Sample New York State Homeschooling Paperwork

If you are homeschooling in New York State, you’ll need to submit paperwork to your school district to stay in line with state regulations.

Every district must follow the same state regulations. They can ask for more information, but you are not required to provide it. And you shouldn’t! Here’s why:

Homeschool paperwork is not your child’s report card. Its only purpose is to certify to your school district that you are complying with the state’s minimum requirements. There is no extra credit. In fact, the district doesn’t care what you do above the minimum. Trust me on this. If you want a more detailed record of your child’s work, keep “double books” — one set for the district, one for yourself.
You will have the flexibility to make changes as the year goes on. By keeping your plans general, you give yourself and your student leeway to adjust what you’re doing. This is always helpful, as you discover what you and your child want or need to spend more or less time on. And it’s particularly important at a time when it’s unclear what may happen with public school (if you’re planning to go back) and your family’s situation.

Below are some samples of the documents I submitted when my children were homeschooling. They were accepted by two different school districts throughout their school years. Create your own word processing versions so you can update them as needed, or copy them from one child to the next.

New York State Homeschooling Paperwork Timeline

The chart here shows what paperwork you need to submit, and when. Click on it for a printable version.

For more details, read my blog post on homeschooling in New York State.

Questions? Sign up for my next webinar, or contact me about individual consulting for homeschooling families.

Letter of Intent (LOI)

Send this on July 1 of the year you intend to begin homeschooling, or whenever you decide to homeschool. If the school year has begun, you have 14 days from the time you begin homeschooling to file the LOI.

Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP)

The school district has 10 business days to respond to your LOI. When you receive their response, you have four weeks — or until August 15, whichever is later — to submit your IHIP.

In addition to the lists here, my IHIPs had a cover page with our names and the dates of our quarterly reports.

Quarterly Report

On or before the dates you list on your IHIP, submit a quarterly report containing either a grade for each subject or a written narrative evaluating the child's progress.

Together with your fourth quarterly report, you will also submit a separate annual assessment. This is either a written narrative or a standardized test, depending on the grade (see below).

The annual assessment can be sent in the same envelope as the fourth quarterly report, along with the LOI for the following year.

Annual Assessment: Written Narrative

In grades K-4, and every other year from then until eighth grade (with fourth being an “other” year), you can submit a written narrative at the end of the year to fulfill the requirement for an annual assessment.

Annual Assessment: Commercially Published Norm-Referenced Achievement Test

In years when your child must take a standardized test, you submit the results of the annual assessment. All you need to report is that your child scored above the 33rd percentile or showed one year of growth compared to the previous year’s score, although some districts want to see the actual scores.