Ask Laurie

The information you need is at the NYS Dept. of Labor website: Working Papers - Facts for Teenagers under 18. You will need to go down to the Bd. of Ed. homeschooling office in Manhattan with your child (who may need to sign something). The homeschooling office receives people between the hours of ten and noon. They should give you a letter on Bd. of Ed. letterhead stating that you and your child are fully in compliance with state regulations. All of your paperwork needs to be order. Just to be on the safe side, bring copies of your paperwork (IHIP and quarterlies) when you go, to prove you are fully in compliance. Also, make sure you bring your child's birth certificate and social security number. While you are there, you might pick up your MetroCard if you don't already have one.

Since my child is six and that is the compulsory age to start receiving instruction, do I have to send an LOI and all the accompanying paperwork to my school, as well as to the Bd. of Ed.? Or do I just have to notify the school of my intention?

According to the law, you must file an LOI, then an IHIP, and four quarterly reports each year, once your child is of compulsory school age and you are homeschooling. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the law that states you must inform the school. Still, as an act of courtesy and common sense, I strongly recommend that you send the school a copy of your LOI when you send it to the Bd. of Ed. One copy of your LOI to your child's former school will give them the information that they need. I have heard of parents getting hassled by social services and truant officers because their former school did not realize that they were now homeschooling, and the homeschooling office at the Bd. of Ed. was too overloaded to inform the schools. See our page on Issues for Homeschoolers.

Can you tell me how many quarterly hours a 9th grader should have. I know a lower grade student needs 225 hours each quarter. Doest a 9th grader need 248?

NYS regulations state:

The cumulative hours of instruction for grades 1 through 6 shall be 900 hours per year. The cumulative hours of instruction for grades 7 through 12 shall be 990 hours per year.

This is what I write on the quarterlies of my high school age son:

[Student's name] has completed more than 247.5 cumulative hours of instruction in the equivalent of 45 days. Attendance: 100%.

I am about to send my first quarterly report. Is it possible to change something I wrote on the IHIP and notify in the quarterly report. For example I want to change my daughters music course to piano lessons. I had written a different answer in the IHIP but I would like to modify it. If it is possible how do I include it?

The P in IHIP stands for Plan! Of course you can change or modify what you wrote in your IHIP. I never say in my quarterlies what I did NOT do, I always just say what we did. It is important to remember what the real goals are. In your IHIP you set down these goals. But your goal is not necessarily to use a certain textbook, or to have a certain music teacher. Rather, the goal is to spend a certain number of hours studying that subject. So, if you want to change the textbook you chose for a course, or the kind of music lessons you planned, go right ahead! Feel free, for example, to swtich from music lessons to voice or piano lessons, or even to music appreciation, where concerts are attended and biographies of composers are discussed. Then, in your quarterlies, write down what you did, and know that you are still attaining the goals in your IHIP.

Can a homeschooled child can take some regular classes in a NYC public school?

No. There are exceptions when the principal of a school agrees. You can always ask. However, homeschooled high school students can take courses at branches of CUNY (free, through their College Now program) and community colleges.

See NYS Dept of Ed. Home Instruction Questions and Answers:

19. May a student instructed at home participate in the instructional program of the school district?
The legislature has not authorized part-time attendance and, therefore, a student instructed at home may not participate in the instructional program of the school district except for dual enrollment opportunities the district may make available under Section 3602-c of the Education Law and for special education programs and services the district is required to make available.

20. May a district provide dual enrollment services under Section 3602-c to students instructed at home?
Pursuant to Education Law �3602-c, instruction in the areas of occupational and vocational education, gifted education, and education of students with disabilities may be furnished to students enrolled in nonpublic schools. With that exception, which is not applicable to home-instructed students, boards of education are not authorized to instruct pupils on a part-time basis.

My child is currently enrolled in public school and I would like to begin homeschooling mid year. Do I need to discharge her from public school before starting?

So far as I know, there is nothing in the law that says you must report the discharge to your child's previous school. But in all fairness, the board of ed is so overworked, understaffed, and swamped with paperwork, that your daughter's school will probably not get notified unless you do it yourself. I began to homeschool my youngest son in fourth grade. I phoned the school during the summer break to inform them. They asked me to please send them a copy of my LOI (Letter of Intent to homeschool) that I had sent to the bd of ed. Although this was not legally required of me, I offered to do it anyway, and asked only that the school, in return, send me a copy of my child's records. Of course, I never got those records (which they had agreed to send), although I did send the school a copy of my LOI. They are so overworked. If sending them a sheet of paper can help their overburdened school office, it seems a small thing to do.

I have sent in my quarterlies and my year-end assessment and I haven't heard anything back from the Bd. of Ed. Is everything okay?

The homeschooling liaisons at the board of ed. are so overworked, that you can expect a response to a year-end assessment only if there is a problem. Usually, the Bd. of Ed. sends out a letter after receiving your IHIP, around mid-September. That letter will say that your IHIP for the current school year has been approved. Usually this is all the communication that you will receive from the Bd. of Ed. Assume that your year-end assessment is fine, and proceed with your paperwork for the next year. BTW, I suggest that you make a copy of your IHIP receipt letter and carry it around it with you. It will get you an educator's discount card at Barnes & Nobles or Borders Books.

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