Homeschooling Paperwork Basics

What paperwork do I need to file in order to homeschool in New York state?

• Submit a letter of intent (LOI) to establish a home school to your District Superintendent by July 1st or within two weeks of the beginning of your homeschool program
• Provide an Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) to the District Superintendent
• 4 quarterly reports spaced throughout the year
  • Including: total hours of instruction during each quarter
  • description of material covered in each subject area
  • a grade or narrative evaluation of each subject
• Annual assessment
  • Grades K-3: standardized test or a narrative description or a peer review panel or assessment done by a certified teacher
  • Grades 4-8: alternating standardized testing (such as PASS test, Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Stanford , California Achievement Test, etc…) or narrative descriptive each year
  • Grades 9-12: standardized test every year (can use ACT, PSAT, SAT, etc.)

For more information, check here for the complete laws: New York state homeschool regulations

**We strongly encourage you to know your state homeschooling laws. Read them for yourself from the state’s website (linked above) to be sure you are getting accurate information**

Some local districts now file their paperwork through Broome Tioga BOCES.  At the time of this writing, those districts are Binghamton, Chenango Forks, Chenango Valley, Deposit, Maine-Endwell, Vestal, and Whitney Point. This site also has blank IHIP and quarterly pdf files that you can choose to use, whether or not your district files through BOCES.

Notes:
The LOI is very brief – your letter can be a single sentence that says, “This letter is to inform you of my intent to homeschool my child, (name), for the 2018-2019 school year.”

Your IHIP needs to include “a list of the syllabi, curriculum materials, textbooks, or plan of instruction to be used in each of the required subjects.”  If you are using a specific curriculum plan or have a set of textbooks you are using, those can be listed under each subject. However, you are also allowed to include a plan of instruction and report later (on your quarterly reports) what materials you actually used that quarter.

For example:
MATH – Jane will be encouraged to work on age-appropriate math skills, including single and double digit addition and subtraction, measurement, place value, and early fractions.  Materials will be chosen according to her interests and needs each quarter, and may include but will not be limited to the Math U See Alpha materials, the MathStart picture books, educational apps including the DragonBox app, board and card games including Sum Swamp, life skills materials such as measuring cups and measuring tapes, and more.

You’ll notice the phrase may include but will not be limited to is very popular among members of our group!  It lets your district know that you have some ideas of what you’ll use, but that you’re going to follow your child’s needs and are not locked into using any one item.

To get an idea of what skills are typically covered in each subject for a certain grade, check out the World Book Typical Course of Study.  This site has given many families the “educationese” to put into their IHIP under each subject heading.

As for annual assessments: the written narrative can be quite short, simply stating that your student has successfully completed the school year and will be advancing to the next grade.  Some districts and BOCES prefer to see a bit more, so many families write a sentence or two about progress in each of the major subjects.

You will probably find that submitting paperwork in NY can be a balancing act between what is legally required (the bare minimum) and what your district wants to accept.  You always have the legal right to dispute a request for more information, and you can reach out to other FEAST members if you want support in your position. However, many families prefer to add just enough extra information that the district is satisfied and does not put up a fight, and still other families view the reports as a way of record keeping for their own family and so are inclined to be as descriptive as possible.  You will find what works best for your family! Do not hesitate to reach out to the group for support in your choice.

Testing is required “every other year” in grades 4-8, so most families choose to test in grades 5 and 7.  There are several options for testing as listed above, but many local families choose an untimed at-home option such as the PASS test or the online CAT.  When you submit results, you only need to submit the cover page with the student’s composite score.

Testing is required throughout the high school years, grades 9-12, and many families use the CAT (above) but you can also submit a test like the PSAT, SAT, or ACT.