How to Homeschool in Texas: Laws, Withdrawal, and Getting Started

Texas has more homeschool families than almost any other state in the country — an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 students as of 2024. The legal environment is genuinely favorable, but "favorable" does not mean frictionless. Parents who do not handle the withdrawal step correctly end up in truancy disputes with school districts that had no idea they were leaving.

Here is what Texas law actually requires, how the withdrawal process works, and what you need to set up before your child's first day of home instruction.

Texas Homeschool Law: The Baseline You Need to Know

Texas defines a home school as a private school under state law. This classification is significant because it means homeschool families are treated as private school operators, not as a separate regulated category. The authority for this comes from the Leeper v. Arlington Independent School District case decided by the Texas Supreme Court in 1994, which remains the foundational legal precedent for homeschooling in Texas.

What Texas law requires for a valid home school:

• Bona fide instructional intent. The program must be genuinely designed to educate the child. Courts have held that a "good faith" educational program meets this standard.
• Five core subjects. Texas requires home schools to cover reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and a course in good citizenship.
• Written curriculum. The Texas Supreme Court has interpreted Leeper to require that the home school use a written curriculum — this does not need to be a purchased program, but you should have something in writing showing the scope and sequence of instruction.

What Texas law does NOT require:

• No registration with the state or school district
• No standardized testing or reporting of test results
• No teacher certification for homeschooling parents
• No annual portfolio review or government inspection

Texas Education Agency (TEA) has no oversight authority over private schools, which includes home schools. If your district tries to tell you otherwise, they are wrong.

How to Withdraw Your Child from a Texas Public School

Texas school districts do not make withdrawal simple. Many have their own internal procedures — some of which are not legally required but which administrators present as mandatory. Here is what the law actually requires you to do.

Step 1: Write a Withdrawal Letter

You need to send a written notice to the school district informing them of your intent to homeschool. This letter does several things:

• Formally ends your child's enrollment
• Establishes a paper trail so absences cannot be categorized as truancy
• Signals that your home school is a private school under Leeper

The letter should state clearly that you are withdrawing your child effective on a specific date to educate them in a private home school as provided under Texas law. Keep it professional and brief. Do not include emotional explanations, criticisms of the school, or detailed curriculum plans. Those details are not legally required and create unnecessary friction.

Address the letter to the school principal or district superintendent. Keep a copy.

Step 2: Send It via Certified Mail

Do not hand this letter to the front desk receptionist and assume it will reach the right person. Send it via USPS Certified Mail with Return Receipt Requested. This gives you a signed postal receipt proving delivery — which becomes important if the school later claims they had no notice of the withdrawal.

Some families choose to hand-deliver the letter. If you do, bring two copies and ask a school administrator to sign, date, and stamp one copy as "Received." Get the name of the person who accepts it.

Step 3: Be Prepared for Pushback

Texas school districts vary enormously in how cooperative they are with homeschool withdrawals. Districts in suburban areas near major cities tend to have established processes. Some rural districts are less familiar with the Leeper precedent.

Common pushback you may encounter:

• The school asking for proof of curriculum or textbooks before "approving" the withdrawal — this approval is not required under Texas law
• The school requesting a meeting or home visit — you have no legal obligation to comply
• The school continuing to mark your child absent after the withdrawal date — if this happens, follow up in writing immediately and reference the delivery confirmation from your certified mail receipt

If a school district files a truancy complaint after you have properly withdrawn, the certified mail receipt is your primary defense.

Step 4: Request Your Child's Records

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), you have the right to a copy of your child's cumulative school records. Request this in writing with your withdrawal letter. Records typically include: transcripts, standardized test results, health records, any special education evaluations, and behavioral or disciplinary records.

You may need these records to assess where your child is academically, to apply for college eventually, or for special education services.

Setting Up Your Texas Home School

Once the withdrawal is complete, you are operating as a private school. Here is what you need to establish.

Curriculum

Texas requires a written curriculum covering the five core subjects. The definition of "written curriculum" is broad — it includes purchased boxed curricula (like Sonlight, Abeka, Saxon, or any of the hundreds of available programs), a parent-designed scope and sequence written in a notebook, or an online accredited school program.

A few popular approaches Texas families use:

• All-in-one packaged curricula: Easiest for families new to homeschooling. Programs like My Father's World, BookShark, or Build Your Library include lesson plans, books, and assessments.
• Eclectic approach: Mixing and matching by subject — for example, Math-U-See for math, IEW for writing, Story of the World for history. Works well once you understand your child's learning style.
• Online accredited schools: Programs like Connections Academy or Texas-specific options provide structured daily instruction. These have fees but handle the curriculum planning.

There is no "approved" curriculum list in Texas. You choose based on your child's needs, your teaching style, and your budget.

Record-Keeping

Texas does not require you to submit records to the state, but keeping them is smart for several reasons:

• If you ever face a truancy challenge, records prove you are running a legitimate program
• High school transcripts you create will be needed for college applications
• Special needs documentation should be preserved

At minimum, keep a lesson plan log (daily or weekly), samples of your child's work over time, and any assessments you conduct.

Connecting with Other Texas Homeschool Families

The Texas Home School Coalition (THSC) is the primary legal advocacy organization for homeschool families in the state. They track legislation, provide legal defense resources, and maintain updated guidance on the Leeper precedent and current law.

Regional support groups and co-ops are active throughout the state, particularly in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin metro areas. Texas also allows homeschool students to participate in University Interscholastic League (UIL) activities through the "Tim Tebow" law, though implementation varies by district.

The Withdrawal Step Is Where Most Families Stumble

The majority of Texas homeschool resources focus on curriculum and teaching methods. The legal exit from public school gets far less attention — and that is where most families run into problems.

The pattern is consistent: a parent decides to homeschool, pulls their child from school by simply stopping attendance, and then receives truancy notices two or three weeks later because no formal withdrawal letter was ever sent. The school's attendance system keeps marking the child absent. A letter that should take 30 minutes to write turns into weeks of back-and-forth with district administrators.

A clean withdrawal letter sent via certified mail prevents all of that.

If you are in Missouri rather than Texas, the legal framework is different — Missouri operates under RSMo §167.031, which is distinct from Texas law in specific ways. The Missouri Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers the exact steps for Missouri families: the letter language, delivery method, the §167.042 declaration question, and how to handle district pushback specific to Missouri school districts.

The core principle is the same in both states: the withdrawal step is not the place to cut corners.

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