Secular and Classical Homeschool Curriculum in New Hampshire

Two of the most distinct curriculum philosophies in homeschooling — secular academic and classical — both have strong followings in New Hampshire. They're not mutually exclusive (secular classical homeschooling is a legitimate category), but families searching for one or the other want different things, and the specific options available in NH are worth spelling out.

New Hampshire's legal framework is worth restating here because it directly affects curriculum choice: there is no approved curriculum list, no Common Core alignment requirement, and no mandated materials. The state requires certain subjects be covered over the course of a child's education, but leaves every other curricular decision to the family. That's a meaningful amount of freedom.

Secular Homeschool Curriculum in New Hampshire

"Secular" in homeschool terms means academically rigorous, evidence-based, and without religious framing. It doesn't mean anti-religious; it means the curriculum itself doesn't integrate faith instruction into academic content.

NH homeschoolers looking for secular options have more choices than they did a decade ago. The secular curriculum market has grown substantially, and several high-quality programs now compete with the faith-based programs that dominated homeschooling for generations.

Blossom & Root

Blossom & Root is one of the most popular secular curricula among NH homeschoolers, particularly for families with young children (pre-K through grade 5). It's Charlotte Mason-inspired: living books rather than textbooks, nature study as a core subject, narration, nature journaling, and hands-on projects.

Blossom & Root fits NH's natural environment particularly well. The Charlotte Mason emphasis on outdoor observation, nature journaling, and place-based learning is a natural match for a state with forests, mountains, rivers, and coastline within driving distance of most families. The curriculum's seasonal awareness also resonates with NH's four distinct seasons.

BookShark

BookShark is a secular literature-based curriculum that covers history, science, language arts, and read-alouds together as an integrated package. It uses real books — award-winning children's literature, narrative nonfiction, illustrated histories — rather than textbook-style texts.

BookShark is organized by grade level (roughly) and is one of the easier all-in-one secular options to implement. The instructor guides are detailed enough that a parent without teaching experience can follow them confidently.

Singapore Math / Math in Focus

Across curriculum styles, Singapore Math is the standalone math program most NH secular homeschoolers use. The mastery approach, the consistent progression, and the strong outcomes research behind the Singapore method have made it the default recommendation for parents who want a rigorous, secular math program.

For high school, Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) is the choice for mathematically advanced students. AoPS is demanding and not for every student, but for kids who will be taking competitive math or pursuing STEM at a rigorous college, it's the standard.

Teaching Textbooks is a popular alternative for self-directed students — it's a video-based math program that the student can work through largely independently, which is helpful for families where the parent isn't comfortable with upper-level math.

Elemental Science

Elemental Science is a secular science curriculum organized around a four-year cycle. It's written for parent instruction and uses a mix of living books, experiments, and notebook activities. Many NH secular homeschoolers use it as a spine for science alongside library books and field-based learning.

Critical Thinking and Writing

Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) is non-religious (though frequently used in Christian homeschool contexts — it's not faith-based in content) and is widely recommended for systematic writing instruction. For families who want a structured, explicit approach to teaching paragraph structure, essay writing, and composition skills, IEW is well-respected.

The Writing Revolution is a newer option that takes a sentence-level approach to writing instruction, building composition skills from the sentence up. It's used in both school and homeschool settings.

Classical Homeschool Curriculum in New Hampshire

Classical education is built around the trivium — grammar (the foundational stage, focused on memorization and pattern recognition), logic (the analytical middle years), and rhetoric (the mature synthesis and expression stage). It emphasizes primary sources, Latin, Socratic discussion, and engagement with great ideas through great texts.

Classical Conversations

Classical Conversations (CC) has multiple active communities in New Hampshire, including in Manchester, Concord, and the Seacoast area. CC is a structured program built around community day (one day per week with other CC families) and at-home learning (four days per week). It covers math, science, Latin, history, English grammar, and fine arts in an integrated classical framework.

CC has a Christian worldview orientation and is not the right fit for secular classical families. However, for families who want the accountability of a structured co-op, the community day model, and a comprehensive classical framework, CC is one of the most practical implementations of classical education available.

The Well-Trained Mind

The Well-Trained Mind (WTM) by Susan Wise Bauer is the foundational text for secular classical homeschooling. WTM lays out a four-year rotating history cycle — ancient, medieval, early modern, modern — with integrated literature and writing at each stage. The companion curricula (Story of the World for younger students, History of the World series for older students, Writing with Ease, Writing with Skill) give families concrete materials to implement the approach.

WTM families can be secular or religious — the methodology itself doesn't mandate a worldview. What it mandates is a commitment to sequenced learning, primary sources, and a rigorous approach to writing and rhetoric development.

Prima Latina and Wheelock's Latin

Latin is central to classical education, and NH classical homeschoolers use a progression of Latin programs. Prima Latina and Latina Christiana (both from Memoria Press) are standard introductory texts for elementary students. Wheelock's Latin is the traditional college-level introduction used for high school students pursuing a full classical sequence.

The CLT (Classic Learning Test) has questions that reward classical preparation — Latin vocabulary knowledge, engagement with primary source texts, logical argument analysis. NH classical homeschoolers preparing for college increasingly use the CLT as their primary college admissions test.

Memoria Press

Memoria Press publishes a complete classical curriculum sequence from kindergarten through high school, covering Latin, classical literature, grammar, logic, and rhetoric. It's more structured and more explicitly classical than WTM, and it has a Christian worldview orientation without being heavily devotional in its academic content.

Combining Secular and Classical

Many NH families end up with a hybrid. A common example: The Well-Trained Mind's history spine with Singapore Math, Blossom & Root for early elementary, and VLACS for specific high school subjects. Classical doesn't require buying into a single publisher's system. The methodology — sequenced history, primary sources, formal logic, Latin, rhetoric — can be assembled from many sources.

The NH legal framework explicitly accommodates this kind of custom approach. There's no requirement to use a coherent curriculum from one publisher, no sign-off needed for curriculum choices, and no state standards to align to.

Getting the Legal Foundation Right First

Before the curriculum question, there's the legal foundation. If your child is currently enrolled in a New Hampshire school, withdrawing requires sending a written notification letter to your district superintendent. Getting that letter right is the non-negotiable first step.

The New Hampshire Legal Withdrawal Blueprint provides done-for-you letter templates and a detailed guide to the NH withdrawal and notification process. Once the paperwork is done, the curriculum conversation can start from a place of legal clarity rather than uncertainty.

NH's combination of a permissive legal environment and an active homeschool community with both secular and classical options makes it a genuinely strong state for families with specific educational philosophies. Whatever approach you choose, you have the legal room to do it well.

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