August is when the school year stops being a plan and starts being a Tuesday. Here is what moved this week, from a robotics program ending after nearly thirty years to a receipt rule in Utah that could cost families real money.

The world’s biggest homeschool robotics program just announced its final season

FIRST LEGO League kicked off its 2026-2027 season on August 4 with a challenge called BIOGLOW, built around biodiversity.

It is also the last one. FIRST confirmed on its own site that BIOGLOW “will be the final season of the program,” because LEGO Education chose not to renew a partnership that has run for nearly three decades.

The season runs in two editions. Founders Edition covers grades 2 through 8 using LEGO Education SPIKE, and Future Edition covers grades K through 8 using the Computer Science and AI kits. Both include an Innovation Project component. FIRST says it is developing its own replacement programs for K through 8, but nothing has been announced yet.

Homeschool co-ops run thousands of FLL teams. If joining one has been on your maybe-someday list, this is the last year to do it.

Source: FIRST LEGO League and the FIRST partnership update.

Every national park is free on Tuesday, August 25

The National Park Service turns 110 on August 25, and every site that normally charges an entrance fee will let you in free that day.

It falls on a Tuesday, which is the whole point. Most families cannot take a Saturday crowd, but a mid-week park day in the first weeks of the school year is very doable.

The remaining fee-free days this year are September 17 for Constitution Day, October 27 for Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, and November 11 for Veterans Day.

One change worth knowing: starting in 2026, free entrance on these days applies to US citizens and residents only. Timed entry and reservation fees can still apply, so check your specific park before you drive.

Source: National Park Service fee-free days.

Spelling bee enrollment opens August 18

Scripps opens enrollment for the 2026-2027 National Spelling Bee on August 18, and it stays open through January 29.

Enrollment runs $199 per school and includes the grade-level study lists, the 4,000-word Words of the Champions guide for your school champion, competition word lists, coordinator training, and a year of Britannica Kids. Schools that enroll by September 30 get a second subscription free.

Classroom and school bees run through the fall, champions move to regionals, and nationals are in Washington DC in May.

One caution. Scripps does not spell out homeschool eligibility on its enrollment page, and it notes that restrictions apply in some areas. Check with your regional partner before you pay.

Source: Scripps National Spelling Bee enrollment.

PSAT season is closer than it looks, and homeschoolers have to find their own seat

The 2026 PSAT/NMSQT testing window runs October 1 through 30, with schools also able to give it on Saturday, October 17.

Here is the part that catches homeschool families every year. College Board says it directly: “Students don’t register for the PSAT/NMSQT through College Board. Schools and districts choose whether and when to offer it.”

That means your student needs a local public or private school willing to seat them, and the real deadline is whenever that school closes its own test order, not any date College Board publishes.

This matters because the PSAT/NMSQT is the only path to National Merit Scholarship consideration. A junior who starts calling schools in October has already missed it. Start calling now.

Source: College Board PSAT/NMSQT test dates.

Massachusetts families showed up, and the restrictions went away

The Lowell school committee had drafted a policy that would have let parents pull a child out of public school to homeschool only during August, September and November.

It would also have required home instruction to line up with public school standards, and required families to register with the district’s Family Resource Center.

Families spoke against it at a June meeting. HSLDA submitted legal testimony arguing the proposals went past what Massachusetts law actually allows. On August 10, HSLDA reported that officials dropped the changes entirely.

Massachusetts is one of the most heavily regulated states in the country for homeschooling, and a local district still backed down. That is worth remembering the next time something lands in front of your own school board.

Source: HSLDA.

The Education Department enforced a parental opt-out and made a district apologize

On July 29, the US Department of Education found that Burlington Public Schools in Massachusetts violated the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.

Several families had submitted written notices opting their children out of a student survey. The district gave the survey anyway, including to seventh graders.

The required fixes are specific. The district has to give those parents copies of every question that was administered, the superintendent has to send written apologies to the families who complained, district policy has to be revised, and future sensitive surveys have to go to the Department for review first. If the district will not sign a voluntary resolution agreement, it faces enforcement action.

