Create and keep records.

Step 9 of the Ten Steps to Successful Homeschooling
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Create records in order to comply with legal requirements (see Step 1: Know the Law) and also to make transcripts and resumes easier to compile when they are needed.

See also Required Courses from Step 1: Know the Law.
Here's the address for filing NYC paperwork and when to expect a response from the DoE. See also the Calender of the DoE.

Here are some hints, tips, and templates for scheduling your home-schooling time and keeping records:

IHIP - Individualized Home Instruction Plan

IHIP - information from the DoE.

The format below can be used for both IHIP (Individualized Home Instruction Plan) and quarterly reports. I keep it on my computer, and simply write over the previous entry under each subject every time I need to make a new report, and that saves me loads of time. I save a copy of everything I submit, putting the new date in the saved file name, so if my paperwork is lost or misplaced it's easy for me to send it again.

My first IHIP took me more than a day to write and ended up being fourteen pages long! Now that I know what's really necessary, I spend about an hour writing an IHIP or quarterly report, and it takes up about two pages.

The following is an IHIP outline for grades K-8 (subject requirements and hours required change for grades 9-12). The same outline can be used for a quarterly report. The first subject, math, has been filled in with a sample of a first grade math curriculum. Although this is written like a list, I usually prefer to write a short paragraqph under each heading. Feel free to modify this format and create your own IHIP form, but don't forget those required minor additions at the end like "arson prevention."

See our page on Grade Levels, Standards and Benchmarks and do note that homeschoolers do not have to follow the bd. of ed. guidelines, and do not have to write IHIPs or assessments that are at "grade level."

Remember that the P in IHIP stands for Plan. Here is where you write down your plan for the year. During the course of the year, you can change the content, the texts, the manner in which the child learns, and still fulfill your IHIP if the required subjects and the number of hours are covered.

Here are templates in Word format that you can download to fill out and use for your IHIP or Quarterly Report.

• IHIP for grades 1 – 6
• IHIP for grades 7 – 8
• IHIP for grades 9 – 12

• identify place value into the hundreds
• add and subtract whole numbers under ten
• identify coins and paper currency
• identify 2D geometrical shapes (circles, squares, rectangles, triangles)
• identify 3D geometrical shapes (spheres, cubes, cones, cylinders)
• count by 2s, 5s, and 10s
• tell time on a digital and a round-faced clock
• estimate or round-off time to the nearest half hour
• identify odd and even numbers
• measure weights, length, and distance

• First Quarterly Report............November 15, (year)
• Second Quarterly Report.....January 30, 200_
• Third Quarterly Report..........April 15, 200_
• Fourth Quarterly Report.......June 30, 200_