How to Homeschool in New Hampshire (2026 Guide)

The short version

New Hampshire governs homeschooling under a single chapter of state law — RSA 193-A — with implementing administrative rules at Ed 315. The requirements are lean compared to most states. You file a one-time notification within five business days of starting (not every year), cover twelve required subject areas with no minimum hours or days specified, maintain a portfolio of your child’s work, and arrange an annual educational evaluation using one of four approved methods. No teacher certification is required, and no state curriculum applies.

New Hampshire also stands out nationally for its Education Freedom Account (EFA) program, which allows eligible families to receive roughly $4,000 or more in state per-pupil funds deposited into a digital wallet for qualifying educational expenses. The EFA is a separate legal pathway from traditional home education under RSA 193-A — parents who choose it operate under RSA 194-F rather than RSA 193-A, which affects record-keeping obligations and public school access rights. A second, need-based scholarship — the Education Tax Credit (ETC) — is also available for qualifying families.

Legal basis

Home education in New Hampshire is established and defined by RSA Chapter 193-A, enacted in 1990 and most recently amended in 2022. The chapter creates the state home education program, defines what counts as home education, sets notification and evaluation requirements, and explicitly limits the authority of local school officials to impose additional requirements.

RSA 193-A:11 states: “No superintendent, school board, school principal, or other school district official shall propose, adopt, or enforce any policy or procedure governing home educated pupils that is inconsistent with or more restrictive than the provisions of this chapter and any rules adopted pursuant to RSA 193-A:3.” This provision protects families from being asked for more than what the statute requires.

The statute is implemented through administrative rules at Ed 315, most recently updated effective September 14, 2023. Ed 315 fills in procedural details such as the format for notifications and the standards governing the annual evaluation.

The law covers children between the ages of 6 and 18 who are residents of New Hampshire (RSA 193-A:1).

Primary DOE resource: NH Department of Education — Home Education

Rules and statutes page: Home Education Rules and Regulations — NH DOE

Full statute text: RSA 193-A — NH General Court

DOE contact: homeeducation@doe.nh.gov — (603) 805-9581 (Alyson Landrigan, Bureau of Educational Opportunities)

Notification

Under RSA 193-A:5, a parent commencing a home education program must notify a participating agency within 5 business days of the start date. This notification is required only once — not annually — unless you move to a new school district or terminate and later restart a program.

Who to notify

You choose one of three “participating agencies”:

1. The Commissioner of the NH Department of Education — email: homeeducation@doe.nh.gov
2. The superintendent of your resident school district
3. The head of an approved nonpublic school that has agreed to serve as a participating agency

All three options are legally equal. The NH DOE provides an optional (not required) notification form on its Home Education page. You may use it, adapt it, or write your own letter — the form is a convenience, not a mandate.

What to include

The notification must include the following, per RSA 193-A:5(II):

• The names, addresses, and birth dates of all children participating in the home education program

No written curriculum plan, scope and sequence, or teacher credential is required at the notification stage.

Moving between districts

If you previously notified a superintendent and then move to a different school district, you must notify the original superintendent that the child has moved and file a new notification with the superintendent in the new district (RSA 193-A:5(V)).

Acknowledgment

The receiving agency must acknowledge your notification within 14 days (RSA 193-A:5(IV)). If you receive no acknowledgment, follow up in writing and keep a copy of your original notification.

Important note for EFA families

If you are using Education Freedom Account (EFA) funding, do not file a home education notification under RSA 193-A. EFA students operate under RSA 194-F, not RSA 193-A. The NHDOE’s home education page explicitly states: “Do not submit a notification form to a participating agency if you are utilizing EFA funding.” The processes are separate and overlapping them can create compliance complications.

Required subjects

RSA 193-A:4(I) defines home education as instruction in the following subjects:

• Science
• Mathematics
• Language
• Government
• History
• Health
• Reading
• Writing
• Spelling
• The history of the constitutions of New Hampshire and the United States
• Exposure to and appreciation of art
• Exposure to and appreciation of music

The statute does not specify a minimum number of days, minimum hours per day, or grade-level standards. There is no state-approved curriculum list and no requirement to follow any particular textbook series or method. The NHDOE, the resident district superintendent, or an approved nonpublic school will work with parents on meeting these requirements upon request (RSA 193-A:4(II)), but this collaboration is available to parents — it is not a mandatory review process.

Annual evaluation

RSA 193-A:6(II) requires each home-educating parent to arrange an annual educational evaluation that documents the child’s demonstration of educational progress “at a level commensurate with the child’s age, ability, and/or disability.” The evaluation is completed every year for as long as the program continues.

The child is considered to have successfully completed an annual evaluation upon satisfying any one of the following four methods:

Option A: Certified teacher or nonpublic school teacher

A teacher selected by the parent — who holds current certification or who is currently teaching in a nonpublic school — reviews the portfolio and discusses the student’s progress with the parent, the child, or both. The parent chooses the evaluator; no prior district approval is needed. This is the most commonly used option because it is flexible and requires no government coordination.

