4 Responses to “How do you follow the TX home school laws with “unschooling” if the law says you need a written curriculum?”

1. sha_lyn68 on July 11th, 2009 6:15 am
   

   Homeschooling Feedback: TX law does not dictate “written curriculum” or any curriculum requirements what so ever. In fact TX does not regulate or legislate homeschooling at all.
2. Lori S on July 13th, 2009 11:29 pm
   

   Homeschooling Feedback: I do not live in TX, I live in OH, but we must send in a curriculum, and since we have been a Relaxed/Eclectic/Unschooling family (at various times we’ve practiced all of these as they are interchangeable) I have always sent in an “After the Fact Curriculum” (ATFC) that is based on my child’s interests. We must also write a brief outline in which I explain that we are following this ATFC, therefore, we do not know what all we will learn or delve into as we go with our child’s interests.
   I make sure I cover every area required by law, so when my kids were your child’s age I would have somethings like this:
   Learn to read (if they weren’t reading yet)
   Continue with oral reading of high-quality books
   Keep a science journal (for little kids this can mean just collecting various leaves, wild flowers, etc, and pressing them into a book)
   Watch Bill Nye the Science Guy on TV
   Read about Christopher Columbus and visit the Santa Maria Replica (This is in Columbus, OH)
   Learn fire safety (required in Ohio)
   Help in the kitchen (cooking skills)
   Learn basic math skills appropriate for age and abilities
   Continue to learn and incorporate healthy and hygienic habits
   Visit museums, art galleries, and state parks
   Ride bikes, go swimming, exercise, play
   Do house and yard chores
   Help with gardening
   Continue to listen to various musical genres on tape, radio, CD and to make their own music with homemade instruments

   I have covered reading, math, science, fire safety, health, gym, music, history, social studies, and extra-curricular with this list.

   This is not a complete source, but it gives you an idea. An ATFC allows for you to change in midstream if a child is not interested, to vary from what you have written (interests change), and to supplement with anything you want to give a rich and varied educational experience. You are giving basic interests, but you are not tying yourself down to anything concrete, and you are not giving the school too much information. You have complied with the law but not written away any rights or given away your children’s rights to be educated the way you wish to educate them.
   We have had our kids home for the past 16 years and three of my kids have graduated from our homeschool. We have one who still has one more year and will be done with requirements from the state. I have given this vague kind of info from 1st grade on up through 12th grade (and in high school years kept much the same as they were continuing with an interest). I did try to hit many interests (mainly mine!) and if we followed it, okay, if not, okay.
   I have intelligent and happy young adults who have thanked me for allowing them the privilege of not going to school (they’ve got a good taste of public-schooled kids in the work place and cannot believe how immature and uneducated the majority of them are), and my kids are all well-rounded and educated so that no one knows they are the product of unschooling~except they are all very independent and all have leadership skills, which allows them to shine at work and with others. It has also been fun to watch each child grow up into an adult and find their own itnerests and paths.
   I wanted life-long learners who are independent and who know how to find information they need, when they need it, and to continue to grow as people. I feel I have accomplished this. Just this side note so you will know that unschooling works.
   If you want to contact me for more info I will be glad to send you samples of what we did and see if it will work for TX laws. I am sure you will hear from other TX unschoolers and they will be more helpful.
   You can also contact Home Education Magazine as they have a wonderful message board and would be able to give you help.
   Happy Unschooling!
3. Jeannette W on July 14th, 2009 4:43 pm
   

   Homeschooling Feedback: Here is a link to Texas homeschooling law information.

   You ARE planning on reading to your children and eventually teaching them to read to themselves, I hope?

   If so, their educational program will include books and written materials, which is what is required. Voila! Just keep a record of what you do with them and how it relates to the general subjects mentioned in the relevant court rulings: reading stories with them is language arts, grammar, and spelling; cooking - measurement, following directions, fractions, chemistry; grocery shopping - planning, writing lists, unit pricing, percentages, and so on. If your home program is ever challenged, which it shouldn’t be, you will have evidence that you are, in fact, educating them.
4. Sun Bae on July 17th, 2009 2:30 am
   

   Homeschooling Feedback: Hello. I also live in Texas and homeschool my son.

   Here’s the bottom line - you need to follow state laws and regulations but that doesn’t mean that you CAN’T teach the unschooling approach.

   I am familiar with Texas homeshool laws - luckily, this state imposes very little regulations on homeschoolers and the regulation you’re referring to is the one that states:

   “A written curriculum consisting of reading, spelling, grammar, math, and a course in good citizenship while operating as a private school [is required].”

   Ready for the most important paragraph of my response? Here it is:

   No matter what teaching approach (classical, CM, unit studies, unschooling, etc.) you want to take is totally up to you, but…you…must..comply…with…state regulations…period.

   The way you asked your question, I don’t see a conflict between unschooling (from what I know about this approach) and having a written curriculum.

   REMEMBER - the Texas law NEVER states how SPECIFIC you have to be in documenting your written curriculum so you have plenty of leeway on how you want to document it.

   For example, I would just have a heading for each of the Texas required topics (reading, spelling, grammar, math, and citizenship), and under each one, provide some general bullet points on what you plan to teach - no need to produce an encylopedia here, just some general high-level points on what you think ought to be taught.

   Some final words, don’t forget that unschooling is more of a “how” to teach rather than a “what” to teach. Since Texas is asking you as the home school teacher to document “what” you are teaching, it is totally up to you on “how” you will teach the topics. Therefore, unschooling and Texas homeschool laws can co-exist without any conflict.

   If you want a quick refresher on home school state regulations, I would recommend that you visit my website - Yahoo community group guidelines prevent me from posting that here, but you can easily get my website address by looking at my profile (just click into my icon).

   To find the specific article I’m referring to, go my site and in the Articles section, read the article titled, “Home Schooling Regulations”.

   Hope this helps.

   Sun Bae
   Home School Teacher

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