Our home school group is considering a field trip to New York City and/or Philadelphia for our high school students (ages 13-17). Our group will likely number about 20, including adult chaperones.
I'd like some recommendations on places to stay, transportation into and in the city, and good deals on tickets.
We'll be focusing on the historical, but want to add in some cultural (Broadway and art museums) and some fun.
We'll be traveling by car from about 400 miles away. Our trip is scheduled for mid-April.

The Wellington and the Edison both accommodate student groups and might extend a rate to a smaller home school group. Not sure about the Edison but the Wellington does have parking facilities (not right at hotel, a valet will park & retrieve your car.) These are not fancy hotels, but they are centrally located for sightseeing and theater with transportation to other areas easily accessible.

Since you have students with your you might want to look into the program “
High Five Tix” High Five is “Dedicated to creating a young, motivated audience for the arts, High Five offers teens ages 13 to 18 tickets to dance, theater, music, film, museums and more.”
www.highfivetix.org

We stayed at the Wellington once and liked it. Great location. Also look at the Holiday Inn Midtown. Saw many student groups there.

If I were you, I'd charter a bus to the city. No driving, no hassles, no parking. You won't be driving anyway, trust me.

My kids enjoyed the NYC Party shuttle for a great tour. Many opportunities to ask questions in a small group.

Don't miss the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We spent 4 hours there last week and I could have stayed longer. My daughter just was speechless after the visit!

Agree to look into bus or public transit each way - versus having a bunch of cars in Manhattan at $40 per night. You CANNOT use them in the city, since there's never any place to park except an expensive garage - so driving in really doesn't make a lot of sense for so many people.

Agree on hotel suggestions - given that many places in NYC don;t really want groups of students - and assume you're operating on a very tight budget.

For historical, bigonion.com does some good walking tours and may have some group discounts. The Municipal Arts Society (mas.org) would be another place to check. There are some free walking tours as well listed here
http://nymag.com/guides/cheap/walkingtours/
That discount guide at NY Magazine (nymag.com/cheap) should be useful for other things.
The NY Historical Society and the Museum of the city of NY are other places to check.

Keep in mind the Met Museum is pay what you can donations and they have free highlights tours and/or family tours and would probably arrange something special for you with enough advance warning. Metmuseum.org

Lincoln Center has various programs for kids including meet the artist and tours. Info here
\http://nyckidsarts.org/orgs/one?org_id=462&org_id=462

Have fun planning!

If you do come with cars, iconparking.com is a group of well priced garages that allow you to make a reservation in advance and know exactly what you're paying. There are more garages listed on nycgarages.com but some of those are small and there's no guarantee of space when you arrvive.

I'll also add that there are some good hostels like Hostelling International which is uptown near Columbia Univ. The upper west side is another good option for accomodation. You might check with the Beacon and the Milburn, both suite hotels up there and also the Newton hotel. The Mus. of Natural History is in that area and it's across the park from the Met and other museums. There are free walking tours of Central Park which would also be a great thing to do.

And try to do some sort of boat tour while you're here. You get a whole different perspective of the city. By mid April, the NYwatertaxi.com would be running, or do a Circle Line cruise or nywaterway.com has some.

All Broadway shows have group ticket sales and should be listed on their individual websites. Gocitykids.com will have some other interesting options by date.

The Travel Inn is a moderately priced hotel in Midtown Manhattan that has FREE parking.

I'd seriously look into that hotel.