Homeschooling on Grand Island

08/20/2026

Why are children the only people expected to be good at everything?

Adults don’t need to be. Someone can be a visionary architect but completely useless in the kitchen. A brilliant chef who couldn’t tell you the first thing about physics. A software engineer with terrible handwriting. A musician who hates sport. An accountant who can barely draw a stick figure.

Nobody worries about these people. Nobody says, “Yes, she’s doing incredibly well as a surgeon, but we really need to bring her poetry up to standard.” Nobody gives the successful business owner extra homework because his understanding of medieval history is below where we’d expect it to be for his age.

We just accept that adults are good at some things and not others.

In fact, we celebrate it. We talk about people finding their thing. Playing to their strengths. Developing expertise. Going deep. Building a career around what they’re good at while happily outsourcing, avoiding, or being completely mediocre at a hundred other things.

But children? No, sorry, we have different rules for you. We’re going to need you to do absolutely everything, and show us you can do it all well. And when you can’t, we’re going to get very hung up on the bits you’re struggling with. A ‘well-rounded’ child is a good child, right.

Good at reading. Good at writing. Good at maths. Good at science. Good at sport. Organised and tidy. Social. Creative. Focused. Resilient. Articulate. Independent. Cooperative. And preferably progressing through all of it at roughly the same speed as everyone else their age.

If you think about what that does to the balance of childhood, it’s crazy. We deliberately hunt out the things children aren’t very good at, expose their weaknesses, then spend years making sure those weaknesses get lots of attention. Usually at the cost of spending more time on what they naturally lean towards.

Then adulthood arrives and...we tell people the exact opposite.

Find your strengths. Explore them at depth. Specialise. Build on what you’re good at. Build on what interests you. Stop trying to be everything to everyone.

Oh. Ok.

So...can someone tell me why we don’t just say that from the start?

04/22/2026

These reports must include the number of hours of instruction during the quarter (1), a description of the material covered in each subject (2), and a grade (we recommend a letter or number grade) or narrative evaluation in each subject.

1- NUMBER OF HOURS OF INSTRUCTION DURING THE QUARTER...
- - Hourly attendance requirements: 900 hours of school per year in grades 1-6, and 990 hours of school per year in grades 7-12. Basically take the total number of hours for the year and divide by 4.
- Your child's daily attendance should meet the "substantial equivalent" of 180 days per year (so not an exact 180 days but an accumulative

2- A DESCRIPTION OF THE MATERIAL COVERED IN EACH SUBJECT
- list the subjects and what you did in each (a simple sentence or couple sentences to explain the materials covered)

3- GRADE OR NARRATIVE EVALUATION
- you can list either a grade OR a narrative evaluation in each subject, which basically means a sentence about how they did.

NOTES:

DUE: whatever date you listed on your IHIP is when each quarterly is due

*While you don’t need to show your record keeping (or calendar) on the quarterly, you do need to include the number of hours you completed for the quarter. So either 225 or 247.5

*3rd quarter reports must include what your EOY annual assessment is going to be-- narrative or test-- and what you will be using and who will be evaluating.

*records are ONLY required to be submitted to the school district upon request of the superintendent

*subject requirements: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17eXjsHczE/

04/22/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CiFh545Fg/

04/22/2026

Note: I’ve always read it’s one week off per year of public school. In any case, I read up on this a lot when I started out and thought it seemed optional. It really wasn’t. Implementing a period of deschooling (which for us meant taking a week off longer than everyone else and simply starting with just one light subject or such, and then adding other stuff in slowly until we were fill throttle with our curriculum, meanwhile doing lots of educational focused and fun family activities) really made a difference to our transition and making it smooth and making ourselves a cohesive unit.
—
From Education is Discipleship:

I frequently speak with beginning home educators who are frustrated when their children, who have been raised in institutional schooling for several years, are not cooperative in following a formal academic program nor taking direction from their parents. Deschooling is often the best solution. It is the transition period when children adjust to learning in the home, rather than in a government or private facility. They adjust to having their parents reclaim their authority from the state or private school.

