Welcome back to our weekly roundup. We are a week into September, the deadlines are stacking up, and this week the biggest news is not a funding story at all.

NASA wants your family looking at the moon on September 19, and everything for it is free

International Observe the Moon Night is Saturday, September 19. NASA runs it every year and puts the entire kit online at no cost.

You get moon maps keyed to what you can actually see with binoculars or a small telescope, a printable observation journal, hands-on activities sorted by age, and an eight step guide if you want to host something for your co-op.

The part we appreciate: there is a “Rain or Shine” section with indoor alternatives, because the sky does not care about your lesson plan. You can also register your observation on a global map, which turns a driveway into a data point your kids can find themselves on.

This is about as low effort as a science night gets. No purchase, no signup fee, and it works just as well for a five year old as a fifteen year old. NASA’s page is here.

New Hampshire just deleted almost every homeschool reporting rule it had

This is the one to read even if you do not live there, because it shows what is possible.

House Bill 1268 was signed by Governor Kelly Ayotte in mid July and rewrites RSA 193-A. Routine notification to the district or the state Department of Education is gone. Required portfolios are gone. Required records, evaluations, and annual assessments are gone.

Notice is now required only in narrow situations, such as withdrawing a child from public school or asking for access to public school programs. HSLDA called it the most dramatic homeschool victory of 2026 in its September 1 legislative roundup.

Two practical notes from Granite State Home Educators, the state group. They still recommend keeping voluntary records, because “not required” is not the same as “not useful,” especially for transcripts and college applications. And parents of students finishing high school under age 18 still send a completion certificate to the state. Their explainer is here.

The newest research on how homeschooled kids actually do

The National Home Education Research Institute updated its academic achievement fact sheet in August, adding two new 2026 peer reviewed papers published in the Peabody Journal of Education.

The headline numbers: 62 percent of peer reviewed studies show homeschool students performing statistically significantly better than institutionally schooled students, and homeschoolers typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public school students on standardized tests.

The finding worth sitting with is that those results hold regardless of the parent’s education level, the family’s income, or how heavily the state regulates homeschooling. That last one comes up in almost every legislative fight, and the data does not support the assumption behind it.

NHERI is straightforward about the limits: current research designs can show association but cannot prove causation. We would rather link you to a source that says that out loud than one that oversells. The fact sheet is here.

Two states tried to add homeschool requirements this month, and one of them backed down

In Massachusetts, the Lowell School Committee proposed limiting homeschool enrollment to just August, September and November, requiring instruction to conform to public school standards, and mandating registration with the district’s Family Resource Center.

Families showed up at the June committee meeting, HSLDA submitted legal testimony, and the committee canceled the changes. The account is here. Massachusetts is one of only two states that technically require prior approval to homeschool, which makes the outcome more notable.

New York went the other way. The Edmeston Central School District now refuses to issue a letter of substantial equivalency, a document families rely on for jobs and college, unless a state certified person unrelated to the student administers the year end assessment.

Parents can still test their own children. They just will not get the letter. One parent told reporters that hiring an administrator runs around $100 an hour for a roughly four hour assessment. Families have appealed to the New York Education Commissioner and a decision could come by spring 2027. Coverage is here.

Mississippi moved a filing deadline a month earlier and did not say much about it

If you homeschool in Mississippi, your certificate of enrollment deadline is no longer September 15. It is now August 15.

The change was a minor provision tucked inside truancy legislation aimed mostly at public and charter school students, which is why a lot of families did not hear about it. HSLDA also flags that the state’s new School Attendance Officer procedures require verification forms be issued “with appropriate justification,” language HSLDA says appears nowhere in the actual statute and plans to challenge.

If you missed August 15 this year, file now and do not wait. HSLDA’s write-up is here.

Utah: nearly 2,900 more students were awarded, and about 5,000 are still waiting

Utah Fits All has tripled since year one. A late August waitlist draw added close to 2,900 scholarships, bringing participation to 21,186 students against a $120 million appropriation. Roughly 5,000 students are still waiting.

