NOTE: This post was edited on June 9, 2023 to reflect changes made to the home education law.

Here we are in June and our school year has been done for a month. We ended with 200 days (in Pennsylvania 180 are required, or you can count hours) on May 17th. We promptly had our required by state teacher evaluation the following week. Then last week I had our new affidavit notarized and handed everything into the school district. We are officially closed on the 2018-2019 school year. We can now officially begin our new year on July 1st. We typically won’t do a lot of academics, but we will count educational field trips, social outings and volunteer work as well as time spent finishing any work, we didn’t complete but want/need to and I again assigned summer reading to both children.

I’m ahead of the game this year as I’ve already purchased all of our curriculum for the next school year. I will talk about my choices in an upcoming post. But for today let me briefly, for anyone not familiar and maybe doesn’t want to, or has no time to look over my other posts, explain how to homeschool in Pennsylvania. First, read the homeschool law. Find it here. If you don’t understand something in the law, find other homeschoolers and ask questions. You may already know of local homeschoolers. I am going to stress homeschool, not cyber school. They are very different. PA approved cyber schools are public education at home and not subject to the same laws. Private, out-of-state, online schools are subject to the same home education laws as traditional homeschoolers are. If you ask your school district to clarify the law you may well be met with information that is NOT in the law and that you should not comply with, the same with asking the PA Department of Education. They are not the final authority on the homeschool law. The PDE interprets the law very differently than how it’s actually worded. Use caution. If you’re not a member of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, consider it, though use caution there too. I’ve been met with less than ideal advice from those who say they are in support of homeschoolers as they do tell you to comply with the requests by school district officials that are NOT written in the law. I’ve dealt with the HSLDA last year. My advice, only supply what the law requires and nothing more.

After you understand the homeschool law and you’re ready to start, here’s what you need to do. If you’re a new homeschooler you can file your notarized affidavit any time prior to starting your school year. The law currently says that you only need to start reporting your child at age 6, not before, and every year after, unless your child went to public school before age 6, then you need to file. If you’re a returning homeschooler you need to file your notarized affidavit by Aug 1st every year. Also, if you’re a returning homeschooler you need to have an evaluation done and submitted by June 30th every year. Though not in the law text, the PDE defines the school year to run July 1st through June 30th, but they don’t make laws. There is chatter that you can’t start counting days prior to turning in your affidavit, however the law just states you need to file your affidavit annually by August 1st after your first year. You can not begin your program if this is your first year until you file with the district, per the law text.

Lets talk about the notarized affidavit. You can find some forms here in my blog for your use. Many of them I’ve created myself, others I may have adapted, and others from other websites. Once you pick the affidavit, you’re comfortable with, fill it out and take it to a notary licensed here in the commonwealth. Some say they are able to have this done for free at certain locations, sometimes their banks, but I just take it to the same place you would have your car title transferred. Any notary will do. The cost should be minimal. They take your ID and record it and then they sign, date, stamp your affidavit. Once you do that, MAKE A COPY. Even if you don’t have a printer, make a digital copy but I recommend printing it later. Don’t turn in anything without first making a copy. You’ll want to copy your affidavit after it’s notarized, not before.

Once notarized and copied, and you have your list of required, generic, objectives (you can find those in my printable page too) attached, you can either mail or hand deliver. These are the ONLY papers required by law. Be sure to use an affidavit that says it is the evidence of health and medical services as well as immunizations and the fact you have a diploma and no criminal record. If it’s worded correctly no other documentation is required. Your district may push for immunization records and you won’t get support from the HSDLA on that, they will tell you to turn those in. My advice is try not sending them. If they ask, you choose how to respond. If you’re okay with turning them in, do it. If not you can perhaps point out the law or get your doctor to sign a statement saying they are up to date this way they don’t have the actual records. You can also of course still claim religious and medical exemptions but this is to be used only when you object to it being done (or medically can’t) not because you object to filing the paperwork. However you decide to turn in your documents, always make copies and always get a receipt. By mail sent them certified with a return receipt request. If your school doesn’t have receipts ready, make your own and ask them to sign it when you drop off your paperwork.

