The Short Answer
New York home instruction is governed by 8 NYCRR Part 100.10, the Commissioner's Regulations under Education Law §3204. Each year you file a Notice of Intent by July 1, submit an Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) by August 15 or within four weeks of the district's form arriving, whichever is later, file four quarterly reports, and complete an annual assessment. Grades 1-6 require 900 hours of instruction per year; grades 7-12 require 990 hours. No teaching credential required. No state funding program for homeschool families.
A plain-language summary of the rules, not legal advice. We are not lawyers. Requirements change and summaries go out of date. Confirm anything you plan to act on with the department that oversees home education where you live.
New York Home Instruction at a Glance
| Notice of Intent | File with district superintendent by July 1 each year (or within 14 days of starting if you begin after July 1) |
|---|---|
| IHIP | Submit Individualized Home Instruction Plan by August 15, or within 4 weeks of receiving the district's form, whichever is later |
| Instruction hours | 900 hours/year (grades 1-6); 990 hours/year (grades 7-12) |
| School days | The equivalent of 180 school days per year |
| Quarterly reports | 4 per year: total hours for the quarter, plus material covered and a grade or evaluation in each subject |
| Annual assessment | Required every year, grades 1-12. Options vary by grade level. |
| High school diploma | Parent-issued, with no legal standing on its own. Colleges and trade schools ask for a superintendent's Letter of Substantial Equivalency |
| Teacher credential | Not required |
| State funding | No ESA or voucher program in New York |
New York's Homeschool Framework
New York does not have a standalone homeschool statute. The legal basis for home instruction is Education Law §3204, which requires instruction to meet the same standard as what students receive in public schools. The Commissioner's Regulations at 8 NYCRR Part 100.10, adopted in 1988, spell out exactly what home instruction families must do to satisfy that standard. The result is an annual cycle with four filings: the Notice of Intent, the IHIP, four quarterly reports, and an annual assessment. Running underneath all four are the required hours and subjects, which are not a filing but are what the filings report on. Every requirement repeats each school year.
New York rates as one of the more demanding states for homeschool compliance. Families who are used to Texas or California, where paperwork is minimal or nonexistent, will find the quarterly reporting requirement unfamiliar. But the structure is documented clearly in the regulations, and families who stay on the calendar avoid most problems.
Step 1: The Notice of Intent
Each July, before the school year begins, file a written Notice of Intent with your district's superintendent. The deadline is July 1. If you begin homeschooling partway through a school year, you have 14 days from the date you establish your program to file. The NOI tells the district that you intend to provide home instruction for the coming year. It should include your name, your child's name and date of birth, and a statement that you are establishing a home instruction program under Part 100.10. Keep a copy for your records.
New York City families follow a different process. Families in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island submit their NOI to the New York City Department of Education rather than to a district superintendent. Since COVID, NYC has moved to email submission. Submit the NOI to LetterofIntent@schools.nyc.gov. All other paperwork goes to Homeschool@schools.nyc.gov. NYC families withdrawing a child mid-year from a public school may face additional steps; email Homeschool@schools.nyc.gov before withdrawing. Work from the two email addresses rather than from an office name: NYC's own materials have used more than one name for the unit that handles home schooling, and the current Letter of Intent form names none.
Want to see what a structured plan looks like before you commit?
Get the Free SampleFree, delivered by email: the introduction, the full chapter on whether homeschooled kids actually fall behind, a head-to-head math curriculum comparison, and the Homeschool Values Worksheet.
Step 2: The Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP)
Within 10 business days of receiving your Notice of Intent, the district must send you a copy of Part 100.10 and a blank IHIP form. That clock runs from your filing, not from the calendar, so a mid-year filer should have the packet 10 business days after they file. If it does not arrive, follow up in writing and note the date you filed. The form itself is blank: the district supplies the paperwork, you supply the plan. Return it by August 15, or within four weeks of receiving the form from the district, whichever is later. The IHIP is your instruction plan for the year. It must include your child's name, age, and grade level; a list of the syllabi, curriculum materials, or textbooks you plan to use for each required subject; the dates you will submit your quarterly reports; and the name of the person who will provide instruction.
Districts sometimes send forms that ask for more than the regulation requires. You are only obligated to supply what Part 100.10 specifies. If a district form requests information the regulation does not require, you can provide what is required and note that the additional fields are not mandated.
When you build your IHIP, you do not need to commit to a single text or program for every subject. You can list a primary resource and note that supplemental materials will be added as needed. This gives you room to adjust through the year. If you change a curriculum mid-year, you can send a revised IHIP to the district. Part 100.10 does not prohibit amendments, and keeping the district informed avoids questions at quarterly report time.
Required Subjects and Hours
Part 100.10 specifies both the hours of instruction required each year and the subjects that must be covered. Hours run 900 per year in grades 1 through 6 and 990 per year in grades 7 through 12. The day requirement is the equivalent of 180 school days per year. You keep attendance records to document this; attendance records are submitted only if the superintendent requests them.
