Endorsement & Accreditation on the horizon!

Over the past few months, we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes, making meaningful improvements to both our physical campus and our administrative systems. Many of these updates have been long-time dreams of ours—and thanks to our participation in Austin Public Health’s Healthy ECEs Initiative, we’ve received incredible support to turn those dreams into reality. With guidance from APH and Texas A&M, we’ve strengthened our policies, deepened our team’s knowledge, and further aligned our practices with our mission of connecting children with nature.

✅ Yesterday, we had an unannounced licensing inspection after informing Child Care Regulation of the changes we've been making—and we’re thrilled to share that we passed (yet again) with zero deficiencies! Not only that, but our new inspector praised our team and shared that she “wished more child care centers would do what Homegrown does.” We are incredibly proud and honored!

🌱 We’re also excited to announce that our School Gardens area is now officially recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation! We’ve received a beautiful plaque to mark this milestone, and we’re eager to continue developing this space into a thriving, educational sanctuary for our children.

This Friday, APH will help us submit all of our documentation to Texas A&M for review in hopes of receiving their official endorsement via the Texas Healthy Building Blocks program. This program evaluates practices in 7 different areas and though the Healthy ECE Initiative's requirement is that we seek endorsement in 1-3 areas, we are striving for recognition in all 7. 🤞🏻

As many of you know, Homegrown has never pursued formal accreditation—not because of a lack of quality, but because the primary accrediting body for Texas requires that at least 20% of our student population qualify as underserved or economically disadvantaged. Due to our rural location, families experiencing financial hardship often face transportation barriers that make attending our school difficult, which in turn makes us ineligible for programs like Texas Rising Star (TRS). While TRS is promoted as a quality rating system for early education programs in Texas, schools like Homegrown—despite demonstrating exceptional practices—are not even eligible for review.

That’s why we’ve chosen a different path: one that seeks endorsement through evidence-based programs that evaluate quality on the strength of our practices, not demographics. Being selected—out of hundreds of schools—to participate in the Healthy ECEs Initiative is a testament to that quality. In fact, APH plans to spotlight Homegrown as a model for other programs across Central Texas to learn from and emulate.

This spring we also joined the Texas Children in Nature Network and are excited for this partnership with like-minded programs to support Homegrown's continued growth as a nature-based program. Once we catch our breath, our goal in the upcoming year is to apply for national accreditation through NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children).

Through all of this, our team has continued to hold space for the daily rhythms of care, learning, and connection with your children. Their commitment and heart have carried us through this season of growth, and we are endlessly grateful for their work. 🙌🏻

To our HomeGrownUps parent community: thank you for believing in us, supporting us, and being patient with us while we stretched ourselves to reach these new goals. Your trust makes everything we do possible.

Here’s to growth, connection, and the wild beauty of learning together. 💚

With gratitude,

The Homegrown School Team