Whatever your reason for teaching at home, the right to see what your child is asked and to say no is a real, enforceable federal right, not a courtesy the school extends to you.

Source: US Department of Education.

A Minnesota district is offering homeschool families $2,500 to sign up

Brainerd Public Schools is launching what it calls the Brainerd Homeschool Extension for grades K through 8, run through a company called Fullmind.

Families get a $2,500 stipend for school resources, plus curriculum, state-certified teacher instruction, live online classes, and tutoring nights, while their children keep learning at home. Fullmind keeps 75 percent of the state per-pupil money generated and the district keeps 25 percent.

The superintendent told the board on August 3 that more than 400 homeschooled students live inside district boundaries, and that he was signing the contract without a board vote.

Worth watching wherever you live. Public districts are starting to court homeschool families directly with real money, and the tradeoff is that your child goes back onto public enrollment rolls. That is a decision worth making on purpose rather than by accident.

Source: Brainerd Dispatch.

Utah: handwritten receipts will no longer be reimbursed

This one will bite people, so read it carefully.

On August 9, Odyssey updated the documentation rules for Utah Fits All reimbursements. If you paid by cash or check, your receipt now has to come from the vendor’s own point-of-sale or invoicing system, with a system-populated vendor name, an automatic date and time, an itemized description, and a transaction or confirmation number.

The page says it plainly: “Handwritten receipts, manually typed receipts created in a word processor or document editor, and self-prepared invoices are not accepted for cash or check purchases, regardless of the amount.”

If your provider writes up an invoice in Word, that can still work, but you now have to add separate proof of payment such as a bank or card statement showing the account holder, vendor, amount, and date. Only one file uploads per request, so you will need to merge the invoice and the proof into a single PDF or image.

Think about who this hits: the piano teacher, the co-op that takes checks, the tutor down the street, the coach. Talk to them now, before you are sitting on a denied reimbursement in October.

Odyssey also republished its category guidance on August 10. Extracurricular and Physical Education are each capped at 20 percent of your scholarship, Fine Arts is not capped, and you cannot shift spending between categories to get around a maxed-out cap. The mis-categorization table is genuinely useful: dance classes and guitar lessons count as Fine Arts, while gymnastics, tumbling, cheer, horseback riding, and martial arts count against the capped Physical Education bucket.

Current price caps, updated July 29: tablets, laptops and desktops at $1,500 with one purchase per student every three years, monitors and cameras at $500, headphones at $200, and transportation at $750. Limits are per student, not per household.

(Look for A to Z for Moms Like Me in the Odyssey Marketplace)

Sources: Odyssey documentation rules and spending categories.

Colorado has approved 3 of 51 enrichment programs, and the last deadline is August 14

We covered Colorado’s new enrichment rules when they passed. Here is what they actually did.

As of August 6, the Colorado Department of Education had received 51 applications from homeschool enrichment programs and approved three. Each application takes roughly 30 business days to review, and the school year is starting now.

The effect on providers is already visible. Summit Homeschool Academy closed two locations and lost more than 30 students. Falcon Aerolab will serve fewer than 300 students this year, down from nearly 900. Lawmakers estimate the state saves about $21 million this fiscal year.

If you are in Colorado, two dates matter. The application to run a part-time program for homeschool students outside geographic boundaries closes Friday, August 14 at 5pm Mountain, and completed applications are due to CDE by September 15.

Sources: CBS Colorado and CDE school finance updates.

Arizona’s ESA ballot fight goes to the state Supreme Court with days to spare

On July 29, a Maricopa County judge ruled Proposition 145 unconstitutional and ordered it off the November ballot, finding it violated Arizona’s rule against bundling separate amendments.

Prop 145 was written to stop the state clawing back unspent ESA money from military families, but a second section would have voided any conflicting law passed after November 1. Opponents argue that was the real purpose, because it would automatically cancel Proposition 212 if voters approve it.

Legislative leaders appealed. On August 10, attorneys opposing the measure filed a brief calling it a “Trojan horse” that “attempts to smuggle multiple constitutional amendments past the voters under the guise of protecting military families,” noting that military families are under 1 percent of voucher recipients.