The subject requirements change by grade band. For grades 1 through 6, you cover arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, English language, geography, US history, science, health, music, visual arts, and physical education. For grades 7 and 8, the list shifts to credits: English, history and geography, science, and math each require 2 credits; art and music each require half a credit; physical education, health, practical arts, and library skills are required on a regular basis. A credit is a minimum of 108 hours of instruction. For grades 9 through 12, minimum requirements are English (4 credits), social studies including American history, participation in government, and economics (4 credits), science (2 credits), math (2 credits), art or music (1 credit), health (half credit), physical education (2 credits), and electives (3 credits).
Across all grade levels, all students must receive instruction in patriotism and citizenship, health education regarding alcohol, drug, and tobacco misuse, highway safety and traffic regulation, and fire and arson prevention. US and New York history and the state and federal constitutions must be covered at least once before grade 9.
Tracking subjects alongside hours is a practical necessity for quarterly reports. Many families use a simple spreadsheet with columns for each required subject, logging time at the end of each school session. When quarterly report time comes, you pull the totals from the spreadsheet rather than estimating from memory. A spreadsheet also helps you spot early in the year whether you are falling short in any subject, giving you time to adjust before the report is due. Before you finalize your curriculum list, a free reading assessment gives you a concrete starting point for your child's current skill level.
Not sure where your child is right now?
Most parents guess. Most guess wrong.
Takes about 10 minutes. Know exactly where to start.
Step 3: Quarterly Reports
Four times per year, you submit a quarterly report to your local school officials. The dates for these reports are set in your IHIP at the beginning of the year. Each report must include the number of hours of instruction during the quarter, which is one total figure rather than a per-subject breakdown, a description of the material covered in each subject during the quarter, and a grade or narrative evaluation for each subject. A letter grade or numerical grade satisfies the requirement. Keep copies of all four quarterly reports.
The quarterly reports are the piece of the New York system that surprises families most. No other state in the cluster requires reports at this frequency. The practical effect is that you need to track instruction hours and material as you go, not reconstruct it at year-end. A simple log updated at the end of each week takes five to ten minutes and gives you everything the quarterly report needs.
Step 4: The Annual Assessment
At the end of each school year, you must complete an annual assessment documenting your child's educational progress. The options depend on grade level.
Grades 1 Through 3
You can choose a written narrative evaluation or a standardized achievement test. The narrative is written by the parent-instructor and describes what the child learned and what level they reached in each subject. No outside evaluator is required for the narrative.
Grades 4 Through 8
Standardized testing is required at least every other year. In the years you are not required to use a standardized test, a written narrative evaluation is an option. So a grade 4 student might receive a narrative in grade 4 and a standardized test in grade 5, alternating from there.
For standardized tests, the student's composite score must be above the 33rd percentile, or the score must show at least one year's academic growth compared to a test taken the prior year. Approved tests include the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the California Achievement Test, the Stanford Achievement Test, the CTBS, a State Education Department test, and other tests approved by the SED. Tests can be administered by a New York-certified teacher, another qualified person, or the parent, provided the superintendent has consented. You can obtain implied consent by notifying the superintendent in your third quarterly report of the test you plan to use and who will administer it.
Grades 9 Through 12
Standardized testing is required every year in high school. The same approved test list applies. College entrance exams like the ACT or SAT do not qualify. Regents exams, which are New York state subject-area assessments, are available to home instruction students and can satisfy the testing requirement.
A low score has a consequence worth knowing about in advance. If the district determines a test score is inadequate, meaning it falls below the 33rd percentile and does not show a year of growth, Part 100.10 places the home instruction program on probation for up to two school years, and the parent must submit a plan of remediation addressing the deficiencies. This applies in every grade where testing is used, not only in high school. Two habits keep it from catching you out: test early enough in the year that a weak result leaves time to respond, and keep each year's score report, because the growth comparison needs the prior year's test to sit next to.
Pulling Your Child Out of a New York Public School
Send written notice to the school stating that you are withdrawing the child to begin a home instruction program. The school updates its attendance records. Then file your NOI with the district superintendent within 14 days. The school cannot hold attendance against you once it has the written notice, but the 14-day clock for the NOI starts running from the date you establish your home instruction program, not from when the school processes the withdrawal paperwork. For the full step-by-step, see our guide to withdrawing from public school in New York.
NYC families face a more involved process. If you withdraw mid-year from a New York City public school, email Homeschool@schools.nyc.gov before taking any steps. NYC handles the paperwork differently from upstate districts, and withdrawing without coordinating first can create delays that take weeks to sort out.
