In New Hampshire, A Battle Over Homeschooling Rights

Homeschooling has been legally recognized in all 50 states as a viable education choice for families since 1993, but the battle to protect homeschooling rights is far from over. All too frequently, state legislators, local policymakers, and school district officials create new roadblocks for homeschooling parents, challenging their right to educate their children as they choose.

In some cases, these roadblocks include urging homeschooling parents to comply with school district policies or demanding reports and assessments that go beyond what state homeschooling laws dictate. In other cases, these barriers include curriculum stipulations, grade-level assumptions, and even standardized testing that force homeschooling families to mirror a public schooling curriculum with which they may disagree. In many instances, the requirements for homeschooling families are much more restrictive than the requirements for private and parochial schools.