Texas requires nothing. Texas requires no notice, no registration, and no assessment. You may begin homeschooling without telling anyone. The detail below is what the statute actually says, so you can see for yourself rather than take our word for it.

What you file, and by when

None. Texas requires no notice, no registration, no affidavit, and no approval. Home schools are private schools under Tex. Educ. Code § 25.086(a)(1) per the Texas Supreme Court's decision in TEA v. Leeper (1994), and TEA states it does not regulate, index, monitor, approve, register, or accredit homeschools. The ONE exception: if your child is currently enrolled in a public school, provide the school written notice of withdrawal stating the date you begin homeschooling, this prevents truancy referrals. Districts occasionally send a 'letter of assurance' asking you to confirm you meet the Leeper standard; responding is voluntary.

Days or hours

None. No minimum days, hours, or school calendar.

Subjects you must cover

Under Leeper, three requirements: (1) instruction must be bona fide (genuine, not a sham or subterfuge); (2) the curriculum must be in visual form (books, workbooks, video/monitor, not purely oral); and (3) it must cover five basic subjects: reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and good citizenship. 'Good citizenship' is read as civics-equivalent, U.S./Texas history and government, the Pledge, and similar.

Records you keep

None required by statute. No attendance records, portfolios, reports, or submissions. Keep your own records voluntarily, the practical reason is that curriculum must be 'in visual form,' so retaining the books/workbooks/programs you used is the evidence that would rebut a bona fide challenge, which is the only scenario where records ever matter in Texas.

Testing or evaluation

None. No standardized testing, no evaluation, no assessment of any kind. STAAR is not required and generally not available to homeschoolers.

Diplomas and transcripts

The parent is the school administrator: the parent sets graduation requirements, awards credit, signs the transcript, and issues the diploma. There are no state credit, Carnegie-unit, or endorsement requirements for homeschoolers, and Texas issues no state diploma. Texas public universities and colleges may not discriminate against homeschool applicants, and homeschool graduates are eligible for state financial aid, HB 3041 (2025) clarified homeschool applicants' eligibility for programs such as TEXAS Grants, effective the Fall 2026 semester. TWO 2025 CHANGES TO NOTE: (1) HB 2674, the Homeschool Freedom Act, signed June 20, 2025, effective Sept. 1, 2025, prohibits TEA, the SBOE, and other public educational institutions from adopting rules that increase regulation of home schools without express legislative authorization, it codifies Leeper's hands-off standard into statute; (2) SB 2, signed May 3, 2025, creates a ~$1B universal ESA program with homeschooled students eligible for roughly $2,000/year (up to $30,000 for certain students with disabilities), first usable in the 2026-27 school year. Participating in the ESA is voluntary and brings program-specific expense reporting and, per the program rules, an assessment obligation, it is a different legal posture from unregulated Leeper homeschooling.

Where this comes from

Statute: Tex. Educ. Code § 25.086(a)(1); Tex. Educ. Agency v. Leeper, 893 S.W.2d 432 (Tex. 1994); 2025 Tex. Sess. Law (HB 2674, Homeschool Freedom Act, eff. 9/1/2025); SB 2 (ESA, 2025)

Source: https://thsc.org/requirements-to-homeschool-in-texas/

Last reviewed: July 2026 · our confidence in this entry: high

Homeschool law changes, and a page like this goes stale without announcing it. Check the statute above against your own reading before a filing deadline. If we are out of date, we would rather hear it from you than have you find out at the district office.

Keeping the records is the other half of this. Our Records System has the editable transcript with the GPA already wired, 131 course descriptions, and this same statute-cited summary for all fifty states and DC. Thirty-nine dollars, one household, however many children you have.