If your child receives special education services under an IEP, the IEP itself ends when the child leaves the public school, but the services do not have to. New York requires districts to provide special education services to home-instructed students with disabilities on an equitable basis, measured against what other students with disabilities in the district receive. Those services are set out in an individualized education services program, or IESP, which is built the same way and contains the same things as an IEP. This is a requirement on the district, not an option it may decline. What the district does get to decide is where and how services are delivered, which is why the arrangement can look different from what your child had while enrolled. Contact your district's special education office to start the request, and ask about their timing, since the request is often due by June 1 for the following school year.
High School, Transcripts, and Diplomas in New York
New York parents write up their own home school diploma, and most families do. Be clear about what it is worth on its own, which is less than families expect. NYSED's rule is that a high school diploma may be awarded only to a student enrolled in a registered secondary school, so a diploma you issue carries no legal recognition in New York. HSLDA has documented New York graduates turned away from licensing programs on a home school diploma alone. Issue one to mark the occasion if you want to. Do not plan on it being the document that opens doors.
The document that carries weight is the Letter of Substantial Equivalency. A student who has completed a home instruction program can ask the superintendent of the district where the family lives to attest in writing, on district letterhead, that the program met the requirements of Part 100.10. New York trade schools, state colleges, and universities often ask for this letter. Two things make it worth planning for years ahead. The superintendent has the option of refusing to issue one, and the record they certify against is your own filing history. Four years of on-time notices, IHIPs, quarterly reports, and assessments make it an easy letter to write.
New York's Regents exams are subject-area assessments in English, math, science, and social studies. If a request is made, school officials are encouraged to admit a home instruction student to Regents examinations, though NYSED's word is encouraged rather than required, so district practice varies. Strong Regents scores strengthen a transcript. They do not produce a diploma or any state credential for a home-instructed student, because the same enrolled-in-a-registered-school rule applies with or without them. A student who wants a state-recognized credential can take New York's High School Equivalency exam, the GED, instead. For building a complete high school plan, the guide walks you through choosing courses, tracking credits, and documenting what your student learned. For the full step-by-step, including how SUNY and CUNY treat each of these, see our guide to homeschooling high school in New York.
No State Funding for New York Homeschool Families
New York has not enacted school choice legislation. There is no education savings account, no voucher, and no state stipend for home instruction families. The cost of curriculum, testing, and materials falls entirely on the family.
Choosing the right curriculum gets easier when you know what to teach, what to skip, and where to start.
Get the GuideA simple step-by-step plan for getting started.
A Note from Homeschool Teacher Guide: What This Really Means for You
New York's paperwork is real. Four quarterly reports a year is more than any other state in this cluster asks for, and the IHIP requirement means you are committing to a curriculum plan before the school year starts rather than deciding as you go. But families do this every year, and the structure has an upside: by the time you write your fourth quarterly report, you have a detailed record of the year's instruction that makes everything from high school transcripts to college applications easier to document. The annual calendar is the key. File the NOI in June, finish the IHIP in July, set your quarterly report dates, and keep a running log through the year. The families who get tripped up are the ones who try to reconstruct four months of instruction a week before the report is due.
Was this helpful?
We keep these state pages free and updated. If this one helped, you can say thanks.
☕ Buy us a coffee ($5)Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Notice of Intent in New York homeschooling?
The Notice of Intent (NOI) is a written document you file with your school district's superintendent by July 1 each year to notify the district that you plan to provide home instruction. If you begin homeschooling after July 1, you have 14 days from when you establish your program to file. NYC families submit the NOI by email to LetterofIntent@schools.nyc.gov.
What is an IHIP and when is it due?
An Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) is your written instruction plan for the school year. It is due by August 15, or within four weeks of receiving the IHIP form from the district, whichever is later, so a district that sends the form late moves your deadline rather than shortening it. It must include your child's name, age, and grade level, the curriculum or textbooks you plan to use for each required subject, your planned quarterly report dates, and the instructor's name.
How many hours of instruction does New York require?
New York requires 900 hours of instruction per year for grades 1 through 6 and 990 hours per year for grades 7 through 12. You also need to maintain records showing attendance equivalent to 180 school days per year.
What standardized tests does New York accept for the annual assessment?
Accepted tests include the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the California Achievement Test, the Stanford Achievement Test, the CTBS, State Education Department tests, and other SED-approved tests. The student's composite score must be above the 33rd percentile or show one year's academic growth. College entrance exams like the ACT or SAT do not qualify.
Does New York offer any funding for homeschool families?
No. New York does not have an education savings account program, voucher, or any other state financial support for home instruction families. All curriculum and testing costs are the family's responsibility.
What happens if my child's standardized test score is too low?
If the district determines the score is inadequate, the home instruction program is placed on probation for up to two school years and you must submit a plan of remediation addressing the deficiencies. A score clears the bar if the composite is above the 33rd percentile on national norms, or if it shows one academic year of growth over the prior year's test.