What are the options for homeschooling in Texas?

Question

Husband's job in construction, will cause frequent moves in Texas. We have access to a home computer and have signed up for satillite computer service. Boy is in 4th grade. Girl is in second grade.

Thanks for your help. We are new at this.

Answer 1

If you want something free, you could sign up with K12 but your kids are technically public school students. Or you could find a different homeschool academy to sign up with--which you'd have to pay for. Other than that, there is only one option for homeschooling in Texas laws: you function as a private school. You don't submit anything, you don't register, you don't have to do testing... Just keep some records to be able to show schools/colleges in the future.

Locate some Texas support groups. Yahoo Groups will undoubtedly have some and there's probably more than one support group with a website. They'll be able to tell you more about what's there

Answer 2

move to another state

Answer 3

http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?St...

This web site will get you started, but this is my first year also.  My son has severe food allergies so I am homeschooling him until he can carry his own epi-pen.  Look in your yellow pages for a homeschool store and you can get books, prepackaged curriculum to me was the easiest way to go because everything was there and I didn't have to guess at what to buy.  I'm not big into Christian things, but I did opt for the Bob Jones University Curriculum just because I can skip out on the Bible teaching part without taking away from the lesson and I liked the way it was set up for first grade.  The thing I am having the most difficulty with is finding anyone else where I live, that isn't going to judge me because I'm not christian, to have play days with my son.  We keep him in sports, but it's not the same as having a friend.  Better safe than sorry though!  Good luck and be ready to work your butt off!!...lol

Answer 4

I think its good but make sure they get plenty socil and have lots of friends and they need to be in high school all 4 years to have a chance at a good career and no that dose not mean homeschooling them high school it means the real deal!

Answer 5

take a look at www.k12.com

Answer 6

Your options are as varied as you want them to be. If this is your first year to homeschool, make sure you contact your children's current school and notify them of your intent to homeschool so they will not be considered truant. hslda.org has all the legalities you need, but The Texas HomeSchool Coalition website (thsc.org) will take it a step further for you, and even has sample letters of intent you can use. You will not need to notify anyone after the schools they most recently attended have been notified.

THSC also has a nice list of homeschool support groups and it would be a great idea for you to find one in each area you live in.

As a former homeschool support group administrative director, I can assure you, even if you are in a spot for a few months, there are groups that would welcome you no matter how long you reside in the area.

Another great idea, is to find a yahoo chat group for homeschoolers just to have someone to talk to all the time. It really helps and there are TONS listed.

Curriculum choices? you can pull your own together utilizing  local libraries and internet sites for a majority of your work, then supplementing with a good grade level math book. You can find everything you need online or at the library for these ages, but it does require work.

Other options are workbook based curriculae, such as Lifepacs, computer based such as switched on schoolhouse, or full service umbrella schools such as Abeka or Christian Liberty or even Texas Tech University ISD.

K12 is not an easily had free option in Texas. They do offer a free program for up to sixth grade (I think, don't shoot me if I'm wrong) but they currently only accept 200 students for all the grades they offer for the entire state of Texas. Everyone else goes on the waiting list for a lottery style choice if someone drops.

As I said, your choices are infinite here in Texas, just make sure you are notifying a school if you need to.

Answer 7

Homeschooling

1. National Home Education Network

2. Help Your Child Explore Science

3. Natural Child Project

4. Family Unschoolers Network

5. Homeschool Groups

6. The Highschool Homeschooling Page

7. Homeschool Headlines

8. Home School Teachers Lounge

9. The Home School Zone

http://www.fi.edu/tfi/hotlists/education...

HOME SCHOOLING.

http://www.homeschool.com/

http://www.hslda.org

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/curric...

http://www.homefires.com/

Homeschool.com also has the following information available free of charge:

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/inde...

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/

http://www.home-schooling-advice.net/

http://www.canteach.ca/links/linkhomesch...

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/p...

http://www.teachnlearn.org/index.htm

Answer 8

Hi, here is a site with info about homeschooling in Texas.  Fortunately, it's a fairly lenient state.  http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?St...

As far as I'm aware, you don't have to get permission from anyone, though you should send a note to their current school to let them know that you're removing them, so that they don't turn you in for truancy.

The next step is to decide upon a curriculum.  You can go with a boxed curriculum (something like BJU Press or A Beka, below) or you can put together your own based on your children's needs and interests.  I've listed some of the sites that I've found helpful.  You can do whatever works best for your kids and your situation.  Especially in the younger grades, much of the curriculum is scripted and lesson-planned for you, so it's very easy to work with.

http://www.bjupress.com/webapp/wcs/store...

http://www.abeka.com/

http://www.sonlight.com/

http://ebiz.netopia.com/clpress

http://www.mathusee.com/

https://apologia.securesites.net/store/i...

http://www.commonsensepress.com/

http://www.spellingtime.com/

Here is a family-run business that offers tons of curriculum for every level, subject, and learning style, most of them at a discount.  They will send you a free catalog that is practically the size of a phone book.

http://www.rainbowresource.com/index.php

You may also want to get the names of any homeschool groups where you move, both to give you support and to give social opportunities for the kids.  Moving so much, I probably wouldn't enroll them in a co op (it's a semester or year commitment), but they can still take part in the field trips, playdates, clubs, etc. while you live there.  If you google the name of the city or county and "homeschool group", you'll find lots of them :-)

Hope that helps!

Edit: Corona - are there any groups near you that don't require a statement of faith?  Also, even if you don't actually join the homeschool group, most families shouldn't have any problem at all with letting their kids play with yours, or with being friends with you.  We're Christian and belong to a Christian homeschool group, but we have plenty of friends who aren't Christian.  The main thing that I look for in who I allow my son to play with is 1) are the kids respectful and responsible (age appropriate, of course) and 2) do they accept him for who he is.  The only kids I don't let him hang out with (Christian family or not) are the ones who are openly disrespectful and mean or the ones who make fun of him because he's not "just like them".  I encourage you to try to get to know some of those families, even if they believe differently, hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised :-)

I don't know them, so I can't speak for them, but that's what I've seen from the homeschooling families in our area (Christian and not), and wanted to encourage you in that.