Seven years complete

As the title of this post indicates, this was my 7th school year of home educating my children. My oldest graduated last school year, his 6th and final year of education at home. He has now completed his 1st year of college where he has done very well. My youngest is completing her 7th year of home education, which is her 11th grade year by public school standards. One more year to go. Her 12th grade year is going to allow her pretty much customization in her studies. She needs to only do English and another history course to fulfill the laws graduation requirements. She is planning on taking another year of Science because she likes it. She does not yet know what she will do post graduation. It is something we are still figuring out. Not all kids have this figured out by 12th grade or even at graduation. It’s okay. If they don’t know, they shouldn’t rush into anything or randomly pick something. Getting a job that gives as many hours as possible is not a bad thing, it doesn’t matter what the job is, even that means having 2 part time jobs if you can’t find one that provides enough. Work experience is never a bad thing. One of the issues is she has several interests. She would rather do something creative, but worried about how that pays the bills. This is always the case with creative persons who enjoy artistic endeavors. Many, like myself, end up choosing to get into a different field solely because they don’t think they can ever earn money with their artistry. I won’t sugar coat it, there is a real possibility of it being difficult, not impossible, but more challenging.

So, onto what I liked and didn’t like this 7th year, my daughters 11th grade year.

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What do I submit?

Now that my oldest is officially graduated from the home education program, I sent off my evaluation letters for both of my children and my notarized affidavit and objectives for my remaining child for the 2023-2024 school year. You will see to the left what the notarization should contain at the bottom of your affidavit. As I explained previously, I opted to go ahead and pay for notarization instead of using the unsworn declaration that many homeschool parents are opting to use this year based on a change in the PA State Laws by the former governor. The Home School Legal Defense group has sent out a statement saying that it is acceptable to fulfill the home education law. I feel like I am better protected by following the home education law as it explicitly states, “the affidavit shall be satisfactory evidence thereof”.

To the right you will see what you MUST add to your unsworn declaration in order for it to be valid. For your consideration, when I went to the notary yesterday, she told me she’s been getting a lot of these affidavits, which means there are many in my district at least that are opting for notarization.

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The portfolio and evaluation

EDITED on 5/16/2022 to add additional information

Today I wanted to make a quick (we’ll see about that!) post about complying with the Pennsylvania Home Education Law in way of the portfolio and the evaluation. I hope this helps answer questions that many, many, parents have. I have seen these questions asked numerous times and I have seen well-meaning parents give inaccurate information, sometimes even illegal information. As I say often in my posts, if you want to homeschool in the state of Pennsylvania (or in your home state) the very first thing you need to do is read the law and than, read it again. The law tells you exactly the process and what is expected by you and by your evaluator and by your school district. Nothing needs to be added and should not be and nothing for sure should be subtracted because that is breaking the law. When you add or take away from what the law says, you are only hurting the homeschool community. When governing authorities see the law not being followed they will adjust accordingly and most likely it will not be in favor of homeschool families. So your first act, go here and read the law and make yourself a copy. Review the law often. Don’t take just the word of me, or other parents, no matter how long they have been homeschooling. Always, always, check what the law says and compare that to what you’re being told. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not up to your evaluator or your school district what you should or should not include. If you are part of a diploma program they will un-doubtably ask for more than the law requires, but that is your choice to follow their additional rules. I’m not going to mention any of those programs because I don’t use them and see no need for them for my family.

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