Homeschool benefits: Iowa City Community School District
Iowa City Community School District's Home School Assistance Program (ICHSAP) gives your family a supervising teacher for 16 contacts a year, drop-in enrichment classes in PE, art, music, library, and STEAM, field trips, and performances at Hancher. You register by emailing the ICHSAP secretary, and you keep teaching the core subjects.
Who qualifies
Registers through the secretary
Email ICHSAP secretary Emily Minnie for registration steps for the program and for dual enrollment.
Meets a supervising teacher quarterly
The program requires meeting four times a quarter, 16 times a year, with one of the ICHSAP supervising teachers.
Teaches the core subjects
Supervising teachers do not teach core curriculum. You or a teacher you hire choose and teach it.
What the program gives you
These terms come from the ICHSAP program page and its enrichment, resource library, dual enrollment, and assessment pages.
- Supervising-teacher contacts
- 16 a year
- Enrichment classes
- Drop-in, no sign-up
- ICHSAP library
- District curriculum and supplements
- Grant Wood AEA online resources
- With program login
- ISASP state test
- Each spring at an ICCSD school
- Office and library
- By appointment
The pages do not list a fee or a registration deadline, so ask the secretary both when you email about joining.
From joining to keeping it
- Before you join
Email the secretary
Ask Emily Minnie how to register for ICHSAP and, if you want it, dual enrollment.
- At enrollment
Mark testing interest
Families say on their enrollment forms each year whether they want ISASP testing.
- Every Friday
Read the weekly update
Enrolled families get the schedule of classes, field trips, performances, and guest speakers by email.
- Each quarter
Meet your supervising teacher
Hold four contacts a quarter, which add up to the 16 required each year.
- Each spring
Take the ISASP
Students are assigned a testing date and site at an ICCSD school based on enrollment and home address.
What it includes
Included
- Supervising-teacher support
- Field trips, guest speakers, and local performances
- ICHSAP library and Grant Wood AEA resources
Not included
- Teaching of core subjects
- ICCSD credit for home-schooled subjects
Classes meet at the HSAP center, the first building on the right in the Shimek Elementary driveway, unless noted.
Good to know
Classes need no sign-up
Classes are optional and drop-in with no registration required, and the Friday email lists what is coming up.
Your child can take some ICCSD classes
Your child can dual enroll, and joining ICHSAP is one of three ways to meet its requirement. Iowa law requires at least 2 subjects to be taught through homeschooling, and your child must attend every class meeting for each subject taken.
Who to contact about the program
Secretary Emily Minnie at 1400 Grissel Place handles registration, library logins, and testing requests.
minnie.emily@iowacityschools.org 319-688-1302 Program page
Homeschool rules and statewide help in Iowa
You do not have to file a homeschool notice for independent private instruction.
Iowa sets these rules:
- Subjects: IPI must cover mathematics, reading and language arts, science, and social studies at all grade levels. CPI must provide at least 148 days of instruction annually, with attendance on at least 37 days each school quarter; its other rules depend on the option.
- Testing: No standardized testing required for independent option.
- Records: IPI must provide specified instructor, location, authority, and student information on written request; CPI reporting and record rules depend on the option.
- Teachers: Iowa does not require a teaching certificate or degree to homeschool your own child.
Read the Iowa homeschooling guide See statewide programs in Iowa
Questions parents ask
- Can we borrow curriculum?
- Yes. The ICHSAP library has curriculum used in ICCSD plus supplementary materials, and parent-teachers can borrow from the Grant Wood AEA Media Center.
- Can a child homeschooled independently take the ISASP?
- Yes. ISASP testing is open to all home-schooled students living in ICCSD; independent families email the ICHSAP secretary to request it.
Turn support into your child’s next lesson
Local classes cover the subjects they offer. We teach the remaining subjects, so a local class can stay part of the year without becoming the whole curriculum.
$149/month per child after the trial.
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