New York IHIP: How to Complete Your Individualized Home Instruction Plan

Most families withdrawing from public school in New York assume the hard part is finding a curriculum. It is not. The hard part is the IHIP — and if you get it wrong, your district superintendent can declare you non-compliant and trigger a truancy investigation before your child has spent a single day learning at home.

The Individualized Home Instruction Plan (IHIP) is the core compliance document under New York's Part 100.10 regulations. Every homeschooling family must file one annually. There is no blanket group version for pods or micro-schools — each enrolled child requires their own separate IHIP filed by their own parent.

What the IHIP Actually Is

The IHIP is your formal contract with your school district. It tells the superintendent what subjects your child will study, what materials you will use, who will provide instruction, and when you will submit quarterly progress reports throughout the year.

Under Commissioner's Regulation 100.10, the document must include:

• Your child's full legal name, age, and grade level
• NYC Student ID number (if your child was previously enrolled in NYC public schools)
• A description of the syllabi, curriculum materials, textbooks, or instructional plan for each required subject
• The four specific dates on which you will submit quarterly reports
• The names of anyone providing instruction — this means both parents and any supplemental tutors

The IHIP is not a summary or a mission statement. It is a subject-by-subject accounting of how you intend to meet New York's 12-subject requirement for your child's grade level. Vague entries like "we will use various materials" are red flags for district reviewers.

The Filing Timeline

New York's compliance cycle runs on a tight legal calendar:

July 1 — Your Notice of Intent is due to the district superintendent. This triggers the IHIP process.

10 business days after receiving your NOI — The district must send you a copy of the Part 100.10 regulations and a blank IHIP form (or their preferred format).

4 weeks after receiving the IHIP form, or August 15 — whichever date comes later, your completed IHIP is due back to the district.

10 business days after submission — The district notifies you whether your IHIP is in compliance.

If you miss the July 1 deadline because you are pulling your child mid-year, you have 14 days from the date you begin home instruction to file your Notice of Intent. The IHIP timeline then proceeds from that point.

How to Fill Out the Curriculum List

This is where families either pass the district's review or set off an extended back-and-forth that delays their start.

The curriculum section must cover every subject required for your child's grade band. For grades 1 through 6, the state mandates: arithmetic and mathematics, reading, spelling, writing, English language arts, geography, U.S. history and New York history, science, health education, music, visual arts, and physical education — plus the four standing requirements (patriotism and citizenship, alcohol/drug/tobacco education, highway safety, and fire safety) at all grade levels.

For each subject, write down the specific curriculum or approach. Examples:

• Math: Singapore Primary Mathematics 3A/3B (World Scientific Publishing)
• Language Arts: All About Reading Level 4, student workbook and teacher guide
• Science: Elemental Science Biology for the Logic Stage
• History: Story of the World Vol. 2, Activity Book
• PE: Three days per week outdoor sports, neighborhood park (parent-led)

Districts vary in how much specificity they expect, but naming the curriculum publisher and series is always safer than describing an approach without materials. If you plan to use online programs, include the platform name.

IHIP for Micro-Schools and Pods

If your child learns in a shared pod or micro-school setting, the IHIP still gets filed by you, the parent — not by the pod organizer or tutor. This is a common misunderstanding that has caused families to miss compliance deadlines.

Each family in the pod files a separate IHIP listing their own child's plan. If you share a curriculum across the pod (which is common and legal), each family's IHIP can reference that same curriculum — but each document must name the individual child and their own parents as the responsible parties.

One critical detail: if the pod uses a hired tutor or facilitator to deliver the majority of instruction, your IHIP should list that person under the instructor field. However, be aware that if a hired professional delivers the majority of the instructional program across subjects, New York considers the arrangement an unlicensed nonpublic school rather than home instruction. The safer legal structure keeps the hired tutor in a supplemental or subject-specialist role while parents retain instructional oversight for the core of the program.

If you are organizing a pod, having a template that each family can customize for their child prevents the administrative chaos that often derails first-year pods. The New York Micro-School & Pod Kit includes a ready-to-complete IHIP template aligned to New York's 12-subject requirement, along with a compliance checklist covering every Part 100.10 deadline.

What Happens After You Submit

Once you submit your IHIP, the district has 10 business days to respond. They will either notify you of compliance or request revisions. If revisions are requested, they must specify exactly what is missing — you do not have to start over.

From that point, you are on the quarterly report schedule you listed in your IHIP. Miss a report date and the district can place your program on probation. The quarterly reports are covered in detail in how to file New York homeschool quarterly reports — but the short version is that each report must log hours for the quarter, describe material covered in each subject, and include either a grade or a written narrative assessment.

New York's compliance requirements are genuinely detailed, but they are also completely manageable when you have the right documents. The mistake most families make is treating the IHIP as a formality to rush through. The families who get flagged by their districts are almost always the ones who submitted thin, vague plans. A thorough IHIP takes a couple of hours to draft and buys you a year of low-friction compliance.

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