No hearing date was set as of August 10, and Maricopa County has to print ballots by August 20. So this gets decided fast.

What is actually at stake: Prop 212 would put a $150,000 household income cap on ESA eligibility, add background checks and safety standards, restrict luxury purchases, and return unspent balances to the state. Arizona’s program serves about 101,000 students.

(Be sure to look for us in the CW Marketplace!)

Sources: Arizona Mirror and AZFamily.

Georgia’s Promise Scholarship window closes August 31

Georgia is running the second of its final two application windows for 2026-27, open now through August 31. A last window runs November 1 through 30.

The award is up to $6,500 per eligible student, paid in four quarterly installments. For this fall window, income generally does not factor into prioritization unless funding runs short. The spring window only considers applicants at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, so applying now is the better play if you qualify.

Georgia’s homeschool path here is narrow, with public school and attendance zone requirements, so read the eligibility rules before you count on it.

(Look for A to Z for Moms Like Me in the Odyssey Marketplace)

Source: Georgia Promise Scholarship.

West Virginia families lose a quarter of their award after September 15

The Hope Scholarship takes applications year round, but what you get depends on when you apply.

Applications filed between June 16 and September 15 receive 75 percent of the award. After September 15 it drops to 50 percent, then to 25 percent for applications filed December 1 through February 28. After February 28 there is no funding for that school year at all.

If you have been meaning to apply, September 15 is worth putting on the calendar today.

Source: Hope Scholarship.

Texas: 85,344 students confirmed, and the money never touches your hands

Texas now has hard numbers. About 122,000 students were selected for Education Freedom Accounts, and 85,344 confirmed by enrolling in a participating private school or notifying the state of homeschooling plans. More than 121,000 remain on the waitlist for a program funded at $1 billion.

The mechanics matter more than the headline. Homeschool participants receive up to $2,000 a year, compared with $10,474 for private school students, and the state pays vendors directly.

Anita Scott of the Texas Homeschool Coalition put it bluntly: “The money never goes to the parent. It never goes to a family. The vendor actually receives the money.”

So when you budget, budget for a marketplace, not a deposit. Some families who originally wanted private school vouchers switched to homeschooling once they found their preferred academy had not registered as a state vendor.

Families who want 2027-28 can submit an interest form now.

(Look for A to Z for Moms Like Me in the Odyssey Marketplace)

Sources: Community Impact and KBTX.

Whether the new federal tax credit reaches homeschoolers is up to your state

The federal scholarship tax credit starts January 1, 2027, and we have covered which states are opting in. Here is the part that has not been explained well, and it is the part that decides whether it ever helps your family.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Kevin Salinger said the program “will apply to public, private, and religious schools as well as home schools, if treated as schools under state law.”

Read that last clause again. Your state opting in is not enough. Your state also has to classify homeschools as schools. Those are two separate things, and plenty of states do the first without the second.

A report released July 28 by the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy group, put a number on it. The group found that local laws currently exclude nearly 800,000 homeschooled students nationwide from eligibility. That is their figure rather than a government count, so treat it as an estimate, but the direction is clear enough.

There is also a gap between announcing and actually doing it. The IRS keeps the official roster of states that have completed the election, and as of that list dated July 24, New York was not on it even though the governor said in May she intended to opt in.

What this means for you: before you plan around this credit, check two things. Whether your state has completed the federal election, and how your state law classifies your homeschool. If you are not sure, your state homeschool organization will know.

Sources: K-12 Dive, CT Insider, and the IRS participating states list.

Around the country

Indiana. ESA applications for 2026-27 close September 1. Qualifying students with a disability can receive up to $20,000 a year and siblings up to $8,000, with disbursements in August, October, December and February. The program moved from the Treasurer’s Office to the Indiana Department of Education on July 1. (Be sure to look for us in the CW Marketplace!)

Wyoming. The 2026-27 application window closed August 6. Decisions go out by email no later than September 1, awards are $7,000, and students approved for 2025-26 who did not enroll in public school can roll a fourth-quarter payment of $1,750 into this year. (when the time comes, look for A to Z for moms Like Me in the Odyssey marketplace!)