Option B: National student achievement test

The child takes a nationally normed standardized achievement test. The test must be administered by a person who meets the qualifications established by the test publisher. The parent selects and arranges the test independently.

Option C: State student assessment

The child takes the state student assessment test used by the resident school district. Because this involves the public school system, parents interested in this option should contact their district’s assessment office for logistics and scheduling.

Option D: Mutually agreed measurement tool

The child is evaluated using any other valid measurement tool mutually agreed upon by the parent and the Commissioner of Education, the resident district superintendent, or the nonpublic school principal. This option is most likely to be used in unusual or specialized circumstances.

What the evaluation results cannot do

RSA 193-A:6(III)(b) explicitly states that evaluation results shall not be used as a basis for termination of a home education program. If a student’s performance is below grade level in a given year, that fact alone cannot be used by any official to shut down the program.

Evaluation results may be used to demonstrate academic proficiency for the purpose of participating in public school programs and co-curricular activities (RSA 193-A:6(III)(a)).

Record keeping

RSA 193-A:6(I) requires parents to maintain a portfolio of records and materials. The portfolio must include:

• A log designating by title the reading materials used in the program
• Samples of the student’s writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed during instruction

The portfolio is the parent’s property at all times. It must be preserved for two years from the date instruction ends.

Parents must also maintain a copy of the annual evaluation (RSA 193-A:6(III)). The portfolio and evaluation records do not need to be submitted to anyone on a routine basis — they are retained by the family.

No attendance logs, lesson plans, or daily schedules are required by statute, though many families find a simple calendar useful for documenting instructional days.

Scholarships and funding programs

New Hampshire offers two financial assistance programs that home-educating families should understand. They operate under different laws, come with different obligations, and are not interchangeable. Families may use only one at a time.

Education Freedom Account (EFA)

The Education Freedom Account program, created under RSA 194-F, directs a portion of a student’s state per-pupil education funding into a parent-controlled digital wallet for use on qualifying educational expenses. The program is administered by the Children’s Scholarship Fund New Hampshire (CSFNH).

Critical legal distinction: Participating in the EFA is not the same as home educating under RSA 193-A. The NHDOE is explicit: “Homeschooling using the Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) is not considered Home Education under RSA 193-A.” Families who shift from traditional home education to an EFA must formally terminate their RSA 193-A home education program before enrolling in the EFA (per Ed 315.06 and RSA 193-A:5(III), then RSA 194-F:2(IX)).

Eligibility (per NHDOE and RSA 194-F):

• Parent and student must be New Hampshire residents
• Child must be between 5 and 20 years old and entering kindergarten through 12th grade
• Family income must be at or below 350% of the federal poverty level guidelines to receive priority status; income documentation includes a federal 1040, SNAP documentation, or TANF documentation
• Students enrolled full-time in their resident district public school or a public charter school (including VLACS) are not eligible

Grant amount: The base EFA grant is approximately $4,000 in state per-pupil adequacy aid per year (2024–2025 figures; the base was approximately $3,700 in prior years). Students who qualify for differentiated aid may receive additional funding of roughly $700 to $2,000 per qualifying factor. Differentiated aid factors are: household income at or below 185% of the federal poverty line, English Language Learner status, and a qualifying disability.

Enrollment cap: For 2025–26, the legislature set a cap of 10,000 EFA students. Families in the following priority groups are exempt from the cap and may apply at any time: current EFA students, siblings of current EFA students, children with disabilities as defined under RSA 186-C:2, and students from families with income at or below 350% of the federal poverty level. If the cap reaches 90% in any given year, it automatically increases by 25% the following year.

How funds are disbursed: The state releases funds to CSFNH four times per year — mid-September (20%), mid-November (20%), mid-January (30%), and mid-April (30%). Funds flow into the student’s digital wallet, powered by ClassWallet, approximately two weeks after state disbursement. Applications completed and verified by July 15 receive a full grant for the upcoming year; applications completed after July 15 receive a prorated amount.

Allowable expenses under RSA 194-F:2(II) include: private school tuition and fees; non-public online learning program tuition and fees; tutoring; public school classes, curricular programs, and co-curricular programs; textbooks, curriculum, and instructional materials; computer hardware, technological devices, and internet connectivity primarily for educational use (general household internet is not covered); educational software and applications; school uniforms (where required by a uniform policy); fees for standardized assessments and AP examinations and test-prep courses; summer education programs and specialized education programs; career and technical school tuition, fees, and materials; special education services and therapies (occupational, behavioral, physical, speech-language, audiology); and tuition at institutions of higher education for students who have not yet graduated from high school.

Parents cannot receive EFA funds for instructing their own child, and funds may not be shared between students. Each EFA is a per-pupil account.

