New Hampshire Homeschool Portfolio Requirements: Records, Reading Logs, and What You Actually Need

New Hampshire does not require you to submit a portfolio to any government office. You do not mail it to the district. You do not present it to a state official. It stays in your home, in your possession, for your family's use. Understanding this up front removes a lot of the anxiety that surrounds portfolio-building for new homeschool families in New Hampshire.

What the portfolio actually is: a collection of evidence that your child is learning across the subjects listed in your annual education plan, organized well enough that a certified teacher evaluator can review it — if you choose the portfolio review option for your annual evaluation. This post covers exactly what goes in, how to keep records throughout the year, and what the evaluator is looking for.

The Legal Basis: What NH Law Says About Portfolios

RSA 193-A requires that homeschooling parents complete an annual evaluation. One of the four permitted evaluation methods is a portfolio review conducted by a certified teacher evaluator. The statute specifies that a portfolio must include:

• A reading log (books or other reading materials completed during the year)
• Work samples from the subjects covered in the education plan

Work samples is defined broadly and can include written work, worksheets, tests and quizzes, records of field trips, photos or descriptions of projects, creative materials (art, music recordings, video projects), and any other evidence of learning.

Beyond the portfolio itself, you are required to keep records for a minimum of two years. After two years, retention is discretionary — though keeping them longer is prudent if your child is still in the homeschool program.

What the Reading Log Needs to Include

The reading log is specifically called out in the statute, which is why it gets its own section here. There is no prescribed format, but functionally it needs to document:

• The title and author of each book or reading material
• Optionally, the date read or date completed

Some families maintain a running list in a notebook. Others use a spreadsheet, a homeschool planner, or a free app. The format does not matter — what matters is that the log exists, covers the full school year, and reflects genuine reading activity.

For younger children, the reading log typically includes picture books, early readers, and read-alouds. For older students it includes novels, non-fiction, and subject-specific texts. If your curriculum includes a literature component, those titles should appear in the log.

One practical tip: start the log at the very beginning of the school year. Trying to reconstruct a year's worth of reading in April because your evaluator appointment is in May is stressful and results in an incomplete record. A simple notebook kept on the bookshelf where books live is all you need.

Work Samples: What to Collect and How Much

Work samples should cover all subjects listed in your education plan. If your education plan lists language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and health, your portfolio needs evidence of work in all five areas.

The quantity of work samples is not specified in the law. In practice, evaluators typically look for enough samples to form a picture of the child's work across the year — not a sample from every single day, but a representative selection. A reasonable approach is to collect 5–10 samples per subject per school year, spread across different months.

Useful types of work samples:

• Written work: essays, narrations, copywork, journaling, book reports
• Math work: completed lesson pages, tests, problem sets
• Science: lab notes, experiment records, project descriptions, photos
• Social studies/history: maps, timelines, written reports, project photos
• Creative work: art pieces, photos of models or projects, music practice logs, videos
• Field trip records: a brief written note or photo documentation of educational outings

The key is intentional collection throughout the year. A portfolio box — any physical container where you drop samples as the year progresses — is a simple system that most families find workable. At year's end, you sort, thin as needed, and organize for the evaluator.

How Portfolio Review by a Certified Teacher Works

If you choose the portfolio review evaluation option, you hire a New Hampshire-credentialed teacher evaluator to review your portfolio and produce a written assessment. The evaluator must hold:

• An active New Hampshire teaching license, or
• A valid teaching license from a state with reciprocal licensure recognition with New Hampshire, or
• Current employment as a teacher at a New Hampshire nonpublic school

The written assessment the evaluator produces is a brief document — typically one to two pages — confirming they reviewed the portfolio and that it demonstrates evidence of learning across the covered subjects. This document, along with your portfolio, constitutes your annual evaluation record.

Evaluator fees typically run $35–$50 per student. The GSHE (Greater Nashua Homeschool Education) organization maintains a statewide list of evaluators, which is a practical starting point.

Evaluator philosophy matters more than most families realize. Some evaluators are accustomed to traditional, structured portfolios with tabbed dividers, a table of contents, and work samples organized by subject. Others have extensive experience with project-based learning, Charlotte Mason approaches, or unschooling — and are comfortable evaluating non-traditional portfolios that include project photos, nature journals, and informal logs rather than worksheets.

Before scheduling an evaluator, ask directly: "What does your ideal portfolio look like?" and "Are you comfortable with [your specific approach]?" A ten-minute phone call beforehand can prevent a frustrating evaluation appointment.

If you're still working through the earlier stages of setting up your homeschool in New Hampshire — particularly the Notice of Intent filing and understanding what subjects to include in your education plan — the New Hampshire Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers the complete compliance sequence, including templates for the Notice of Intent and an education plan that sets you up for a straightforward annual evaluation.

NH Homeschool Record Keeping Beyond the Portfolio

The portfolio covers the annual evaluation requirement. Good record keeping covers everything else.

Records that are useful to maintain, even though not all are legally mandated:

Annual Notices of Intent. Keep a copy of every NOI you've filed, along with the confirmation of receipt from your participating agency. This is your proof that you are operating a lawfully registered home education program.

Education plans. Each year's plan (the list of subjects you've committed to cover) should be retained alongside the evaluation documentation for that year.

Immunization and medical records. Not a homeschool requirement per se, but useful if your child enrolls in activities, sports programs, or eventually returns to traditional school.

Curriculum records. A brief note of which curriculum you used in each subject each year is useful for transcripts and college applications later. You do not need to keep every workbook — just a record of what you used.

Transcripts (middle and high school). If your child is approaching high school age, start maintaining a running transcript now. Each course completed, the credit awarded, and the grade. This is not submitted anywhere until college application time, but building it year by year is far easier than reconstructing it retroactively.

The Privacy Protection: Why NH Portfolios Stay with You

One of the most parent-friendly features of New Hampshire homeschool law is that your portfolio and evaluation results are explicitly your private property. No district official has a right to demand review of your portfolio. No state agency receives evaluation results. The 2012 legislative changes eliminated the submission requirements and the remediation provisions that previously existed.

This does not mean you can ignore the evaluation requirement — a failure to conduct the annual evaluation at all would leave you without documentation if your family ever faced a child welfare inquiry. But it does mean you build and maintain the portfolio for your family's benefit, not to satisfy a bureaucratic reviewer.

The practical upshot: build a portfolio that satisfies a reasonable evaluator, keep it for two years minimum, and store it somewhere you can access it easily if it ever becomes relevant.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my portfolio need to be submitted to the district or state? No. Evaluation results and portfolio documentation are private family property. Nothing is submitted to anyone.

What format does the portfolio need to be in? There is no legally required format. A physical binder with labeled sections is common, but a portfolio box, digital folder, or any other organized system works. The only requirement is that it contains the reading log and work samples from the subjects in your education plan.

Can I take photos instead of keeping physical work samples? Yes. Digital documentation — photos of projects, scanned worksheets, video recordings of presentations — is acceptable. Many evaluators are comfortable reviewing digital portfolios, though it is worth confirming with your specific evaluator before the appointment.

How do I find a certified teacher evaluator in New Hampshire? The GSHE organization maintains a statewide list. Local homeschool Facebook groups and co-ops are another reliable resource. Ask about evaluator availability in early spring — appointments fill up from April onward.

What if I can't find an evaluator willing to evaluate my unschooling portfolio? Standardized testing is an equally valid annual evaluation option that does not require a portfolio at all. If you're using a relaxed or unschooling approach and struggling to find a philosophically compatible evaluator, switching to standardized testing for that year is a straightforward solution.

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