One date has already passed as you read this. Newly awarded families had to opt in through their Odyssey account by September 9 at 11:59 p.m. MDT to keep the award. If you had an award notice and did not click through in time, call the program before you assume it is gone, because reinstatement questions are handled case by case. If you are still on the waitlist, stay there and keep your Odyssey account current. Utah has drawn from that list twice already this year. Program announcement here. (Look for A to Z for Moms Like Me in the Odyssey Marketplace)

One thing we are not going to tell you is that the legal question is settled, because it is not. Brown v. Labresh is still pending before the Utah Supreme Court. Briefing wrapped earlier this year and no argument date has been announced. The program is operating normally in the meantime.

Texas: who actually faces the TEFA September 15 deadline, and who does not

We flagged this deadline last week and want to sharpen it, because it is being described too broadly in a lot of places.

The September 15 rule does not apply to every Texas Education Freedom Account family. On the Comptroller’s official page it sits under the heading “Funding proration for students brought off the waitlist,” and it applies to students awarded after July 15, 2026. If you opted in by June 15 and were funded July 1, or opted in by July 31 and were funded in mid August, you already have your full award and nothing is at risk.

Who is on the clock: the nearly 4,500 additional Tier 3 students awarded off the waitlist the week of August 28. There are now more than 118,000 students with active TEFA awards.

Homeschool families are explicitly covered. The official text names “homeschool/other” by name, so this is not a private school only schedule. Confirm by September 15 to keep the full award. Confirm after it and the award drops to 75 percent. The next tier down is January 15, which pays 50 percent. The homeschool award is $2,000, paid in a single installment rather than quarterly. August 28 announcement and the official proration table. (Look for A to Z for Moms Like Me in the Odyssey Marketplace)

Colorado: the enrichment deadline we reported last week has turned into a shutdown

This is an update to a story we ran on September 5, and it did not end well.

Colorado Homeschool Enrichment, the largest program of its kind in the state, has ceased operations. That is 2,800 students across 48 campuses and roughly $15 million. Families were notified the evening of Thursday, September 3. CEO Renee Miller said plainly that “there was no path forward for the state to approve our application.”

The cause traces back to the dissolution of Education reEnvisioned BOCES, the authorizer for more than 40 publicly funded part time programs. Colorado’s education department received 52 applications from 10 authorizers under the new rules. As of August 31, three were approved, one partially approved, five pending, and 43 denied.

If your family used a Colorado part time enrichment program, contact it directly and ask whether it has secured a new authorizer and whether start dates have changed. Local boards have until September 15 to submit authorizations to the state. Chalkbeat has the shutdown and the state’s family guidance is here.

West Virginia: September 15 is the last day at 75 percent of the Hope Scholarship

West Virginia prices its Hope Scholarship by how early you apply, and the next step down lands this month.

The 2026-27 tiers run: March 2 through June 15 paid 100 percent, June 16 through September 15 pays 75 percent, September 16 through November 30 drops to 50 percent, December 1 through February 28 pays 25 percent, and after February 28 there is no funding for the year.

This is the first year existing private school students and traditional homeschool students are eligible, so a lot of families are new to it. Funds now move quarterly. One easy thing to get wrong: an active Hope Scholarship Notice of Intent has to be on file with your county board or the account will not be funded at all. Official program site.

Two other West Virginia developments. Eleven Mingo County parents filed suit on September 4 asking a judge to block the program’s universal expansion as their local elementary faces closure. And Attorney General JB McCuskey wrote state officials in August challenging a Kanawha County position that children with disabilities using the scholarship lose special education eligibility, saying it “cannot be squared with federal or state law.”

Alabama: the CHOOSE Act income cap disappears in January

Governor Ivey’s office confirmed first year numbers this month: 29,341 applications covering 48,927 students, more than 34,000 students approved, and over $174 million deployed starting July 1.

The forward looking piece matters more. The 2027-28 application process begins in January 2027 and will be open to all Alabama families regardless of household income. The 300 percent federal poverty level cap goes away.

For homeschool families the amounts are worth knowing up front: home education students receive $2,000 each, capped at $4,000 per family, compared with $7,000 for students at participating schools. Governor’s release, amounts confirmed at the official program site. (Be sure to look for us in the CW Marketplace!)

