Violet Crown Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 Is there any reason a student homeschooling for 7th grade, but returning to public school for 8th grade, needs to take the 7th grade Texas history course? Specifically, will the student entering 8th grade be in some way required to have taken it? Will it be tested on at any point in TEKS or STAAR or whatever the test is these days? And assuming the answer is "no" all around--which it obviously is--can anyone give a link to something official-looking, for the reassurance of anxious parents? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 If I lived in Texas, I actually would be seriously tempted to cover Texas history in depth one year. Texas takes such pride in its history, and it really is genuinely fascinating. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted July 23, 2020 Author Share Posted July 23, 2020 23 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said: Now you have to take it in college too. And one of my friends' schools teaches TWO years of it now in middle school. It's a lot of Texas history these days, lol. Yes I've had about all I can take in one lifetime about the Heroes of the Alamo. Not that I don't enjoy Texas history -- I just finished a long biography of Charles Goodnight. What brings this on is that I'll likely be homeschooling one of Wee Girl's friends next year (to the delight of both girls). Mom is from a country where nobody doesn't send their kids to the excellent public schools, and wants me to cover the 7th grade material from the ISD's scope and sequence. I've said (gently) that I'll just be teaching the material I'd planned to use for Wee Girl for 7th grade, and Dad seems fine with that (after making sure I wasn't using Creationist science). But I want to soothe poor Mom's anxieties about not covering the Official History Topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said: Now you have to take it in college too. And one of my friends' schools teaches TWO years of it now in middle school. It's a lot of Texas history these days, lol. Yeah, that seems seriously excessive. One year could be interesting. Multiple years, just no. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 (edited) 9 hours ago, Terabith said: If I lived in Texas, I actually would be seriously tempted to cover Texas history in depth one year. Texas takes such pride in its history, and it really is genuinely fascinating. My 7th grade history class sparked my love of history in general, such that when I later moved to Washington the first thing I did was look into local history (And found Seattle history more interesting than state history there) (They also teach Texas history in 4th grade now. If they did it when I was a kid, I don't remember it! So her daughter probably had Texas history already not that long in the past) Edited July 23, 2020 by vonfirmath 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted July 23, 2020 Author Share Posted July 23, 2020 8 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said: That is nice of you to do! I really hope they’ll waive the testing for everyone’s sake too. Maybe that’ll help put her mind at ease. Oh it's definitely in my own self-interest. Wee Girl has been so desperately lonely that last year I signed her up with a hybrid school; she loved being with other kids, but learned nothing in class. They're reasonably close in level, except in French and Latin (which I can accommodate) and already in the same chamber music quartet. And she's a fundamentally good, bright kid from a nice family. Fingers crossed for waiving testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily ZL Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 Huh. I had never realized this and we've been in Texas for 7 years. I just looked up what most people remember, which is basically the Alamo, San Jacinto, and the six flags/republic of Texas type of thing. If she wants a little Texas history, I feel like you could do the basic ideas in a single week with some elementary-type library books. (Plus the John Wayne movie, lol.) Just from living here, we've been to the San Jacinto battlefield/monument, and to the San Antonio missions and the Alamo many times. They all have beautiful exhibits and being there is memorable! So even if she missed it during covid, she could seriously make it up by her family driving a bit on a long weekend when this is all finally over. But I think people are kidding themselves if they think 7th graders in a B&M school are really taking in and remembering much more than those basic 3 items. I would guess at least..?