Tennessee. The first Education Freedom Scholarship payment is projected for August 15, with $7,530 per student. Note that the scholarship supports registered Category I, II, or III non-public schools, so independent homeschooling alone does not qualify.

South Carolina. The Education Scholarship Trust Fund hit its 15,000 student cap and applications are closed. The award is $7,634 and the first quarterly payment went out in late July. Registration for the 2027-28 waitlist is open now.

Idaho. The Parental Choice Tax Credit hit its roughly $50 million cap and closed on July 17, a month early, with a final tally of 7,055 applications covering 12,561 students. The next window runs January 15 through March 15, 2027. It is first come, first served, so mark the date.

Oklahoma. A new law effective August 13 raises the tax credit authorization by $25 million to $275 million, but that applies to the private school attendance track. The homeschool credit is unchanged at up to $1,000 per student, has no application, and is claimed on your income tax return with Form 591-D and proof of purchase.

Nebraska. Revised exempt school rules took effect June 28 with statute changes on July 18, adding felony conviction restrictions for anyone providing instruction and invalidating filings made during a 14-day hold tied to an abuse or neglect investigation. Exempt school enrollment rose to an estimated 18,036 as of May 1, up from 16,419 the year before.

Delaware. Enrollment reporting for active homeschools opened August 11 and has to be completed by September 30. That September 30 date replaced the old October 5 deadline, so do not go by an older calendar.

Washington DC. The Notification of Homeschool Continuation is due August 15, which is the day this post goes up. If you are in the District and have not filed it, do that today through homeschool.dc.gov.

Maine. Continuing families have to submit a new notice of intent along with last year’s assessment by September 1. No law changes for 2026-27.

Connecticut. The state has not decided on the federal tax credit yet and is waiting for clarity first, with Treasury guidance expected by the end of September. Roughly 494,099 Connecticut students would be eligible if the state joins.

Upcoming Homeschool Events

HSLDA National Leaders Conference, September 23 to 26, Orlando, Florida. Registration closes August 19, which is four days after this post goes up. Tracks for adults, teens and younger children. Details.

Wild + Free Franklin, September 11 to 12, The Factory at Franklin, Tennessee. The 20th annual conference, with keynotes, live music and a maker market. Details.

Oklahoma Hall of Fame Homeschool Day, Wednesday September 23, Gaylord-Pickens Museum, Oklahoma City. “Sooner Survival Science” for grades K through 12, $7 per child and $5 per adult. Registration opens four weeks ahead. Details.

National Naval Aviation Museum Homeschool Academy, September 28, Pensacola, Florida. “The Magic of Flight” for ages 5 to 18 at $5 per child, with the Homeschool Band and Strings performing. Registration opens September 8. Details.

Homeschool Facts and Tips for This Week

Did you know? Nebraska’s homeschool enrollment climbed to an estimated 18,036 students as of May 1, up from 16,419 a year earlier. That is roughly 10 percent growth in a single year, in a state that rarely makes headlines. The growth story is not just the big programs.

Myth to bust. “My child will fall behind.” One-on-one instruction is the most efficient teaching arrangement there is. A child who needs three weeks on long division gets three weeks, and a child who needs two days moves on in two days. Classrooms cannot do either.

Planning tip. Do not start every subject in the same week. Begin with math and reading, run those alone for ten days until they are automatic, then layer in the rest. Starting seven subjects on the same Monday is how good plans die by September.

Cost tip. Before you pay a tutor, coach or co-op in cash this year, ask whether they can give you a system-generated receipt. Utah just made that mandatory for reimbursement, and other states tend to follow. Two minutes of asking now protects the whole year’s reimbursements.

Keep this in mind. The goal was never to recreate a whole school at your kitchen table. It is to help one child learn, and to keep them liking it. Those are much smaller and much more achievable targets than the ones we tend to set in August.

Until next week

Keep an eye on your state’s deadlines, and if you are in Colorado or Georgia, do not let this week get away from you.

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