LOS ANGELES — Homeschooling, in a state where the term is used so loosely that some parents use it to refer to any school with students in the Kindergarten through Grade 12 category, is being made a lot more accessible.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ed Gonzalez announced the new curriculum Monday in a speech to a group of schools that have been working to expand their curricula.
This new framework is the result of a collaboration between the State Board of Education, the Texas Association of Schools and Colleges and the Texas Education Agency.””
This new curriculum will be the beginning of a dialogue, the beginning to build a dialogue around homeschooling.”
This new framework is the result of a collaboration between the State Board of Education, the Texas Association of Schools and Colleges and the Texas Education Agency.
“I want to encourage parents to start by asking a question, to be honest, ‘How do I make sure that our children are getting the curriculum they need and that they’re being successful?'”
Gonzalez said at the meeting.
“There’s a lot of parents out there who have never really had a chance to go through this process,” he added.
“We want to be able to get you out there and talk to you.
And we want to do that with the kind of communication that’s best for your child.”
In addition to homeschoolers, parents who have students in grades 5 through 12 will be able enroll their kids in a more comprehensive curriculum with reading and writing instruction.
That includes more advanced topics like history and science.
“This new reading and reading comprehension curriculum is being developed as part of the state’s initiative to make our classrooms more accessible and to support the growth of our community,” Gonzalez continued.
“It’s really important that parents understand that we’re not just making the curriculum for students to get the curriculum.
We’re making the course so that we can better serve our children and our students will be better prepared for the world.”
The curriculum is the first step in a larger effort to expand homeschool education, and many educators and families say they are excited about the new framework.
“I think the most important thing is that I think we’re able to create the kind-of model of a school that really reflects who we are as a state,” said Tami Bouchard, who has three children in grades 4 through 12.
The new curriculum, which has been developed by the Texas School Boards Association, will be available to homes for free from the beginning, but parents will have to pay $1,500 to get a copy.
Bouchard said she is hoping that families can take advantage of the free materials and enroll their children in the curriculum if they are able to afford it.
She also noted that it may take time to fully implement the curriculum, as some districts will have already implemented the new content in their schools.
Houseschooling has been a hot topic in Texas over the past several months.
In January, state officials began a statewide effort to get homeschool students into the public school system.
But the issue has been the subject of a number of lawsuits by parents who claim the new standards have left them financially strapped and unprepared for college.
Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled against Texas and ordered the state to drop the lawsuit.
In the meantime, state lawmakers have been discussing a bill that would allow homeschool parents to opt out of some of the new requirements, which would mean that many of the rules would stay in place.