Idaho: what the new tax credit will not pay for

Idaho families have been asking, and the state has now published a clear list.

Qualifying: base curriculum covering the four core subjects, textbooks, tutoring in core subjects, AP and industry certification exams, college admission tests, standardized assessments and prep courses, nonpublic school tuition, and transportation.

Not qualifying, and this is the line that surprises people: “homeschool academic instruction that a parent provides.” Extracurricular and nonacademic activities are also out, as are purchases already covered by Empowering Parents grants.

So the credit will help with what you buy. It will not pay you for teaching. Second window applications closed August 15 and those payments are due by November 14. Official expense list.

The federal tax credit rules that decide whether homeschoolers qualify are due this month

Thirty one states have opted into the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit, which starts January 1, 2027. No state has certified a single scholarship granting organization yet, because everyone is waiting on Treasury.

The sticking point is one sentence. The IRS said in June that a homeschool “would be treated as a school if it is treated as a school under State law.” That pushes the definition down to the states, and the American Federation for Children estimates it could leave roughly 800,000 students across 13 participating states ineligible.

Thirteen education organizations, including HSLDA, have asked Treasury to adopt a broader definition before the regulations are finalized at the end of September.

One correction we keep making because it keeps circulating: the $1,700 credit goes to donors, not to families. You are not going to receive $1,700 from this program. Whether your family can use the resulting scholarships depends on rules that still do not exist. Ballotpedia has the state count and Spectrum covered the eligibility problem.

Around the country

Georgia. The final Promise Scholarship window of the year runs November 1 through 30. The August window has closed, so this is the last chance for 2026-27. Worth up to $6,500 and it does cover home study, but eligibility still requires prior enrollment in a Georgia public school for two consecutive semesters, or rising kindergarten, plus residence in an eligible attendance zone. Details here. (Look for A to Z for Moms Like Me in the Odyssey Marketplace)

Arizona. The state reports 104,644 ESA students for 2026-27 as of August 31, with about 7,000 eligible families who did not complete renewal. The department expects many to return during Quarter 1. We are not printing quarterly deposit dates this week because we could not verify them against an official source, and we would rather say so than guess. Call the ESA Call Center at 602-364-1969 to confirm your own dates. (Be sure to look for us in the CW Marketplace!)

Florida. Personalized Education Program Quarter 1 money went to Step Up For Students on September 1 for new students, with up to two weeks of processing after that. New this year, families must complete an attestation before each quarterly distribution confirming the student is not enrolled full time in public school. New student Q1 attestations are due September 15.

Arkansas. Education Freedom Account Quarter 1 landed August 20. The remaining 2026-27 dates are October 29, February 4, and April 8. The updated Family Handbook posts in September. Homeschool curriculum, tutoring, and educational therapies are named approved expenses. (Be sure to look for us in the CW Marketplace!)

Indiana. The application window closed September 1. Two changes worth noting: funds now come in four installments in August, October, December and February, and the program is administered by the Department of Education rather than the Treasurer of State, so older instructions point you at the wrong agency. (Be sure to look for us in the CW Marketplace!)

Oklahoma. House Bill 3705 raised the Parental Choice Tax Credit cap from $250 million to $275 million. The homeschool side is unchanged: a refundable credit of up to $1,000 per student, no application, claimed on your state return with Form 591-D and receipts attached.

Wyoming. The Supreme Court lifted the injunction and the state is paying out again. The award is $7,000 a year and the fourth quarter payment of $1,750 is eligible to roll into 2026-27 for previously approved students. The official page publishes no application window dates, so ignore the blog posts claiming otherwise.

Alaska. The state is accepting applications from nonprofits wanting to become scholarship granting organizations under the federal credit, with first approvals targeted for September 30. Roughly 95 percent of Alaska K-12 students will be eligible, and homeschoolers are explicitly included.

New Hampshire. Separate from the law change above, the Education Freedom Account program hit its 12,500 student cap with a waitlist. Priority students, meaning current recipients and their siblings, students with disabilities, and families at or below 350 percent of the federal poverty level, are exempt from the cap and can still enroll.

