How to write a New York IHIP

When is the IHIP due?

1. By July 1: Send the superintendent of your school district of residence your written notice of intention to instruct at home for the coming school year. If you start home instruction or move into the district after the year has begun, send it within 14 days of starting.
2. The district replies within 10 business days with a copy of the regulation and an IHIP form.
3. Within four weeks of the district's reply, or by August 15, whichever is later: send the completed IHIP.
4. NYSED: "Within 10 business days of receiving the IHIP, the district must notify the parent whether it complies with the requirements of the regulation or give written notice of any deficiency."
5. If it finds a deficiency: "Within 15 days of receiving a notice of deficiency, the parent must submit a revised IHIP which corrects the deficiencies." Then: "Within 15 days of receiving the revised IHIP, the district must notify the parent as to whether it complies with the regulation."
6. If the revised IHIP is still found out of compliance, NYSED says the parents may meet with the board of education to show it complies, and "The parents may appeal a determination of noncompliance by the board to the Commissioner of Education within 30 days of receiving notice of the determination."

What goes on it?

• The child's name, age and grade.
• For each required subject, the syllabi, curriculum materials and textbooks, or a plan of instruction.
• The dates of the four quarterly reports, spread through the school year.
• The names of the people giving instruction.
• If the child is a full-time student at a degree-granting college, a statement saying so.

Which subjects?

The subjects for grades 1 to 6, in the regulation's words as New York's record reads it: Arithmetic, Reading, Spelling, Writing, The English language, Geography, United States history, Science, Health education, Music, Visual arts, Physical education, Bilingual education or English as a second language (where needed). Grades 7 and 8 and grades 9 to 12 have unit requirements in English, history or social studies, science, mathematics, art and music, health and physical education. United States history, New York State history and the two constitutions are taught at least once in grades 1 to 8.

How much do I write for each subject?

NYSED: "The IHIP must include for each of the required courses either a list of syllabi, curriculum materials and textbooks to be used or a plan of instruction to be followed. A different alternative may be used for different subjects." A line per subject is enough when the book is well known: the title, the publisher and the part you will use this year.

If the district does not know a textbook, NYSED says it may ask for more, and then the parents may, at their option, submit either a written scope and sequence describing the text or a copy of the text for the district's review; a copy is returned to you.

What can't a district ask for?

• More than the regulation lists: "A district may require only that information set forth in subdivision (d) of Section 100.10 of the Regulations of the Commissioner."
• A finding about socializing: "May a superintendent find a program of home instruction deficient, if he/she concludes that the student needs socialization or interaction with other children? No."
• Teaching credentials: "State law does not require any specific credentials for the person(s) providing home instruction."
• A meeting, or registering your child in the public school; NYSED says both are not required, though a district may ask you to show the child lives in the district and is of compulsory age.

What if we use an online program or start mid-year?

An online or correspondence program does not replace the IHIP. NYSED: "The obligation to file an IHIP does not depend on the source of material used but rather on the location of the student's instruction."

Starting during the year, the usual timelines run from your notice, and NYSED says "The number of reports should be proportional to the period of home instruction." Starting near the end of the first quarter, it gives three reports as its example.

Fill it in

Peabody's IHIP sheet has New York's required subjects on it already, works out four evenly spaced report dates from your school year (you can change them), adds a line for each extra subject, and prints one page per child to copy onto the district's form or attach. A calendar file holds the four report dates and next July 1. Nothing you type leaves this computer.