Home Instruction

What are the steps of the home instruction approval process?

In order to facilitate the process and ensure compliance, the Virgin Islands Department of Education (VIDE) keeps the review process simple and fast.  Each year, a Notice of Intent (NOI) must be submitted for each student receiving home instruction.(If you click on the “Notice of Intent “ above, the link will take you to a fillable PDF form).  The NOI must be submitted by email to homeinstruction@vide.vi.  It is recommended that parents keep a copy of their approved NOI as evidence of participation in a Home Instruction Program.  Parents of public school students must withdraw their child from school prior to submitting an NOI. Please note: A fully executed Withdrawal form must have the Superintendent of Education’s Signature on the form.   Failure to withdraw a student from the public school system will result in accrued absences and the unnecessary involvement of attendance counselors, social services, and/or law enforcement.

Once the VIDE receives the NOI, the review process typically takes less than two weeks.  The Commissioner of Education cannot and does not approve of any home instruction programs and/or curricula.  After the review process, the Commissioner (or his/her designee) signs to approve that the student is receiving education outside of the traditional school setting that complies with the Virgin Islands Board of Education (VIBOE) Home Education Policy (the policy).   The Commissioner may also request additional information in order to ensure that the NOI is complete. 

 By policy, the reviewed NOI, signed by the Commissioner, should be received (by email) within 10 business days prior to the start of the home instruction program. 

 All inquiries regarding home instruction and the review process can be directed to:

Note: these links are provided as examples ONLY they are not required by nor endorsed by the Virgin Islands Department of Education

1. All approved Notices of Intent for each year  
2. Student portfolio which is a collection of the student’s work that shows academic growth across the school year in each subject area.
3. Attendance records - Microsoft Word – Attendance Calendar (https://0.tqn.com/z/g/homeschooling/library/attendanceform.pdf),  (https://www.thesimplehomeschooler.com/printable-homeschool-attendance-sheet)- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EN_GjdB96kSjhiKvYDyoB2UolqKYRn58/view?pli=1
4. Lesson plans,- http://homeschoolhelperonline.com/PDFs/record_keeping/lesson_planner.pdf
5. Field trip logs-  http://homeschoolhelperonline.com/PDFs/record_keeping/field_trip.pdf
6. Doctor’s notes and other instructional related documents -  http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/homeschool-record-keeping.html , http://www.askpauline.com/hs/homeschoolforms.html

**Please notE: while field trips to historical sites and participation in cultural events are highly recommended they do NOT constitute curriculum necessary for the required VI History class.**

See below for links to lessons and course work for VI History and Culture education. There is a multitude of information online about Virgin Islands History and Culture. The links below are provided for your convenience and is not intended to be viewed as the only resources available.

Here is the link for the U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS HISTORY CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_eJkld7iuaGY5AY1fiH7K139nZ0KWldQ/view?pli=1

These resources support the alignment to the Virgin Islands Cultural Standards.

https://goopenusvi.vide.vi/curated-collections/258

There are also lesson plans on the go open page #GoOpenUSVI (vide.vi)

https://goopenusvi.vide.vi/courseware/lesson/446

https://goopenusvi.vide.vi/courseware/lesson/453

https://goopenusvi.vide.vi/courseware/lesson/547

https://goopenusvi.vide.vi/courseware/lesson/456