Tennessee. Two things. A 2026 law expanded testing options for Option 1 families to include any nationally normed standardized test plus the Classic Learning Test, and removed penalties that could force struggling students back into public school. Separately, the state’s own FAQ confirms that families schooling independently at home cannot draw Education Freedom Scholarship funds without enrolling in a registered non-public school.

Iowa. The Students First confirmation deadline is September 30, but read the fine print before you count on it. The program requires full time enrollment at an accredited nonpublic school at 75 percent or more of a full schedule, so homeschool only families do not qualify.

Nebraska. Two new provisions now apply to exempt schools as of July 18. People monitoring or instructing may not have convictions under specified felony statutes, and an exempt school election filed during the 14 days after a child abuse or neglect investigation opens is invalid.

Deadlines in the next three weeks. Washington’s Declaration of Intent is due September 15. Minnesota’s annual report to your district is due October 1. California’s Private School Affidavit window is October 1 through 15.

Upcoming Homeschool Events

Homeschool and Family Day at Alamance Battleground, Saturday September 12, Burlington, North Carolina. Free admission with a suggested $5 per family donation, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Trade demonstrations, musket firings at 11 and 2, an artillery demonstration at 1, and stations built around the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Details here.

Atlanta History Center Homeschool Day, Thursday September 17, 10 a.m. The first of the 2026-27 series, themed “Go West,” at the Main Campus. Runs the third Thursday of each month with hands-on artifact exploration and a craft station for elementary through middle school. Included with admission. Details here.

Home School Day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Wednesday September 30. Complimentary general admission for homeschool families. The museum runs four a year. Planetarium, Infinity Theater and ticketed temporary exhibits cost extra. Details here.

CHAP Pittsburgh Fall Homeschool Refresh, October 2 and 3, Franklin Park, Pennsylvania. Two day encouragement conference with speaker Zan Tyler. Friday only is $25 per adult, both days $60, and dads attend free with a paid ticket. Register by September 18 and you get a free copy of Tyler’s book. Details here.

Homeschool Facts and Tips for This Week

Did you know? Across the peer reviewed literature, 62 percent of studies find homeschool students performing significantly better than institutionally schooled students, typically 15 to 25 percentile points higher on standardized tests. What surprises people is that the gap holds regardless of the parent’s own education level or the family’s income.

Testing tip. Find out exactly which tests your state accepts before you buy one. Tennessee just widened its list to include any nationally normed test plus the Classic Learning Test, and states change these lists more often than families check them. A ten minute look at your state department page can save you a wasted testing fee.

Deadline tip. Proration is spreading. West Virginia and Texas both pay you less the later you apply, and the drops are steep, from 100 percent to 75 to 50. If your state has tiered windows, apply in the first one even if you are not certain you will use the money. Declining an award later is easy. Recovering a lost quarter is not.

Motivation. Most homeschool weeks do not feel like progress while you are in them. They feel like interruptions, a spilled drink, a lesson that did not land, and a child who suddenly cannot remember a word she read fine on Tuesday. Progress in this work shows up on a scale of months, not afternoons. If you are in a week that feels like nothing is sticking, that is not evidence you are failing. It is just what the middle looks like.

Field trip tip. Check whether your state park system lends day passes through the public library. Wyoming has done it for ten years, where any cardholder can check out a free vehicle day pass plus a backpack of maps and field guides for two weeks. Several other states run something similar and almost nobody knows about it. Ask your librarian.

Until next week

Deadlines first, since there are a lot of them. Utah Fits All opt in closed September 9. Texas waitlist families awarded after July 15 have until September 15. West Virginia’s 75 percent tier ends September 15. Colorado local boards must authorize by September 15. Washington’s Declaration of Intent is due September 15. Florida’s new student attestation is due September 15. Iowa and Alaska both land on September 30, and Minnesota’s report is due October 1.

Two things not to act on yet. The federal tax credit rules are still unwritten, so nobody can tell you today whether your family qualifies, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing. And Utah’s court case has not been decided, whatever you may have read.

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