law text

understanding the homeschool law in PA

Graduation 2025

/ Holly Stoner / Leave a comment

Last month (May) my last child completed her home education and had her final law required evaluation. This has been a case of mixed emotions for me. I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to facilitate education of my children at home using the materials we wanted to use and what they wanted to study. I’ve enjoyed the freedom we had to shape our days any way we wanted and allowed them to explore topics they were interested in, all the while checking off the requirements in the law text. I got to watch my children grow and teach them my values and from our Christian worldview. I never minded the sacrifice of my time or money to do it. It was way beyond worth it to keep them out of the public school system. My children never suffered academically or socially. But now that chapter is over, so what’s next for this former homeschool mom? I just don’t know. Not yet. I wish in some respects that I was qualified to be an evaluator for other home educating families, but I wouldn’t meet the law requirements. I want to keep the resources here on my blog for however long they are relevant for anyone needing help or forms to print out. But, I also want to transition my blog into something more relevant to where I’m at right now. I have other blogs floating around the internet that I just am not going to resurrect and not ready to let this one go. For now, nothing is going to change but posts may cease until I decide on a direction to go.

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True or False

/ Holly Stoner / Leave a comment
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I’ve made many posts at this point on what is required to educate your children at home in the state of Pennsylvania according to the law passed by the PA General Assembly and signed by Gov. Casey in 1988 (Act 169-1988) with is various changes through the years (2014, 2019, and 2023). Unfortunately, there are still a number of people who refuse to actually read the law and instead just keep passing false information around to other parents. I recently covered many of the questions I see from new parents with factual answers, but today I want to address a bit more. I am following a number of state homeschool groups and the number of times I see the same questions is staggering. What’s worse are the wrong answers. Without further ado: (remember these are in ADDITION to questions I already answered for you)

True or False :

  • Someone told me that you must complete 80% of curriculum in order for it to count or for your year to be complete. FALSE I don’t know where this person got this information but it’s incorrect. The law never mentions curriculum. Curriculum isn’t required to homeschool. Curriculum usually is referring to text books and text books are not required. There are required courses to complete within grade levels, but how you accomplish that is up to you. I don’t understand this term of “counts” in the first place. If your child learned something, would that not “count”? Stop thinking like a public school. Your year is complete when you have completed the required number of days or hours if you choose to count those instead, it doesn’t matter how much workbook or textbook work you did.
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20 questions and answers

/ Holly Stoner / Leave a comment
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This post is going to attempt to show you the most frequently asked questions I see on social media platforms surrounding home education in Pennsylvania. I hope this answers most of them to the best of my ability and knowledge along side of the law text and public school codes. Over the years maintaining this blog I have posted and answered many questions. I have also extensively researched the home education law text along with the public school codes and health department codes, also referred to as regulations. Many refer to them as laws, but they are not laws because they were not passed by the state legislators. I do this as a service to anyone who is looking for help but doesn’t have time to look everything up or can’t find what they are looking for. I have maintained this blog while home educating my own children. I am not an attorney and I do not provide legal advice. If I miss something, please post a comment so I can possibly help answer your questions in regards to home education in the state of Pennsylvania. These are in no particular order.

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What are Highschool Credits

/ Holly Stoner / Leave a comment

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:

“(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
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The lies districts tell

/ Holly Stoner / Leave a comment

THIS IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY NOT LEGAL ADVICE ONLY THE AUTHOR’S OPINION

This needs to be pointed out once again because districts are sending out threats to law abiding home educating families in the state of Pennsylvania. I’m still waiting for my threatening letter. I don’t yet know if they are going to send them certified mail or not. That will determine what I do. They have once again, apparently, in my school district, sent out emails to parents full of misinformation and threats. They do not have my email address, so I didn’t get anything from them. Parents I know in my district, however, have. The information has been shared; therefore, I know what it contains. I want to make this point first: DO NOT OVERCOMPLY! If you give in to their demands that are outside the law because you are not informed or because you think it’s easier, you are making things worse for everyone. It might seem easier for you, but you are making it harder for me, and others who follow only the law, and later, you will regret it because it will affect you also.

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