After 7 years of homeschooling my children I am down to my last 7 months and my remaining child will be finished with her 8th school year at home and officially graduated. She began learning at home at the beginning of her 5th grade school year while her brother began at the beginning of his 7th grade school year and has been attending college since last fall. It’s a strange place to be in and if you’re a veteran home education parent you probably understand. This has been a journey and its been wonderful. There is some relief in being done as well as…what now? I’m excited and maybe a bit sad at the same time. Even brick and mortar school parents feel this way, except my job for 7 years has been that of home educator, supervisor, instructor, counselor, administrator, etc. My job is ending. My children aren’t leaving the nest yet, and that will be a whole other experience. My son attends a somewhat local school so he’s able to live at home to help him save money. My daughter is still undecided what she wants to do post graduation, and that’s okay. Right now she is thinking of working for now and decide on school or whatever later and not rush in to anything. Even her brother ended up changing his mind in college by changing his major (completely normal).
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Homeschool choices in curriculum and areas of study
What are Highschool Credits
It’s the end of September already. My home education program for my remaining child has been in full swing for a month. That’s not to say she didn’t have learning happening prior to beginning her curriculum work, because going to the gym 3 days a week, working 4 days a week, and church/youth group 2 days a week all counts. That doesn’t even take in account the work she does at home. Segway into the topic I see come up frequently about how much time needs to be spent on school; what counts, is it enough?
There is a misconception that once they reach high school you have to change your approach, or you have to complete so many hours of work for it to “count”. I always direct people to the law text. There is absolutely no mention of that information that people are passing around in homeschooling groups.
You’ll find the law text below:
Continue reading“(c) A child who is enrolled in a home education program and whose education is therefore under the direct supervision of his parent, guardian or other person having legal custody shall be deemed to have met the requirements of section 1327 if that home education program provides a minimum of one hundred eighty (180) days of instruction or nine hundred (900) hours of instruction per year at the elementary level, or nine hundred ninety (990) hours per year at the secondary level:
(1) At the elementary school level, the following courses shall be taught: English, to include spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; civics; safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires; health and physiology; physical education; music; and art.
(2) At the secondary school level, the following courses shall be taught: English, to include language, literature, speech and composition; science; geography; social studies, to include civics, world history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; mathematics, to include general mathematics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical education; health; and safety education, including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires. Such courses of study may include, at the discretion of the supervisor of the home education program, economics; biology; chemistry; foreign languages; trigonometry; or other age-appropriate courses as contained in Chapter 5 (Curriculum Requirements) of the State Board of Education.
(d) The following minimum courses in grades nine through twelve are established as a requirement for graduation in a home education program:
(1) Four years of English.
(2) Three years of mathematics.
(3) Three years of science.
(4) Three years of social studies.
(5) Two years of arts and humanities.”
1949 Act 14 Section 1327.1 Home Education Program
Ready for a new school year?
Welcome back! I hope that my recent posts have helped you in some way or were useful for you to guide new homeschool families or those who just don’t understand Pennsylvania’s home education law. Remember that if you are a returning home educating family in PA you need to have your notarized affidavit and generic academic objectives submitted by AUGUST 1st. That’s coming up. Your affidavit can contain all the names and ages of your children that you are opting to home educate. You will however need an objectives list for each, unless this is contained into your affidavit (I’ve seen this before, but it’s now how I do it, I send an attachment). Also note that many families are opting for the unsworn declaration in lieu of the notarized affidavit. I have examples of both of these forms here. If you are new to home educating in this state, you’ve come to the right place. Please have a look around my blog, but start with reading the actual law text. Then read my articles if you want more information or tips/advice. My blog is a work in progress. I’m always trying to make things easier for you to find what you are looking for. I provide a lot of resources for you and this information is all for free. Remember I’m not a lawyer, I’m a home educating parent just like you. This is my 7th year. I have just graduated my first teenager and I have one teenager to go. Homeschooling high school is not hard. It’s actually not different than the elementary years. In fact, I find it easier. I think I’ve enjoyed home educating more than my children…as in, I have enjoyed everything I’ve learned from their curriculum, and what I learned about my own children and finding ways to make learning fun.
Continue readingFree Forms
If you haven’t checked out this entire blog, I wanted to direct you to a few resources contained here. I have a link to free forms that you can, and should use for your homeschool record keeping. You can take a look and use them or get an idea of how to create your own. I have not only renamed this area but I have updated all the forms I created. There you can find a free transcript, affidavit, evaluation letters, reading materials log, an attendance record (not required), and a simple report card if you choose to use one (if I use one it’s sole purpose is for keeping a record in their academic record). I have also included forms from other places (of which many I can’t recall from where or I’d link the source) for your generic objectives that are required to be included with your affidavit and alternate affidavit, as well as the PDE diploma and immunization record (if you wish to use it). Your 12th grade evaluator needs to sign the PDE diploma. The Pennsylvania Department of Education has approved this diploma to be the “acceptable” parent-issued diploma. My suggestion is to print it, get it signed and in the event a college or some other entity requires a copy of their diploma you’ll have it. This does not mean you can’t make and issue your own and provide your graduate with that one for them to keep, but they should keep the PDE one as well.
