(Edited to add information January 5, 2024)

This year has been different to say the least. I began to homeschool both of my children in the start of their 5th and 7th grade school years. My oldest completed homeschool in the spring of this year and in the summer of this year he began college. My youngest is working through her 11th grade school year. I used to be a lot more involved in their school day, as in, I would do several of the classes with them. Bible, science, and history were three I typically did along with them, or taught them, not to mention the years I taught them art or cooking and sewing to my daughter. As they advanced through their ages and grades, I began to be less hands on in favor of them doing more studies on their own to teach more independence and accountability. I still enjoyed teaching them art but sadly they both lost interest and wanted to study other things. My homeschool mentality has always been to create a program that suits their individual wants, likes, talent, and interests. As such, I developed programs of study they wanted to learn, not what I wanted to teach them, aside from faith building and Bible reading which is a “required course” in my homeschool program. That is by far the most important subject they need to learn, continue to study, and build on.

So, this year has looked a lot different than previous years. My daughter is on her own now, where typically the two of them did most of their courses together. This was in part to save me money from buying multiple textbooks of which I already have a stack of previous books I can’t seem to get rid of (not because I want to keep them, but lack of interest from anyone). This is the “dark side” of home educating; all the stuff you acquire over the years that you either need to throw away, attempt to sell, or give away if you happen to find anyone who actually wants your used books. I never let my children write in the textbooks or mark them up in any way in the hope I’d be able to pass them on to another family. But I have yet to find another family or families who want them, even though I will donate them for free. It’s the only negative to this entire journey. Despite the crates full of unwanted textbooks, the collection of school and art supplies no longer needed, this journey has been the most rewarding thing I’ve done, not just for my children, but for me. As God wills, my daughter will complete her last homeschool year in the next school year. Per the law she needs only to complete another year of English to meet the graduation requirements. She will, however, do more than English. If you have questions about the requirements, please visit my other posts, and my page on the PA Law.

In the future I am not certain what will become of my blog. I may leave it up as a resource and if I am able, I may update it when things inevitably change in the state. I may convert it to something else and leave a section of it for homeschool information in PA. I’m not sure yet. Speaking of changes, I wanted to mention that things are getting sticky in the state of PA, particularly with the Pleasant Valley School District. The district has become one of the most hostile in the state towards homeschool families. I can’t say if other families in other districts are experiencing the same level of hostile letters and threats as parents in the named district are. I spoke on this topic in my post, The Lies Districts Tell. They began their unlawful demands for additional paperwork and threats to law abiding parents back in August. Some who were members of the HSLDA contacted them for guidance. It’s my belief that little was done at that time. Parents were told by the HSLDA to show up at the next school board meeting. This had absolutely no affect. What did happen was the following month the school sent another unlawful letter with threats demanding additional documents outside the affidavit and objectives. They were disregarding the law entirely. Again, members of the HSLDA contacted them. I do believe a letter was sent at that time. It seemed to stop, until I was just informed that yet another letter was sent to home educating parents. This time it was mailed certified, and my understanding is that it was demanding the same documents or more legal action, again. Once more, members contacted the HSLDA.

It is my understanding parents were told that this school district is prepared to litigate this is court. So, that’s where that stands at nearly the end of 2023. It will be something to watch for in 2024. Whatever happens there could affect all homeschool families in the whole state of PA. If you have a difficult school district this year as well, you’re not alone. My district never gave us any grief in all the years I’ve been doing this, until this year. You can be confident this is about money and politics. Follow what the PA Home Education Law says. Find a lawyer that will fight for you who understands the PA Home Education Law. (that’s not easy) Make sure that you know it yourself inside out and backwards. Make sure that you know all the school codes that affect you, that are directly linked to the Pa home education law, as well as the health code that is also linked to it. I provide all this information within my blog posts. READ THIS and THIS. I encourage all parents to submit the least as required by law and wait and see if anything comes from the district after. Do not answer phone calls or emails or letters that do not come certified mail with the superintendent’s reasonable belief you’re out of compliance. By law, you don’t have to. I also recommend that you do not send the law text to the district. They are required to know it and follow it, the same as you. If you do respond to them, the least I would do is tell them to refer to the state home education law. In my situation, with repeated letters, not certified, I finally decided as to not be harassed any longer (or hoping not to be), to copy and paste the text from my affidavit with a reference to the home education law text (without giving them the text). Make no mistake, this is bullying and absolute harassment when they continually make threats and refuse to follow the proper procedure spelled out in the law. This is a decision each family needs to make. How to handle a district like that. So far I have not received anything else. I did mention in my response that I was disappointed in their harassments and threats of law abiding parents.

Go ahead and call them out on their behavior and let them know you are aware of what the law says is required of you if you’ve chosen to respond. Keep in mind that just because a demand or request was made by certified mail also does not mean you are required to give it. It means you are required to respond. They are required to show reasonable doubt you are out of compliance. Demanding extra medical documents without evidence of a reasonable doubt of being out of compliance, in my opinion, does not fit the bill. They will be hard pressed to find where home educating parents in PA are required to send medical records according to the home education law passed by the PA general assembly. Just because they want it, doesn’t mean you have to give it. Do what is legal, and what is comfortable for your family but I caution overcompliance because the fact is, that’s in part why this could be happening, on top of the current state administration.

John 8:12 ” Jesus spoke to them again: ” I am the light of the world. Ayone who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. “

If you don’t want to live in darkness, you need to put your trust in Jesus and submit to him today.