TheHomeschoolingCompany Quick Start Curriculum Resources About Compare Pricing Placement Blog

Texas Homeschool Graduation Requirements

In Texas, no state list of courses or exit exam applies to a homeschool. You decide when high school is complete and sign the diploma, and public colleges review your graduate like any other applicant.

By , founder of TheHomeschoolingCompany. Reviewed .

Who decides what high school includes

  1. The family, not the state

    Texas's graduation plans, credit counts, and end-of-course exams apply to public schools. A Texas homeschool is a private school in the eyes of the law, so the parent decides which courses make up high school and when it is finished.

  2. The one rule that carries on

    Through the last year of high school, the curriculum has to be a real one, in visual form such as books, workbooks, or a written plan, and it has to cover reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, and good citizenship. Beyond those, the courses are yours to choose.

  3. A benchmark, if you want one

    Texas public school students graduate under plans that require 22 to 26 credits. Those plans do not bind a homeschool, but they show what a Texas public school graduate has usually taken.

The diploma

  1. Who issues it

    The Texas Education Agency does not issue diplomas to homeschoolers. The parent, as the school's administrator, signs the diploma, and the agency treats finishing a homeschool education as equivalent to graduating from a public high school.

  2. No GED needed

    A Texas public college or university cannot require a homeschool graduate to take the GED, or any exam or other step that public school graduates skip.

The transcript

  1. What it lists

    Each course by school year, with its credit and final grade, then the grading scale, the total credits, and the graduation date. The parent signs it as the school's administrator.

  2. Courses taken elsewhere

    Dual credit and other outside courses go on the same transcript, in the year your teen took them. The college also issues its own official transcript for the courses it taught.

  3. What a college may ask for next

    Some colleges also ask for course descriptions, a reading list, or samples of the work behind a grade.

Applying to Texas colleges

  1. Same terms as everyone else

    Texas public colleges and universities must consider a homeschool graduate on the same terms as a public high school graduate, including the same test score requirements. Where a college sorts applicants by class rank, a homeschooler is placed at the average rank of applicants with equivalent test scores.

  2. College readiness

    Texas public colleges check reading, writing, and math readiness through the Texas Success Initiative. Qualifying SAT or ACT scores exempt a student; otherwise the student takes the TSIA2 test.

  3. Private colleges

    Private colleges set their own homeschool admission rules, often a transcript, test scores, and sometimes course descriptions.

Other high school forms

  1. A learner license

    A teen under 18 applying for a learner license brings the Department of Public Safety its Verification of Enrollment and Attendance form. The home school fills in the school section, and the parent signs it as the school official. A form issued during the school year is good for 30 days; one issued in June, July, or August is good for 90.

  2. Tests your teen can still take

    A district that gives the PSAT/NMSQT or AP exams to its own students must let homeschoolers take them and must publish the dates and how to register. The SAT and ACT are booked directly with the testing organizations.

Frequently asked questions

Does my teen need to pass a state test to graduate?
No. Texas requires no tests of homeschoolers, at graduation or in any other year.
Does Texas require homeschoolers to register?
No. No state agency registers or approves a Texas homeschool.

A transcript built from the work itself

In School in a Box, our full-curriculum plan, your teen's courses become the transcript: one course per subject for each school year, a grade averaged from its graded reading checks and projects, and one credit for every 120 hours of work. We also draft the course descriptions and the diploma, ready for you to sign.

Start your 14-day free trial

$149/month per child after the trial.

Sources (6)