Homeschool Requirements in New York

New York asks more of a family than most places do. There is more of it here than in most places, and the deadlines hold. That is a discouraging thing to read in the week you have decided to teach your children yourself, and it should not put you off. None of it is beyond an ordinary household once it is written down in one place, which is what this page is for. Read the dates first. The rest can wait until they are on the calendar.

What you send in, and when it is due

New York asks for more paperwork than any other state, and it arrives in stages. (1) Written notice of intent to the superintendent of the district of residence by July 1, or within 14 days of starting home instruction mid-year. (2) District mails the IHIP form within 10 business days. (3) Parent files a completed Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) by August 15 or within 4 weeks of receiving the form, whichever is later. IHIP must list the child’s name, age, grade; for each required course either a list of syllabi/curriculum materials/textbooks or a plan of instruction; the dates the four quarterly reports will be filed; and the name of the person providing instruction. (4) Four quarterly reports per year on the IHIP-stated dates (commonly ~Nov 15, Jan 31, Apr 15, Jun 30), each showing hours of instruction completed, material covered per subject, and either a grade or a narrative of progress. (5) Annual assessment filed with the fourth quarterly report.

Days and hours

900 hours/year for grades 1-6; 990 hours/year for grades 7-12; substantially equivalent to 180 days. Cumulative hours are reported quarterly; a quarter falling below 80% of the required proportional hours must be explained.

Subjects the law names

Grades 1-6: arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, English, geography, U.S. history, science, health, music, visual arts, physical education, and NY history/state and local government. Grades 7-8: English (2 units over 7-8), history/geography, science, math, PE, health, art, music, practical arts, library skills. Grades 9-12: English (4 units), social studies (4 units incl. 1 American history, 1/2 participation in government, 1/2 economics), math (2 units), science (2 units), art or music (1 unit), health (1/2 unit), physical education, and 3 units of electives. Plus, at required intervals across all grades: patriotism and citizenship, substance abuse instruction, traffic safety, and fire and arson prevention.

The law names the subjects. It does not name the course titles a registrar will read, and Bible is where that gap costs families most. Booking Bible as a real subject on a transcript.

What you keep

Parents must maintain attendance records for each student and make them available to the district on request. Retain IHIPs, all four quarterly reports, the annual assessment, and district acknowledgment letters, these are the only proof the program was compliant.

Testing and evaluation

Annual assessment required with the fourth quarterly report. Grades 1-3: written narrative evaluation acceptable each year. Grades 4-8: a norm-referenced standardized test is required at least every other year, with an alternative written narrative evaluation permitted in the alternate years. Grades 9-12: a standardized test is required every year. Passing is a composite above the 33rd percentile, or one year’s growth. Falling below triggers a year of probation and a district-approved remediation plan; failure to remediate can end home-instruction approval.

An assessment is read against what you wrote down while it was happening, which is the part a morning hour tends to lose. Putting morning time and the church year on a record without inflating it.

What an evaluator or a test result gets attached to is the folder beneath the transcript. The Records Pack has the portfolio index with its evaluator summary, editable, in both editions.

The diploma and the transcript

New York does not issue a Regents or local diploma to home-instructed students. A diploma may be awarded only to a student enrolled in a registered secondary school. Districts are not required to award credit or issue a transcript for home instruction, and homeschooled students generally cannot receive Regents credit for home-taught coursework (they may sit for some Regents exams only if a district agrees to administer them; districts are not obliged to). Parents issue their own diploma and transcript. Alternatives some families use: a district-issued “letter of substantial equivalency” (available on request from the superintendent, but it is not a diploma), a TASC/HSE credential, or 24 college credits. Plan the credential path in 9th grade, not 12th. No ESA/voucher for homeschoolers.

Where this comes from

Statute: 8 N.Y.C.R.R. § 100.10 (Commissioner’s Regulations, home instruction); N.Y. Educ. Law § 3204 and § 3212

Source: https://www.nysed.gov/nonpublic-schools/home-instruction-questions-and-answers

Last reviewed: July 2026. The day is not recorded.

Homeschool law changes, and a page like this goes quietly out of date. Before a filing deadline, read the code above yourself. If we have fallen behind we would much rather hear it from you than have you find out at a district office.

All fifty states and the District of Columbia, each one citing the law it came from.

Filing is one part of it. Keeping the record is the other, and that is what our Records System is for: the editable transcript with the GPA already working, 131 academic course descriptions, the Bible and theology descriptions, and this same cited summary for every state and DC. Protestant and Catholic editions. Thirty-nine dollars, one household, however many children you teach.