Pennsylvania has one of the most paperwork-heavy homeschool frameworks in the country, and almost all of that paperwork lives in one place: the portfolio. If you understand what the portfolio must contain and who reviews it, the rest of Pennsylvania's rules fall into a predictable annual rhythm. This guide walks through Act 169 step by step — the affidavit, required subjects, instruction time, the portfolio itself, the evaluator, testing years, and diplomas.
Quick Answer
Home education in Pennsylvania is governed by Act 169 of 1988 (24 P.S. §13-1327.1). A parent files a notarized affidavit with the local school district superintendent before starting, and again by August 1 each year. You teach the required subjects for 180 days or 900 hours at elementary level (990 hours at secondary), keep a portfolio of work samples and a reading log, have that portfolio reviewed annually by a qualified evaluator, and submit the evaluator's written certificate to the superintendent by June 30. Standardized testing is required in grades 3, 5 and 8.
TL;DR
- The affidavit is notification, not permission. It must be notarized and filed before instruction begins, then renewed every August 1 with immunization records, medical/dental records, and an outline of educational objectives. Walk through the filing steps
- You choose days or hours. Either 180 days of instruction or 900 hours (elementary) / 990 hours (secondary) — most families log hours because it bends around travel and real life. See how the counting works
- The portfolio has three statutory parts: a log of reading materials, samples of the child's work, and standardized test results for the applicable grades. Open the portfolio checklist
- A qualified evaluator reviews the portfolio and interviews your child, then writes a certificate stating an appropriate education is occurring — due to the superintendent by June 30. Check who qualifies as an evaluator
- Pennsylvania recognizes a parent-issued home education diploma under Act 196 of 2014, alongside diploma-issuing agencies and cyber charter routes. Compare the diploma pathways
In This Article
- What Does Pennsylvania's Act 169 Actually Require?
- How Do You File the PA Homeschool Affidavit?
- Which Subjects Must a PA Home Education Program Cover?
- 180 Days or 900 Hours: How Do You Count Instruction Time?
- What Goes In the Pennsylvania Homeschool Portfolio?
- Who Can Be Your Evaluator, and What Happens at the Evaluation?
- When Is Standardized Testing Required in Pennsylvania?
- How Do PA Homeschoolers Graduate and Get a Diploma?
- How Does Pennsylvania Compare to Other States?
- Keeping the Paperwork Current Without Losing Your Weekends
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Does Pennsylvania's Act 169 Actually Require?
Act 169 of 1988, written into the Public School Code at 24 P.S. §13-1327.1, created a specific legal category for home education in Pennsylvania and set out exactly what a family must do to stay compliant. It is prescriptive by design: the statute names the supervisor, the subjects, the instruction time, the records, and the annual review.
A home education program is a Pennsylvania-recognized instructional program conducted by a parent or guardian, or another adult with legal custody, for their own children. The adult who runs it is called the supervisor, and the statute requires that person to hold a high school diploma or its equivalent.
That single word — supervisor — matters more than it looks. Pennsylvania's paperwork is built around one named adult who takes responsibility for the program, signs the affidavit, keeps the portfolio and ultimately issues the diploma.
Is Act 169 the only legal way to homeschool in PA?
No. Pennsylvania families have three main routes, and Act 169 is simply the most common one.
- Home education program (Act 169) — the parent supervises, files the affidavit, keeps the portfolio and arranges the annual evaluation.
- Private tutor — instruction delivered by a Pennsylvania-certified teacher who is paid to teach the children of one family. The tutoring route carries different reporting duties and no parent-kept portfolio requirement.
- Day school or church school — enrolling in a licensed private school or a religious day school, including some that operate as satellite or umbrella programs.
A fourth option, cyber charter school, is technically public school at home rather than homeschooling, so Act 169 does not apply.
Why is Pennsylvania considered high-regulation?
Pennsylvania asks for more than most states: advance notarized notice, specified subjects, minimum instruction time, a maintained portfolio, annual third-party evaluation, and achievement testing in three grade years. Few states combine all six. If you are mapping how this compares nationally, our breakdown of homeschooling requirements by state places each state into a regulation tier.
⚠️ Verify before you file. This is a general guide, not legal advice. Statutory details and district procedures change, so confirm current requirements with the Pennsylvania Department of Education's home education guidance and your own superintendent's office before you submit anything.
How Do You File the PA Homeschool Affidavit?
