Detailed requirements
Homeschooling in New York
The most paperwork in the country: a July 1 letter, a plan filed by August 15, four reports a year, and an annual assessment.
Getting started (notice)
letter of intent to the school district superintendent by July 1, or within 14 days of starting mid-year. The district then sends you the regulations and the forms you file next.
Required subjects
grades 1 to 6: arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, English, geography, US history, science, health, music, visual arts and physical education. Grades 7 and 8 add practical arts and library skills. Grades 9 to 12: 4 units English, 4 social studies, 2 mathematics, 2 science, 1 art or music, 0.5 health, 2 physical education and 3 electives. Instruction runs 900 hours a year in grades 1 to 6 and 990 hours in grades 7 to 12, over the substantial equivalent of 180 days.
Records you must keep
an Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) filed by August 15, naming the child's grade, the syllabi, curriculum, materials or plan of instruction for each subject, the instructor, and the dates your quarterly reports are due. Then four quarterly reports giving hours of instruction, the material covered in each subject, and a grade or written evaluation. Any quarter covering less than 80 percent of the planned material needs a written explanation.
Testing / evaluation
every year, filed with the fourth quarterly report. Grades 1 to 3 may use a written narrative. Grades 4 to 8 may use a narrative no more often than every other school year, so a norm-referenced test is required in the alternating years. Grades 9 to 12 require the test. Satisfactory means a composite score above the 33rd percentile on national norms, or a score showing one academic year of growth against a test given during or after the prior year.
Parent qualifications
none. The parent needs no credential, only to be a competent instructor.
Where Letters & Devotion fits in New York
Whatever New York asks you to keep, keeping it should not be a job. Letters & Devotion logs instructional hours automatically while your child works, tracks mastery per skill as a ready-made portfolio record, and prints a transcript in one click, so notices, portfolios and evaluations start from records that already exist. The curriculum itself covers every core subject, K through 12.
Read all 84 courses in full before you pay anythingEvery unit, every skill, every objective. No account, no card.$29 a month after the first month. Cancel anytime, in one click.
This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice, and laws change. Last verified 2026-08. Always confirm current requirements with your state before relying on them. Sources:
- https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-york/8-NYCRR-100.10
- https://www.nysed.gov/nonpublic-schools/home-instruction
HSLDA also publishes a plain-language summary of New York's law, at hslda.org/legal/new-york, and sells a paid legal-defense membership built on top of it. It is an advocacy organization, not a legal authority: its leadership is explicitly Christian, and it lobbies on homeschool legislation, positions a family may or may not share. Read what membership actually costs and covers before joining anything.