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The National Home Education Research Institute estimates that about 2 million students in the United States are being educated at home. Texas contains a large representation of those who homeschool nationwide. “In terms of numbers of homeschooling families, Texas has become the leading state in the nation,” states Tim Lambert, president of the Texas Homeschool Coalition.
Lambert estimates about 100,000 families in Texas home educate their children, representing about 300,000 children from kindergarten through 12th grade. That number is significant to Texas evangelical churches since around 75 percent of Texas homeschoolers are evangelical Christians, according to Lambert. “They [evangelical Christians] are primarily homeschooling for religious, spiritual and values reasons,” he said.
Legal struggles for Texas homeschoolers began in 1981 when the Texas Education Agency issued a policy stating that home education was not an acceptable substitute for public or private school education. For several years, the rights of parents to decide where and how to educate their children came under attack, and some parents were prosecuted for teaching their children at home.
Between 1985 and 1987, three legal cases decisively ruled on the question of a parent’s rights to educate their children. Through those cases, homeschoolers received the same status in Texas as unaccredited private schools. To homeschool in Texas, a parental authority must have curriculum for reading, spelling, grammar, math, and citizenship.
Since 1987, homeschool legislation has slowly moved from defensive reactions that protect parent’s rights, to a more offensive stance shaping legislation that puts homeschooling on equal ground with other methods of education. The most recent example is House Bill 944, effective
With the increasing numbers of homeschool graduates, questions about the quality of homeschool education are being answered. Lambert said that ACT test administrators have been tracking homeschoolers as a group, and they score about 5 percentage points above the national average.
Questions about proper socialization are also being answered. Many have questioned the wisdom of removing children from schools where they interact with their peers and develop social skills. In his book Uniting Church and Home, Eric Wallace states, “In my work with homeschoolers over the past ten years, I can say that I am beyond impressed with the ability of these youngsters to communicate meaningfully with adults and others who are not in their immediate age group. This is an aspect of ‘socialization’ that many people forget but is one of the most important if a child is going to function in society.”
Another question often raised by believers involves removing children of Christian families from public schools. Many wonder how Christians can be “salt and light” with decreased contact with the secular world.
Jason Montgomery, pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, struggled with that question as he considered the option to homeschool his children. With no clear direction from the Lord, they sent their son to public school where he completed kindergarten and first grade.
As the Montgomery’s began to think about homeschooling they sought advice from other homeschoolers, both new and seasoned ones. On the question of Christians exiting the secular arena, he finally concluded that his child was not yet prepared to be a missionary. “My kid’s not a little light. My kid’s a little part of the darkness. We’re talking about my totally depraved creature at home being sent out to interact with all the fleshly impulses of the world battling against his little mind that’s not yet ready.”
In his book, The Heart of Homeschooling, Christopher Klicka states, “In many ways, homeschooling is a moral and spiritual revival in which children are being seriously trained in God’s Word, not only to believe as Christians but also to think and live as Christians.” Most homeschoolers deeply desire to be salt and light in their world, but see little hope to instill that in their children if they are bombarded daily with humanistic philosophies.
