Faith Schooling is a Christian K–5 curriculum publisher, not a school, and is not accredited. It publishes reading, language arts, phonics, handwriting and a growing K–5 mathematics series; it does not currently publish science, history or civics programs.
Common questions
- Do I have to notify anyone that I am homeschooling in Texas?
- No. Texas requires no notice of intent, no registration and no approval to begin homeschooling, and the Texas Home School Coalition states there is no need to contact the local school or the state government beforehand. The one exception is a child currently enrolled in public school: withdraw the student properly first, because the district records attendance until the withdrawal is processed.
- Does Texas require standardized testing for homeschoolers?
- No. Texas requires no standardized testing, no annual assessment, no portfolio and no reporting of results to anyone. You may test your child for your own placement or planning purposes — the HARVEST reading placement on this site is free and listed at about fifteen minutes — but nothing is submitted to the state, the district or any agency, and no agency reviews your curriculum.
- What does "curriculum in visual form" mean?
- It means the curriculum exists in a form that can be seen and shown to someone else — printed books, workbooks, printed lesson plans, or material on a screen — rather than existing only as a parent's plan. Printed textbooks and printable weekly lesson sets answer it plainly. Keep the books and your child's completed work; that record is the practical proof if the question ever arises.
- Does Faith Schooling cover all five Texas subjects?
- No. It covers reading, spelling, grammar and mathematics — grammar within the reading and language arts sequence, the Grammar Garden game and the language arts practice sets, with no standalone grammar textbook. It publishes nothing for good citizenship, which is one of the five subjects named in the Leeper decision. Families supply civics and citizenship instruction from another source.
- Is there a minimum number of school days or hours in Texas?
- No. Texas sets no minimum hours, no minimum days and no required school calendar for home schools. That freedom is genuine, but it also means nothing external tells you whether a year was substantial. Working out your own daily and yearly targets in advance, and keeping a simple log, is worth doing for your own sake even though no one will ask to see it.