May 30, 2013

Quarterly Reports: New York State

You've submitted your LOI and received your packet from your school district.  You've penned your IHIP and sent it in.  Now what?

After they receive your IHIP, your school district must send you notice within 10 days that your IHIP either meets the State's requirements or is deficient.  (Don't worry!  If you follow the example I've given, you don't have to worry about being deficient.)  They'll probably send you a packet of forms they want you to use for your Quarterly Reports and Annual Report, but you can toss those.  You are not obligated to use them.

Once you receive the school's notice, CONGRATULATIONS!  Home school away!

But don't forget about your Quarterly Reports!  On each of the dates you indicated in your IHIP, you must submit to your school district a written summary of that quarter.  This is another area where I err on the side of caution and provide much more information than the State regulations require.  To me, the extra work is worth not having a run-in with the school district down the road.  Plus, it helps me realize just how much we've done in such a short amount of time.

All that New York State requires in your Quarterly Report is the number of hours of instruction completed in the quarter, a listing of the material covered in each subject, either a grade (number or letter) or a written narrative evaluating your child's progress that quarter, and, if you covered less than 80% of the material you expected to cover during that quarter, an explanation of why must be included.  But, since you are the decider of what constitutes 80%, that shouldn't be an issue.

If you think you'd prefer a shorter version of the Quarterly Report to base your own on, take a look at the sample shown on Cityschooling, a blog by a New York City seasoned home schooling mom.  However, if you're like me and want to cover all your bases to satisfy your paranoia, you can follow my example, shown below:
QUARTERLY REPORT

Date:  November 15, 2012
Student’s name:  Jonnie A. Doe
Quarter beginning and ending dates:  8/15/12 – 11/15/12
Hours of instruction this quarter:  300+

Description of materials covered in each subject area:  (See attached form for grades assessed).

ARITHMETIC:  Place value to the 100 billions; number forms; comparing and ordering whole numbers; decimals; place value through thousandths; comparing and ordering decimals; rounding whole numbers and decimals; properties; multiplying whole numbers; multiplying decimals; variables and expressions; rules and patterns; solving equations.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE (including reading, writing, and spelling):  Jonnie has read several fiction books, and he has completed several reading assignments in various other subjects.  He has written several stories and short essay assignments.  He has studied capitalization and punctuation, grammar skills, dictionary skills, sentence types (imperative, declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory), subjects and predicates, and independent and dependent clauses.  Jonnie’s spelling and vocabulary words are taken from each subject we study, and he is tested weekly on those words.  He practices cursive penmanship weekly.

SOCIAL STUDIES (including U.S. history, and geography):  Jonnie has studied early explorers, early settlements, colonies, Ben Franklin, War of Independence, Revolutionary War, democracy, and the Pledge of Allegiance.  He participated in a field trip to the Genesee Country Village & Museum in Mumford, NY to supplement his study of colonial life.

SCIENCE:  Jonnie has studied cells, unicellular organisms, cell growth and reproduction, classifying living things and plants, seed-bearing plants, flowering plants, cone-bearing plants, spore-bearing plants, invertebrates, protists, egg-laying invertebrates, vertebrates, and egg-laying vertebrates.  He also took part in field trip to the NASA Glenn Space Center and Science Museum in Cleveland, Ohio and the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY.

HEALTH/SAFETY:   The habit of wellness – health and the whole person, health basics, building fitness.  Jonnie also studied dental hygiene and the reasons for tooth decay in preparation for having a tooth pulled.

MUSIC:  Jonnie began weekly piano lessons this quarter.  He is learning finger placement, keys, notes, chords, and beginning simple melodies.  He practices his lessons daily.

VISUAL ARTS:  Focus on pen and pencil sketching, specifically, contour line drawing.  Completed several art projects, including a still life continuous line contour drawing.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION:  Daily outdoor play, seasonal activities (swimming, biking, hiking, etc.), instruction in aerobic activity and the importance of health and fitness.  Jonnie participated in a week-long basketball camp this quarter.

BIBLE:  Believers in God, life of Abraham, life of David, servants of God, life of Paul.

SPANISH:  Jonnie has been learning beginning Spanish, with a focus on vocabulary and word recognition.

As mentioned at the beginning of this sample report, I also attach a "report card".  I use Homeschool Tracker Plus, which is record-keeping software where I input grades the boys earn in each subject and can generate a report of their grade averages quarterly.  I simply print off that report for each boy and attach it to the Quarterly Report. 

Really, you can make your Quarterly Reports as long or as short as you'd like, and if you don't hear a peep from your school district after submitting them, then you know you're doing it right.  They'll only contact you if they feel you are deficient in some area.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Coming up... Annual Assessments


26 comments:

  1. How would you write up the IHIP if it were for a special ed student?

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    1. Kanani, you wouldn't need to do anything different. Just make your materials and descriptions appropriate for the needs of your student. Also, my apologies for such a late response. My "reply" button has been missing in action for quite some time, and I just today figured out how to get it back.

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  2. AnonymousJune 10, 2014

    Hi, I am starting homeschooling with my daughter this upcoming September. I can not thank you enough of your informative site. It has come in handy for me since I am very new to this process. Thanks again and keep up the hard work.

    Sincerely Nicole T.

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    1. Nicole, I am so glad you found my info helpful! Good luck with your new home schooling journey. It's worth it! Also, my apologies for such a late response. My "reply" button has been missing in action for quite some time, and I just today figured out how to get it back.

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  3. thanks soooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-)

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  4. Hi Marisa,
    I don't have words to thank you for your detailed information about home schooling in New York. I really appreciate, and i am grateful for you. May God bless you richly for all your efforts and Hard work. You are a great blessing!

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    1. Thank you so much for the kind words! Best of luck on your journey.

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  5. Thank you so very much for sharing all your knowledge about homeschooing. This is my first year and all the information you provide is so helpful. You have erased my stress....you have no idea!!

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  6. I am so happy that you found my info helpful! Thank you for the kind comment, and best of luck on your homeschooling journey!

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  7. ever see the fancy reports. The school DOESN'T CARE. Anyone can make stuff up. They just want a few lines on progress, attendance.

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    1. Not sure what you're getting at. It depends on the school. Some are sticklers for paperwork and having every last required detail included. Others don't make a big deal out of anything.

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  8. Does this apply to middle school students too??

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    1. This is acceptable for all grades, K-12. I also have a shorter way of doing it, if that would help. http://foursquarepegs.blogspot.com/2015/04/quarterly-reports-revisited-simplifying.html

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  9. So you just list things you're going to cover in that subject?

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    1. Not for the quarterly reports. For the quarterly reports, you list what you already finished covering in the previous quarter of your school year. You will have listed what you PLAN to cover in your IHIP before you began your school year. You need to have covered at least 80% of the material you intended to cover/told the school in your IHIP that you would cover for the quarter. I hope that made sense.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Hi, How do I write a IHIP my kid is entering 3rd grade what do I do first I want to home school him.

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    1. Hi! Check out my post on writing the IHIP. I think you'll find it very helpful. http://foursquarepegs.blogspot.com/2016/08/individualized-home-instruction-plan.html

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  12. Thank you, God bless you. You have given me courage. I am so excited and thank you. Big hugs...

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  13. I just started homeschooling my son last week and this is so helpful. Thank you!

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    1. I'm so glad you found it useful! If you have any questions, I'm glad to help.

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  14. Hello, We are approaching the last quarterly report date and my daughter needs more time to finish her lessons and to test for end of grade. Can you change quarterly report dates? Thank you

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    1. Certainly you can. Just notify your school of the change.

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  15. Thanks
    Working on my 1st quarterly report

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