The Short Answer
To withdraw your child from public school in New York, send your district written notice of intent to provide home instruction, then file the Notice of Intent. Within 10 business days the district sends you an IHIP form, and you submit your completed Individualized Home Instruction Plan by August 15 or within four weeks of receiving that form, whichever is later. For a normal year the Notice of Intent is due by July 1; for a mid-year withdrawal you file within 14 days of starting home instruction. After that come four quarterly reports and a year-end assessment, covered in the main guide. Compulsory age runs from 6 to 16. NYC families confirm procedures with the NYC homeschooling office at Homeschool@schools.nyc.gov.
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 Requirements change and summaries go out of date.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 Withdrawal at a Glance
| Step 1: Notify the district | Written notice of intent to provide home instruction |
|---|---|
| Step 2: File the Notice of Intent | By July 1 for the year, or within 14 days of a mid-year start |
| Step 3: Receive the IHIP form | District sends it within 10 business days |
| Step 4: Submit the IHIP | By August 15, or within four weeks of receiving the form, whichever is later |
| After withdrawal | Four quarterly reports and a year-end assessment |
| Compulsory age | 6 to 16 |
How Withdrawal Works in New York
New York runs home instruction through the district on a set calendar. Withdrawal is the first turn of that calendar: you tell the district you intend to home instruct, you file a Notice of Intent, the district responds with an IHIP form, and you submit your Individualized Home Instruction Plan. There is no approval vote; the district reviews your plan for compliance, but you do not wait for permission to begin once you have filed.
The legal framework is 8 NYCRR Part 100.10, the Commissioner's Regulations under New York Education Law Section 3204. It defines the sequence, the deadlines, and what each document must contain. Understanding the sequence before you pull your child out is worth the time, because missing the 14-day mid-year filing window or failing to return the IHIP on schedule creates compliance problems that take weeks to unwind.
New York City operates differently from the rest of the state. Families in the five boroughs submit their Notice of Intent by email to LetterofIntent@schools.nyc.gov rather than to a district superintendent. Other paperwork goes to Homeschool@schools.nyc.gov. NYC families withdrawing a child mid-year should email Homeschool@schools.nyc.gov before taking any steps, because mid-year processing in New York City involves additional coordination. 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.
Step 1: Notify the District and File the Notice of Intent
Send your school district written notice that you intend to provide home instruction to your child. This is the Notice of Intent. For a standard school year, it is due by July 1. The NOI 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 with the date you sent it.
For a mid-year withdrawal, you file the Notice of Intent within 14 days of the date you start home instruction. That means you can begin and file within the same short window. You do not wait for the July 1 cycle. The 14-day clock starts on the day you begin, not on the day you pull your child from school. Make sure you know that date precisely, because the IHIP deadlines that follow are measured from the Notice of Intent.
We cover the full New York cycle, including who files where in New York City versus the rest of the state and how the annual assessment works by grade level, in the New York homeschooling guide. Before you write your IHIP, the free reading assessment gives you a concrete picture of where your child stands so you can choose starting materials that fit from day one.
Not sure where your child is right now?
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Takes about 10 minutes. Know exactly where to start.
Step 2: Receive the IHIP Form and Submit Your Plan
After you file the Notice of Intent, the district must send you an IHIP form within 10 business days. This is the Individualized Home Instruction Plan form. You complete it and return your submitted IHIP by August 15, or within four weeks of receiving the form, whichever is later. That word matters: if the district is slow sending the packet, your deadline moves past August 15 rather than expiring on it. The IHIP lists your child's name, age, and grade level, the subjects you will teach, the curriculum materials or plan of instruction you will use for each subject, the dates you choose for your four quarterly reports, and the name of the instructor.
Take care drafting the IHIP. The district reviews it for compliance with Part 100.10 and can request revisions if something is missing or out of line with the regulation. Required subjects and hours depend on your child's grade level, so confirm what applies before you fill in the form. For grades 1 through 6, you need 900 instruction hours per year across the subjects listed in the regulation. For grades 7 through 12, the requirement rises to 990 hours per year with a different subject list tied to credit requirements.