Now if you completed a school year you also need to send the district your letter from an approved by law, not school district, evaluator. There are several criteria to satisfy the law. Be sure you read it and ideally your evaluator also knows the law, if they don’t, they need to. I have an example of a simple evaluator letter with the ONLY things needed to be in the in my free forms. It doesn’t have to be complex. Your evaluator of your choosing might have his/her own letter they use, ask. In the event they don’t, take your own. The law does not say that evaluator credentials are required in your letter but you may run into issues from your district, this is common. You can fight that or you can give only minimal information, you decide.

Last year I ran into this problem and contacted HSLDA and they did not have my back. They supported the school, not the law and not me. I ended up providing my evaluator’s PPID number but nothing else. That satisfied them. If your teacher is a certified teacher in PA they will have such a number. Their certificate does not need to be active to evaluate. If your evaluator is not certified but meets the other qualifications, such as they are a private school teacher, they won’t have a PPID or certificate number. In this case the HSLDA will tell you to have your evaluator supply info, such as a statement, as to how/why they meet the law’s qualifications. However, that is poor advice in my opinion because that’s complying with something not written in the law. The advice from veteran homeschoolers is, as per law, if the school contacts you for any information via phone or standard mail, you simply don’t need to respond. They are required to send it certified mail and have a legitimate reason for concern. If they send back your evaluator’s letter and ask for over-compliance, you have a few options. You could simply send it back stating all the required information is there, or with a copy of the law and highlight the evaluator qualification section, or you could have your evaluator contact the district, or simply provide the PPID number. If they have a PPID the other information is available to them in the database, make them do the work because you already verified your evaluator is qualified per the law text. School districts don’t get to choose your evaluator, you do.

So that’s it. You need your evaluation, your notarized affidavit and your objectives for each child and you’re ready to begin. Make sure all your paperwork gets turned in on time. You might ask, but what do I need for my evaluation? Don’t over-complicate it. I use a small 3 ring binder, one for each child and I use dividers to separate by subject. I include 3-5 assignments from each subject. To show progress I use some from beginning, middle and end of the year. For English, I will include more because there is so much involved in that class. I’ll include a few writing pieces, some grammar worksheets/tests and a book report or two plus a list of all the books they’ve read. There is no way an evaluator can know everything you did in the course of the year. I know we cover much more material than I could fit into our portfolio. Your evaluator doesn’t want to sit there for hours going through every assignment. Whoever you choose will also interview your children and perhaps you as well, to get a better picture. Be sure to include, because the law requires it, any standardized test results from grades 3, 5 and 8. (We use the CAT test from Christian Liberty Press) It’s perfectly okay for you to interview evaluators before choosing someone that you feel comfortable with. If you have a friend or relative that meets the qualifications you can certainly use them. Anyone who meets the criteria can interview your children and look over your portfolio. They don’t need any special skills beyond what the law requires. Make sure you evaluator is able to evaluate your children at their grade levels which the law explains. Elementary level is described as grades K-6 and Secondary is grades 7-12. They must have the proper experience to evaluate those grades.

Our evaluation is done, and all my paperwork turned in. I have a great friend who’s been a certified teacher for years and taught at many grade levels. I value her opinion and took her tips she gave me last year and used them for the next year. She saw an improvement in my children’s work this year from last year. I credit my children for working at it, and for the curriculum we used. Writer’s in Residence by Apologia greatly helped my kids writing ability. It was a very different way to teach it (for me, but not different in how it’s done today apparently) but very effective.

Above all I know that God has been with us every day of our homeschool. God called me to this and I could not do it without him. We will now embark on our 3rd year and we are loving it. My next post I hope to show you what we are using for grades 7 and 9. Yes, I have a high-schooler! I hope to be able to review how those choices are going as the year progresses.

Happy summer! And remember your due dates, 1st time filers, anytime before you begin. If you’re a returning filer your due date for your evaluation is June 30th and your due date for your affidavit and objectives is August 1st. That’s it. Only 3 pieces of paper are required by law for one child. If you have multiple children you can put them all on the same affidavit and each one need an objective paper and evaluation. Keep your objectives very generic. Find it on my free forms page. The school does not need to know what curriculum you choose.