Below are screenshots of some of the items mentioned. Visit the Free Forms page to download them.
Below is what the home education law states about the diploma:
(d.1) (1) Notwithstanding any provision of this act or any other law or regulation to the contrary, a high school diploma awarded by a supervisor or an approved diploma-granting organization shall be considered as having all the rights and privileges afforded by the Commonwealth, a Commonwealth agency, including, but not limited to, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, a political subdivision, a local agency and an authority or instrumentality of the Commonwealth or a political subdivision to a high school diploma awarded under this act, subject to subparagraphs (i) and (ii): (i) In the case of a diploma awarded by a supervisor the following shall apply: (A) The student receiving the diploma shall have completed all
Home Education Law Text
the requirements in subsection (d) while enrolled in a home education program that is in compliance with this section. (B) The diploma shall be awarded to the student on a standardized form to be developed by the department and which shall be made available on the department’s publicly accessible Internet website. (C) The diploma shall be signed by the student’s twelfth grade evaluator in confirmation of the student’s suitability for graduation. (ii) In the case of a diploma awarded by an approved diploma granting organization the following shall apply: (A) The student receiving the diploma shall have completed all
the requirements in subsection (d) while enrolled in a home education program that is in compliance with this section. (B) The diploma shall be awarded to the student on a standardized form to be developed by the organization. (2) The department shall establish eligibility criteria and an application process for approving diploma-granting organizations to award high school diplomas to students enrolled in home education programs. The department shall maintain a list of approved diploma-granting organizations and post the list on the department’s publicly accessible Internet website.
You can do a search on topics such as curriculum, transcripts, reviews, portfolio, etc and find articles I’ve written since I began the blog in 2017. Please always make sure to follow the latest article for the most up to date information. There is a drop down list for you to select months/years of articles made as well as a tag block for you to click directly onto the topic of interest. Keep in mind that the blog may look different on different devices. You can always view the blog on your browser in desktop mode. I will be working on making the blog easier to navigate so keep an eye out for those changes. I plan to keep the blog current for as long as I have a child that I am homeschooling in the state of Pennsylvania. After that time remains to be seen. Rest assured though that I still have one remaining teenager with 2 more years highschool to go, so updates will continue, Lord willing. Everything I offer here is free to use, however as I am the content creator of the articles, I do retain the copyright to the articles I post. Please do share with others anything you find helpful but always supply the link to this blog. I receive no compensation for the information I have shared. My blog is only to help others navigate home education in the state of PA and perhaps my reviews can be helpful for anyone. Please do check out the other resources I have supplied for you in the Resources section of this blog.
10th and 12th curriculum review
It’s November! The leaves have changed and already fell off most of our trees here in the mountainous region of Pennsylvania. We are three months in to beginning our curriculum for 10th and 12th grades. I wanted to make a post to review how it’s going so far. What I like, what I don’t like, what they like, and what they don’t like. See my previous post where I detail what curriculum we decided to use this year. I find homeschooling highschool quite easy. I know so many parents (by what I see in homeschool groups) feel so intimidated with these years but I find it to be a lot less work for me personally as they quite literally work independently and it should be encouraged for them to do so. The only parts I am still heavily involved in is Bible study, adding curriculum as needed, and grading work and keeping my files up to date and organized. This has afforded me more time for doing basically whatever I want to. I’ve personally been teaching myself to play the ukulele since June. If, by the way, that interests you or your children, YouTube has so many very helpful people who post content on the basics of playing. Then of course there is a ton of online information as well as books you can buy. The hardest part is picking your ukulele.
Let’s start with Science – they have been using the Master Books kit called “Survey of Science”. It includes, The World of Mathematics, The World of Physics, The World of Chemistry and The World of Biology. They have completed The World of Mathematics so far. I don’t feel like they learned anything new really, but I feel like it was foundational to the rest of the curriculum. It’s math and neither teen enjoys math, so not their favorite. Master Books lists this as for grades 9-12. I think that is pretty on par. My 10th grader didn’t struggle too much and my 12th grader still had some challenging math but overall I think it’s probably best for 9th-10th grade unless your teen generally has more trouble with upper level math and better suited once they master it. It’s my opinion though that this is foundational to the rest of the series, but I may have a better idea of that as they progress. So even if it’s review it will probably be helpful. The next book is The World of Physics. No review yet as they just started. I do feel like a lot will be review for them only because they have been exposed to Physics in previous years with other curriculum that covered all areas of science. You could really consider this course a General Science course for 1 credit of Science. If it didn’t also include Biology you could call it Physical Science, but Biology is not generally included in such a course, but you’re the supervisor, call it what you like. It only matters if you’re creating a transcript that can be used to give to prospective colleges.
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