You are not required to commit to a single text or program for every subject on the IHIP. Listing a primary resource and noting that supplemental materials will be added gives you flexibility to adjust during the year. If you change a curriculum mid-year, send a revised IHIP to the district. Once your IHIP is submitted and the district accepts it, your home instruction is fully established for the year. The Guide covers building a teaching plan and tracking subjects and hours from the start, which feeds directly into the quarterly report process.
The paperwork is the easy part. The first Monday is the hard part.
Get the GuideA step-by-step plan for your first weeks at home.
Step 3: Notify the Public School and Keep Records
Alongside the district filings, make sure your child's specific public school knows the child is withdrawn so attendance tracking stops. In many districts the Notice of Intent to the superintendent handles this automatically, but a brief written note to the school building avoids any crossed wires at the building level. The school cannot hold attendance against your child once it has notice of the withdrawal, but getting that notice to the right people at the right time is your responsibility.
Keep dated copies of everything: your Notice of Intent, the IHIP form the district sends you, your submitted IHIP, and any correspondence from the district about compliance or revisions. Those records matter in New York more than in lighter-regulation states, because the district stays involved through the year with quarterly reports and a year-end assessment. A clean paper trail from the start makes each subsequent step easier to manage.
After Withdrawal and Special Education
Withdrawal is the first step of New York's annual compliance cycle, not the last. After it, you file four quarterly reports on the dates set in your IHIP and complete a year-end assessment. Quarterly reports list the total hours of instruction for the quarter, which is one figure rather than a per-subject breakdown, along with a description of material covered and a grade or evaluation in each subject. The annual assessment options depend on grade level. All of this is covered in the New York homeschooling guide. Knowing it is coming helps you set up your records correctly from day one rather than scrambling at report time.
If your child has an Individualized Education Program, the IEP ends when you withdraw to home instruction, 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, built the same way and containing the same things as an IEP. The district cannot decline to serve your child at all. Its discretion covers where and how services are delivered, so the arrangement may look different from what you have now. Call the district's special education office before you withdraw, start the IESP request, and ask about their timing, since the request is often due by June 1 for the following school year.
A Note from Homeschool Teacher Guide: What This Really Means for You
New York is more involved than most states, but it is a sequence, not a maze. File the Notice of Intent, by July 1 for a normal year or within 14 days if you are pulling your child mid-year, wait for the district to send the IHIP form, and submit your plan by August 15 or within four weeks of that form arriving, whichever falls later. We would keep every date and document in one place from the start, because New York stays involved all year with quarterly reports and a year-end assessment.
Write a careful IHIP, since the district reviews it, and let a brief note to your child's school close out attendance. Handle the withdrawal sequence cleanly and the rest of the New York cycle, which our New York homeschooling guide covers in full, runs on rails.
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☕ Buy us a coffee ($5)Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Withdraw My Child From Public School in New York?
File a Notice of Intent to provide home instruction with your district, receive the IHIP form within 10 business days, and submit your Individualized Home Instruction Plan by August 15 or within four weeks of receiving that form, whichever is later. For a normal year the Notice of Intent is due by July 1.
How Do I Withdraw Mid-Year?
File the Notice of Intent within 14 days of starting home instruction, then follow the same IHIP steps. You can begin and file within that short window. NYC families should email Homeschool@schools.nyc.gov before withdrawing mid-year.
What Is an IHIP?
The Individualized Home Instruction Plan. It lists your child's name, age, and grade level, the subjects you will teach, your plan of instruction, your quarterly reporting dates, and the instructor's name. The district reviews it for compliance.
Do I Need District Approval to Withdraw?
You do not wait for an approval vote, but the district reviews your IHIP for compliance and can request revisions. Once it is accepted, your home instruction is established.
What Happens After Withdrawal?
You file four quarterly reports on your chosen dates and complete a year-end assessment. These ongoing steps are covered in our New York homeschooling guide.