Annual renewal and accountability: Families must reapply annually and submit a Record of Educational Attainment by July 15 each year. This record can take one of three forms: (1) results from an accepted standardized achievement test (CAT, NWEA/MAP, CLT, SAT, Stanford Achievement Test, and others); (2) the NH statewide student assessment; or (3) a signed evaluation letter from a certified teacher or current nonpublic school teacher reviewing the student’s portfolio. A parent may not sign the evaluation letter for their own child.

EFA students and public school access: EFA students do not have the same statutory right to access their resident public school’s curricular and co-curricular programs that RSA 193-A families have under RSA 193:1-c. This is one of the practical trade-offs between the two pathways.

To apply: Visit the Children’s Scholarship Fund NH at nh.scholarshipfund.org or contact CSFNH at csfnh@scholarshipfund.org or (603) 755-6751. Applications are rolling throughout the school year; apply by July 15 for a full-year grant.

Education Tax Credit (ETC) scholarship

The Education Tax Credit (ETC) scholarship is a separate, need-based program also administered by the Children’s Scholarship Fund NH. It is funded by business donations to CSFNH — businesses that contribute receive an 85% state tax credit against NH business income taxes — rather than by direct state appropriations.

ETC scholarships can be used to pay for private school tuition, online school, out-of-district public school, or homeschooling expenses.

Eligibility for home education students (per NHDOE and RSA 193-A):

• New Hampshire resident
• Child between the ages of 6 and 18 (the NHDOE lists 6–18; the CSFNH website describes the program as covering students ages 5–20 entering K–12 coming from a public school — check with CSFNH for current terms)
• Household income must not exceed 300% of the federal poverty level
• For students entering grades 2–12, the child must be coming from a public school

Unlike the EFA, the ETC does not involve a state digital wallet, rolling disbursements, or an enrollment cap. Awards depend on funds raised; submitting an application is not a guarantee of receiving a scholarship.

To apply or learn more: nh.scholarshipfund.org — ETC Scholarship

Federal and other options

Under federal law, families may use 529 savings plan funds for qualified K–12 education expenses, including homeschool curriculum materials and tutoring, up to the applicable federal annual limit. The Coverdell Education Savings Account allows tax-free withdrawals for qualified K–12 homeschool expenses up to $2,000 per year in contributions. Consult a tax professional regarding current federal and NH state tax treatment.

Public school access rights

Under RSA 193:1-c, home-educated students operating under RSA 193-A have the right to access their resident district’s curricular and co-curricular programs. This means a home education student may participate in public school classes, district-sponsored athletics, fine arts programs, and academic activities. Home-educated students are subject to the same participation policies and eligibility conditions that apply to enrolled public school students.

Annual evaluation results may be used to demonstrate academic proficiency for this purpose (RSA 193-A:6(III)(a)).

Note for EFA families: Students participating in the EFA program under RSA 194-F do not have this same statutory access right. This is a meaningful practical difference between the two pathways.

Withdrawing from public school

If your child is currently enrolled in a public school and you intend to begin home education under RSA 193-A, here is the process:

1. Inform the school in writing that your child is withdrawing to begin a home education program. You do not need permission — you are exercising a right established by RSA 193-A. Keep a copy of your written notice.

2. File your home education notification with your chosen participating agency within 5 business days of the start date of your home education program.

If your child has an active Individualized Education Program (IEP) and is currently receiving special education services, contact the district’s special education coordinator before or at the time of withdrawal. Your child remains eligible for Child Find services under federal IDEA law after withdrawal, and the district may still provide some services, but the scope of the district’s obligation changes once a student is no longer enrolled. The Parent Information Center of NH (picnh.org) offers guidance on navigating this transition.

If you later decide to re-enroll your child in public school, the receiving school will determine placement. At the secondary level, documentation of completed coursework and the annual evaluations you have maintained will support conversations with the school about appropriate grade and course placement.

Support and community

New Hampshire has an active and well-organized home education community:

• Granite State Home Educators (GSHE) — gshenh.org — A free, all-volunteer statewide organization with more than 5,000 community members. GSHE offers a free online orientation covering NH home education law and practice, monthly newsletters, a co-op and support group directory, and a marketplace for buying and selling used curriculum materials. Membership is free and open to all.

• New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition (NHHC) — nhhomeschooling.org — A statewide organization that has operated since 1989 and supports all approaches to home education regardless of method, philosophy, or background. The NHHC publishes a monthly newsletter and maintains an active online community.

• NH Department of Education — Home Education — education.nh.gov — The official state resource for forms, current rules, contact information, and links to notification templates. The DOE email is homeeducation@doe.nh.gov.

• Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) — hslda.org — A membership-based legal advocacy organization that provides NH-specific guidance, sample notification letters, and legal support if a family encounters difficulty with a local official. HSLDA rates New Hampshire as a low-regulation state.

• Parent Information Center of NH (PIC NH) — picnh.org — A federally funded parent training and information center for families of children with disabilities, including home-educated students. A useful resource for navigating special education rights during and after withdrawal from public school.