How to Homeschool in New Hampshire

Most parents who look into homeschooling in New Hampshire expect the process to be simple — the state's motto is "Live Free or Die," after all. The reality is that NH sits in the moderate-regulation tier. You have real freedoms, but there are specific procedural steps you cannot skip: a formal notification to a participating agency, a defined list of required subjects, and an annual evaluation. Skip any of these and you could find yourself in a difficult conversation with your local district.

This guide walks through exactly what the law requires, in the order you need to do it, so you can start legally and stay that way.

Step 1: Understand the Legal Basis for Homeschooling in NH

New Hampshire's home education statute is RSA 193-A. This is the law that creates your right to homeschool and sets the conditions. The companion administrative rules are Ed 315, which fill in procedural details.

Under RSA 193-A, "home education" means instruction provided by a parent or legal guardian to their own children. A parent is defined broadly — you do not need a teaching certificate or any formal credentials to homeschool in New Hampshire. As of the 2024-2025 school year, approximately 6.34% of New Hampshire K-12 students are homeschooled, with enrollment growing 14.5% in that year alone. The law has evolved meaningfully over the years — a 2022 amendment explicitly stripped language that implied school districts had any "approval" authority over homeschool families.

Step 2: Choose Your Participating Agency

Before you pull your child from school, you need to decide which participating agency will receive your notification. This is one of the most consequential early decisions because it affects your privacy and your ongoing relationship with any oversight entity.

New Hampshire gives you three options:

1. Local Superintendent (free) You notify the superintendent of your local school district. This is the lowest barrier option, but it gives the district visibility into the fact that your child is being homeschooled. It also means your child's information is accessible locally.

2. NH DOE Commissioner (free) You notify the state Commissioner of Education rather than your local district. This routes your notification through the state database instead. Some families prefer this to avoid having a relationship with a district that may be skeptical of homeschooling.

3. Participating Private School (fee, maximum privacy) A number of private schools in New Hampshire operate as participating agencies for homeschool families. You pay an annual fee — amounts vary by school — and your notification goes to that school instead of any public authority. This option gives you the most privacy. Your local district receives no notification at all.

Think through which option fits your situation before you proceed. The choice is not permanent — you can change agencies — but the notification process restarts if you do.

Step 3: File Your Notification

Once you have chosen your agency, you must notify them within 5 business days of beginning home education. This is a legal requirement under RSA 193-A. The notification is one-time per child — you do not need to re-notify annually as long as you continue homeschooling with the same agency.

The notification must include:

• The child's name and age
• The address where home education will occur
• The subjects you intend to cover (listing the required subjects satisfies this)
• The name of the person providing instruction

Critical point before withdrawing from public school: if your child is currently enrolled, you should have your notification ready to submit the moment you formally withdraw. Some families submit the notification to their chosen agency on the same day they deliver the withdrawal letter to the school. Do not wait — the 5-business-day clock starts when home education begins, not when the school processes the withdrawal.

If the process of withdrawing from school while getting notification lined up feels uncertain, our New Hampshire Legal Withdrawal Blueprint walks through the withdrawal letter language and notification timing in detail.

Step 4: Cover the Required Subjects

RSA 193-A specifies the subjects that must be included in your home education program. The required subjects are:

• Science
• Mathematics
• Language (including reading, writing, and spelling)
• Government
• History
• Health
• US Constitution and NH Constitution
• Art appreciation
• Music appreciation

A few important clarifications: there is no mandated number of instructional hours and no requirement to follow the traditional 180-day school year. You are also not required to purchase a specific curriculum or follow any prescribed sequence. The law leaves curriculum selection entirely to the parent.

"Art appreciation" and "music appreciation" are often misread as requiring formal coursework. In practice, exposure through museum visits, listening to music, or integrating these into other subjects satisfies the intent of the statute.

Step 5: Maintain a Portfolio

You are required to keep a portfolio of your child's home education work. The portfolio must be retained for a minimum of two years.

What belongs in a portfolio:

• A reading log (titles and dates read)
• Work samples across subject areas
• Any test results, if you use tests as part of instruction

You do not need to submit the portfolio to anyone as part of your annual evaluation process (more on that below). The portfolio exists as documentation in case it is ever requested, and it serves as evidence of your compliance if questions arise.

Step 6: Complete an Annual Evaluation

Every year, each homeschooled child must be evaluated. RSA 193-A gives you four options for how to conduct that evaluation:

Option 1: Portfolio review by a certified teacher A teacher holding a valid NH teaching certificate reviews your portfolio and provides a written assessment. The teacher does not need to be employed by a public school.

Option 2: Standardized test You administer a nationally normed standardized test. Common choices include the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) or the California Achievement Test (CAT).

Option 3: State assessment Your child takes a state-administered assessment. This option is available but rarely used by homeschool families given the alternatives.

Option 4: Alternative assessment agreed upon with your participating agency If you and your participating agency agree in writing on an alternative assessment method, that can satisfy the annual evaluation requirement. This option is most commonly used by families enrolled with a participating private school.

What happens with evaluation results? Nothing, unless you request otherwise. Since 2012, evaluation results are not submitted to the participating agency or to anyone else. The evaluation is for your own documentation purposes. There is also no longer a remediation process — the 2012 law changes eliminated the requirement to correct deficiencies under official supervision.

The EFA Option: A Different Path

New Hampshire's Education Freedom Account program (RSA 194-F) provides a state-funded account — approximately $4,266 base, plus differentiated aid — that parents can use to pay for educational expenses through the ClassWallet marketplace. EFA funds can cover curriculum, tutoring, educational technology, and more.

The critical constraint: you cannot simultaneously be an RSA 193-A home educator AND an EFA participant. If you enroll in the EFA program, you exit the RSA 193-A framework. This matters because EFA participants have different reporting and compliance requirements. EFA became universally available in 2025 under SB 295.

Families need to weigh this tradeoff. If funding access is the priority and the EFA's compliance requirements feel manageable, the EFA route makes sense. If maximum flexibility in curriculum and evaluation is the priority, RSA 193-A homeschooling keeps you in full control.

Sports and Activities Access

Under RSA 193:1-c, homeschooled students in New Hampshire have the right to participate in public school sports and extracurricular activities. This is a meaningful benefit — your child can try out for the local public school team or join school clubs without being enrolled in that school. Some districts are more cooperative about this than others, but the legal right exists.

Key Contacts and Organizations

• Granite State Home Educators (GSHE): The primary statewide homeschool advocacy organization in NH
• NH Home Educators Cooperative (NHHC): Another active statewide group
• NH DOE: The state department that serves as one of the three participating agency options

If you want a single document that consolidates the withdrawal letter template, notification timing, and a plain-English summary of your rights when a district pushes back, the New Hampshire Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers all of it.

Summary

Starting homeschool in New Hampshire involves four core obligations: choose a participating agency, notify within 5 business days, cover the required subjects, and complete an annual evaluation. Beyond those, the state leaves curriculum, schedule, and method almost entirely to you. The most common mistake families make is underestimating the withdrawal and notification step — getting the paperwork right at the start prevents problems later.

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