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porridge Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 Wait, it’s not required to be taught in homeschools, is it? We are relocating to TX and I have a rising 7th grader. I was under the impression that there were no specific curricular requirements in TX. Is that wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily ZL Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 41 minutes ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said: It is not required for homeschool. You just have to teach the 3r's in a physically existing curriculum and Good Citizenship. That's about it. Plus you don't actually have to register with anyone or tell anyone you're homeschooling. So as far as the state is concerned they won't even know some new homeschoolers have moved in when you arrive! Lol. Welcome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hs03842 Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 (edited) - Edited December 9, 2020 by JoyKM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 4 hours ago, Emily ZL said: Huh. I had never realized this and we've been in Texas for 7 years. I just looked up what most people remember, which is basically the Alamo, San Jacinto, and the six flags/republic of Texas type of thing. If she wants a little Texas history, I feel like you could do the basic ideas in a single week with some elementary-type library books. (Plus the John Wayne movie, lol.) Just from living here, we've been to the San Jacinto battlefield/monument, and to the San Antonio missions and the Alamo many times. They all have beautiful exhibits and being there is memorable! So even if she missed it during covid, she could seriously make it up by her family driving a bit on a long weekend when this is all finally over. But I think people are kidding themselves if they think 7th graders in a B&M school are really taking in and remembering much more than those basic 3 items. I would guess at least..?! Honestly -- I knew Alamo, San Jacinto and the republic of Texas before I ever GOT to 7th grade. San Jacinto was a common field trip place in Elementary school. Our scouting troop had gone to the Alamo and Washington-on-the-Brazos (where the constitution was signed while the men died at the Alamo slowing down the Mexican army). 7th grade Texas history filled in the gaps between those landmarks and additionally showed up the importance of places like Gonzales, Goliad. and the Black Bean Lottery. We also learned about how Texas was first settled by a succession of people and how it changed hands and got those famous six flags in the first place. And even how the Republic fell apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hs03842 Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 (edited) - Edited December 9, 2020 by JoyKM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 It would indeed be tempting to cover Texas history this year with Friend of WG if we hadn't covered it last year, from the Narvaez Expedition to the "Drouth" of the 1950s. And if all the field trip destinations weren't now closed. And if I hadn't already planned and prepared this year's Ancient History, Mostly Rome curriculum. 🙂 Really I just need to reassure anxious Mom it's not actually required in any sense. The STAAR standards link should help; thanks Ælthryth! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted July 25, 2020 Share Posted July 25, 2020 12 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said: It is not required for homeschool. You just have to teach the 3r's in a physically existing curriculum and Good Citizenship. That's about it. What do they mean by a physically existing curriculum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 (edited) The curriculum requirements are from the Leeper case, of course, and are almost universally misunderstood by Texas homeschoolers. The two important points: 1. The 3-Rs-plus-Good-Citizenship language was not the Texas Supreme Court announcing what curriculum should be followed by homeschoolers. The Court found that, when the compulsory education law was enacted in 1915, it wasn't meant to outlaw homeschooling, but that homeschools were considered private schools. (Going by memory here; too lazy to look up Leeper for verbatim.) As part of that finding, the Court found that these were the statutory requirements for schools in Texas in 1915, and therefore remained the only requirements for private schools. On my reading, it was the Court inviting the Texas Legislature to revisit the statute and beef up the curriculum requirements, by pointing out how minimal they were. But the Lege of course did no such thing. So there we are. 2. Even those minimal requirements are meaningless, as the SC didn't provide for any agency to have oversight of homeschoolers. The TEA has grudgingly admitted that nobody has the authority to require homeschoolers to cough up their curriculum. The only exception to this (and it's a significant one) is Family Court judges, who can require homeschoolers to hand over their curriculum and any other thing that pleases the judge, in order to determine the best interests of the child. As far as I can tell, we homeschoolers don't even need to tell anyone who asks that we have a curriculum at all. (An attorney on this board helpfully christened this the "pound sand" interpretation of Leeper.) ETA: I'm not a lawyer and none of the above should be taken as legal advice. Edited July 25, 2020 by Violet Crown 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet Crown Posted July 25, 2020 Author Share Posted July 25, 2020 (edited) Okay, I talked to Mom this morning, and told her it wouldn't show up on the 7th [ETA: I mean 8th] grade testing. Turns out even the 7th grade STAAR doesn't cover the Texas history. What clinched it was mentioning Ancient History; turns out her ISD hasn't yet done any world history, and she's been unimpressed. So we're good! Edited July 26, 2020 by Violet Crown 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.