One month of deschooling is recommended for each year of school attendance. During this time the child is given time to decompress from the stress of institutional schooling, adjust to being home, and find ways to learn without formal academic lessons. It helps parents to reconnect with their children and observe their learning styles. Parents are given the time to discover the many ways that home education can be different from the structure, schedule, methods, and standards of institutional schooling.

My oldest son (now 16) was raised in government schooling from the ages of 5-9. During his final year of government schooling, he attended a charter school that was very intense: 3-5 hours of homework each night, 2 languages, and at least 5 tests per week. He needed about 6 months of deschooling.

For the deschooling period he rode his bike, learned how to fish, played games, went to the library and nature center, helped with baking, played with his baby brother, helped his grandmother with yard work, went to AWANA, played some learning apps, learned how to build in Minecraft, drew pictures, played with Legos, went swimming, played in the snow, and whatever else we would normally do during school breaks. We quickly realized that learning naturally happens all day long, even when the textbooks and workbooks are closed.

04/22/2026

After submitting your LOI you will have to submit your IHIP, either by August 15 or within 4 weeks of receiving the distrct's letter that they received your LOI, whichever is later. If you have not received a response to your LOI from the district by Aug 15, then submit your IHIP anyway. and obviously if you don't submit your LOI until AFTER Aug 15, then you have the 4 weeks of the receipt letter from district.

IHIPs must include: child's name, age, grade level; syllabi/ curriculum materials, textbooks, OR whatever your plan of instruction (you may choose one); dates you plan to submit quarterly reports, and the name of the instructor (you or dad or grandma, or whoever is going to be teaching your child).
There is no official, standard state wide form for the IHIP! In other words, you can create your own forms for the IHIP and in fact it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that you do this and DO NOT use any forms the district may send you (as they often will request information that is not legally required, which opens the door to them requiring other things of you that is not under their rights or jurisdiction, which is a slippery slope).

EXAMPLE IHIP attached in comments. Continue all subjects as shown and then sign. (NOTE: you can choose ANY DATES you want to list for your Quarterly Reports! You DO NOT have to use the dates the district says they'd like them by).

04/22/2026

Superintendent: Dr Brian Graham,
[email protected]
Homeschool Liason: Debra Gorton, [email protected]

04/22/2026

If you are a NEW homeschooler this year, you can send in your Letter of Intent (LOI) at any time! If the school year starts, you can STILL decide to homeschool at anytime, then you have 14 days after the day you start homeschooling to send in your LOI.
It is recommended that all written correspondence be sent by certified mail, signature received for your initial LOI. If you hand deliver your paperwork, be sure to get a signed receipt from the person receiving your papers. Good protocol is also to email a copy to the office of the superintendent. You may cc the principal out of courtesy if you like, and the homeschool liaison.
This letter should be brief. Simply state the name of each child and your intention to home instruct. Example:
DATE
Dear (Superintendent):
We will be homeschooling (child's/children's names) for the 20__- 20___ school year. Thank you.
Respectfully,
(Parent's Signature)
There is no need or legal requirement to give any other information!!

04/22/2026

Grades K–12
Patriotism and citizenship
About substance abuse
Traffic safety (including bike safety)
Fire safety
And at least once before grade 9: US and New York history and constitutions

Grades 1–6
Arithmetic
Reading
Spelling
Writing
English
Geography
US History
Science
Health
Music
Visual arts
Physical education

Grades 7–8
Mathematics
English
History and geography
Science
Health
Music
Art
Practical arts
Physical education
Library skills

Grades 9–12
Mathematics (2 credits)
English (4 credits)
Social studies, including American history, participation in government, and economics (4 credits)
Science (2 credits)
Art or music (1 credit)
Health (½ credit)
Physical education (2 credits)
Electives (3 credits)

04/22/2026

HOW TO START HOMESCHOOLING IN 5 STEPS

03/24/2026