You file a notarized affidavit with the superintendent of your district of residence before instruction begins, and then again by August 1 every year the program continues. The district does not approve or reject it — the affidavit is notification, not an application.
What has to be attached to the affidavit?
The statute asks for a specific bundle, and incomplete bundles are the most common reason a district writes back.
- The notarized affidavit itself — naming the supervisor, confirming the subjects will be taught in English, and attesting that the supervisor and any adults living in the home have no disqualifying criminal convictions within the period the statute specifies.
- An outline of proposed educational objectives, organized by subject area, for each child in the program.
- Evidence of immunization, or a properly filed exemption.
- Evidence of required health and medical services — the medical and dental examinations Pennsylvania requires at certain grade levels.
The objectives outline trips up new families most. It is a planning document, not a contract: a short paragraph or bulleted list per subject describing what the child will work toward that year is the normal format.
What if you start partway through the school year?
Pennsylvania expects the affidavit before instruction begins, whatever month that is. Families withdrawing a child mid-year typically notarize and file first, then start teaching the following day. Instruction time is prorated for the portion of the year remaining — you are not expected to produce a full 180 days in four months.
New to all of this? The affidavit sits inside a larger sequence of decisions, and the full start-homeschooling checklist covers the withdrawal letter, curriculum choice and first-month rhythm around it.
⚠️ Two deadlines, two different documents. The notarized affidavit is due by August 1. The evaluator's certificate is due by June 30. Missing the notary stamp or treating these as one filing is the most common compliance slip in Pennsylvania.
Which Subjects Must a PA Home Education Program Cover?
Act 169 lists required subjects separately for elementary and secondary levels, and your objectives outline should map to those lists. The statute names subjects, not hours per subject, curricula or textbooks — how you teach each one is entirely your decision.
Required subjects are the specific areas of instruction Pennsylvania names in statute for each grade band, which a home education program must include in its course of study.
| Level | Required subjects named in statute |
|---|---|
| Elementary (K–6) | English — including spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; civics; safety education, including fire prevention; health and physiology; physical education; music; art |
| Secondary (7–12) | English — including language, literature, speech and composition; science; geography; social studies — including civics, world history, and the history and geography of the United States and Pennsylvania; mathematics — including general mathematics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical education; health; safety education, including fire prevention |
Do you have to teach every subject every year?
No. The statute describes a course of study across the grade band, not a weekly timetable. Families routinely rotate subjects — a heavy geography term followed by a heavy history term, for example — and cover art and music through ongoing projects rather than scheduled periods.
What matters at evaluation time is that your portfolio shows evidence across the required areas over the year as a whole.
How do you cover the Pennsylvania-specific content?
Pennsylvania history and geography appear in both grade bands, and they are easy to overlook with a national or imported curriculum. Practical approaches include:
- Local field trips with documentation — a dated photo and a short write-up from a historic site counts as a work sample.
- A state-focused unit study running alongside your main history spine.
- Civics tied to real events, such as following a local election or a municipal decision.
Our curriculum and subject guides cover how to build or source materials for each mandated area without buying a separate boxed program for every subject.
Key takeaway: Pennsylvania tells you what to teach, never how — the subject list is a coverage map for your portfolio, not a prescribed schedule.
180 Days or 900 Hours: How Do You Count Instruction Time?
Pennsylvania accepts either 180 days of instruction or 900 hours at the elementary level and 990 hours at the secondary level. You pick one standard and log against it — you do not have to satisfy both.
Most Pennsylvania families log hours. Hours bend around travel, illness, co-op days, long project days and the reality that a productive Saturday morning is still instruction. Days are simpler to tally but force you into an all-or-nothing judgement about what counts as a school day.
What counts as instruction time?
More than desk work. Commonly logged activities include:
- Direct teaching and independent study in any required subject
- Read-alouds and independent reading that feeds the reading log
- Co-op classes, tutoring sessions and outside lessons such as music or art instruction
- Field trips and museum visits with a documented learning connection
- Documented real-world learning — budgeting a grocery trip as applied arithmetic, for instance
A worked example makes the arithmetic obvious: five hours a day across 180 days lands exactly on 900 hours. Four hours a day across 225 days gets you to the same place with a lighter daily load.
For a practical comparison of logging methods — paper, spreadsheet or app — see our walkthrough on how to track homeschool hours.
