Homeschooling in New York State – How do you do it?

New York is one of the more regulated states for homeschooling.

This just means that the state’s education department plays a bigger role in your child’s home education, compared to some other states where can be little or even zero rules and regulations around homeschooling.

First you need to know that there are a set number of minimum hours that you’ll need to have your child learning at home in NY.

The goal is to make these hours similar to what your child would be doing at a regular school in person:

Grades 1-6: 900 hours minimum per year

Grades 7-12: 990 hours minimum per year

You should have a good understanding of the most obligations of home education in New York:

1. You need to tell your child’s current school that you’ll be withdrawing them
This is the Notice of Intent. Parents must notify the school district superintendent of their intent to homeschool within 14 days of beginning homeschooling.

2. Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP)
As a home educator you’ll need to provide a IHIP to the school district superintendent. It must include the subjects that will be taught, the methods of instruction that will be used, and the assessment procedures that will be used to measure your child’s progress.

3. Attendance
Parents must maintain attendance records and submit them to the school district superintendent quarterly.

Annual Assessment
Home educators are required to submit an annual assessment of their child’s progress to the school district superintendent. The assessment must be a norm-referenced achievement test or a written evaluation.

As you can see, homeschooling in NY state comes with a lot more responsbility compared to the more relaxed home education states like Idaho and Texas (among others).