Key takeaway: Choose days or hours at the start of the year and log consistently; switching standards mid-year leaves you reconstructing records in May.
What Goes In the Pennsylvania Homeschool Portfolio?
The portfolio is the heart of Pennsylvania compliance. Act 169 requires the supervisor to maintain a portfolio of records and materials containing three things: a log of reading materials used, samples of the child's work, and standardized test results for the grades where testing applies.
A home education portfolio is the documentary record of a Pennsylvania home education program for one child for one school year, assembled by the supervisor and reviewed annually by a qualified evaluator.
The statutory checklist
Work through this per child, per year:
- Reading log — a running list of materials used. Title, author and date read is the standard format. Include read-alouds, textbooks, library books, reference works and online reading.
- Work samples across the required subjects — worksheets, workbook pages, written compositions, maths pages, lab write-ups, creative materials, drawings, project photos.
- Standardized test results for grades 3, 5 and 8 only.
- Evidence of the instruction time standard you chose — the day count or hour log.
- A record of the subjects actually covered, so the evaluator can match the year against your objectives outline.
A simple, defensible sampling rhythm: three dated writing samples per quarter, a representative maths page per unit, and one photographed project per term per subject area. Date everything as you file it. Undated samples are the single biggest headache at evaluation.
Required versus what evaluators like to see
| Item | Required by statute | Commonly appreciated by evaluators |
|---|---|---|
| Log of reading materials | Yes | Short notes on what the child thought of each book |
| Samples of the child's work | Yes | Dated, spread across the full year, showing progression |
| Standardized test results (grades 3, 5, 8) | Yes | Brief parent note on context, since scores are not pass/fail |
| Instruction time log | Yes, as evidence of days or hours | A monthly summary page rather than raw daily entries |
| Objectives outline from the affidavit | Filed with the district | Included in the binder for easy cross-reference |
| Attendance-style summary by subject | No | A one-page year overview per subject |
| Photos of projects, trips and performances | No | Very helpful for art, music, PE and field-trip evidence |
| Child's own reflection or portfolio letter | No | Gives the evaluator a window into the interview |
Do you send the portfolio to the district?
Not routinely. You submit the evaluator's written certificate — not the binder. A superintendent may request the portfolio only where there is reason to believe an appropriate education is not occurring, and the statute lays out a defined process from there.
For formats and wording you can reuse in the binder, our homeschool progress report template with example wording shows how to summarize a term in a page.
Who Can Be Your Evaluator, and What Happens at the Evaluation?
Pennsylvania requires an annual written evaluation of the portfolio by a qualified evaluator, who then certifies whether an appropriate education is occurring.
A qualified evaluator is an individual meeting the credentials Act 169 specifies: a licensed clinical or school psychologist, a Pennsylvania-certified teacher with at least two years of teaching experience within the preceding ten years, or a non-public school teacher or administrator with at least two years of experience within the preceding ten years. The statute also places limits on using relatives, and certain categories require superintendent approval.
What actually happens at the evaluation?
The meeting is usually calmer than new families expect. A typical evaluation covers:
- Portfolio review — the evaluator reads through the reading log, work samples, hour or day log, and any test results.
- An interview with the child — often informal, asking what they have been reading, what they enjoyed, what was hard.
- A conversation with the supervisor about the year, the objectives and plans for next year.
- The written certificate, stating whether an appropriate education is occurring and that the required subjects were taught at the appropriate grade level.
When is the evaluator's certificate due?
The written evaluation must reach the superintendent by June 30. Evaluators book up through May and June, so families who want a particular evaluator usually arrange the appointment in the autumn.
What if the evaluation is negative?
A negative certificate does not end your program on the spot. The statute sets out a process in which the superintendent may request the portfolio, and there is a defined hearing route with an opportunity to correct deficiencies. In practice, evaluators generally raise concerns during the meeting and suggest what to strengthen before writing anything.
Key takeaway: Pick your evaluator early and ask what they want to see — most will tell you exactly how they like a portfolio organized, which makes the whole year easier.
When Is Standardized Testing Required in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania requires nationally normed standardized achievement testing in reading/language arts and mathematics in grades 3, 5 and 8 only. No testing is required in any other grade year.
Results go into the portfolio for the evaluator to see. They are not reported to the state and not sent to the district with the certificate.
Which tests are accepted?
Pennsylvania Department of Education guidance names a list of acceptable nationally normed achievement tests, which has historically included instruments such as the Iowa Assessments, the Stanford Achievement Test, the California Achievement Test, TerraNova and the Woodcock-Johnson. Test availability and publisher offerings change over time, so confirm the current accepted list with PDE and with your test provider before booking.
Who can administer the test?
Administration rules depend on the test. Some require a credentialed administrator; others may be given by the supervisor under specified conditions. Common arrangements include:
- Group testing through a homeschool co-op or support group, which often books a certified administrator for several families at once
- Individual administration by a qualified evaluator, bundled with the annual evaluation
- Online or proctored options offered by the test publisher
⚠️ Scores are not pass/fail. Pennsylvania does not set a cut score for home education students, and the district does not receive the results. The test is evidence for the portfolio, not a gate your child has to clear.
Testing years slot into a wider habit of keeping evidence, which our academic tracking, portfolios and reporting guides cover across subjects and grade bands.
How Do PA Homeschoolers Graduate and Get a Diploma?
Pennsylvania recognizes a home education diploma issued by the supervisor. Act 196 of 2014 established that a diploma issued by the supervisor of a home education program is treated as a high school diploma for purposes including employment and public post-secondary admission in the Commonwealth.
What are the secondary credit requirements?
For graduation from a home education program, the statute sets minimum credits: 4 in English, 3 in mathematics, 3 in science, 3 in social studies, and 2 in arts and humanities, alongside the general secondary subject list. A credit typically represents a year-long course of study.
Build the transcript as you go rather than at the end. Record course titles, credit values, grades or mastery notes, and a short course description for anything unconventional.
| Route | Who issues the diploma | Typically suits |
|---|---|---|
| Parent-issued home education diploma (Act 196) | The supervisor named on the affidavit | Families who want full control of the course of study and are comfortable building their own transcript |
| Diploma-issuing homeschool supervisory agency | A PA-recognized agency that reviews the student's work | Families who want an outside body to validate the record and handle diploma paperwork |
| Cyber charter school | The charter school, as a public school diploma | Families who prefer enrollment in a public program rather than running a home education program |
What do selective colleges want to see?
Admissions offices generally ask homeschooled applicants for more context, not less. Commonly requested items include:
- A transcript with course titles, credits and grades
- Course descriptions — a short paragraph on content and materials for each course
- Outside validation such as SAT/ACT scores, AP results, dual-enrollment college transcripts, or community college coursework
- A counselor-style letter from the supervisor describing the program
Dual enrollment is popular in Pennsylvania precisely because it produces an external transcript alongside the parent-issued one. Our guide to homeschool gradebooks, report cards and transcripts covers how to convert portfolio evidence into credit-bearing course entries.
Key takeaway: The diploma is only as strong as the records behind it — a transcript assembled from a maintained portfolio is far easier to defend than one reconstructed from memory in senior year.
How Does Pennsylvania Compare to Other States?
Pennsylvania sits in the most-regulated tier of US homeschool law, grouped with states like New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. At the other end, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Indiana require little or no contact with the state at all.
| Requirement | Pennsylvania | Texas (low regulation) | Ohio (moderate regulation) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice to the state or district | Notarized affidavit before starting and by August 1 annually | None required | Annual notification to the district |
| Specified subjects | Yes, listed by grade band in statute | Reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics, good citizenship | Yes, a specified subject list |
| Minimum instruction time | 180 days or 900/990 hours | None specified | 900 hours |
| Portfolio maintained | Yes, required by statute | No | Records kept, but no statutory portfolio |
| Annual third-party assessment | Yes, qualified evaluator certificate by June 30 | No | Yes, test results or a written narrative assessment |
| Standardized testing | Grades 3, 5 and 8 | No | Optional, as one assessment route |
Which state has the easiest homeschool laws?
States with no notification requirement are generally considered the easiest to homeschool in — a family can begin without filing anything. Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, New Jersey, Connecticut and Alaska have historically sat in that tier. Pennsylvania asks for considerably more, though the requirements are at least clearly written and predictable year to year.
Regulation level is worth checking before any interstate move, since the compliance calendar changes the moment you cross a line. Our state-by-state reference on homeschooling requirements by state lays out each tier.
Keeping the Paperwork Current Without Losing Your Weekends
The Pennsylvania portfolio is only painful when it is reconstructed in May. Families who file as they go spend minutes a week; families who leave it spend a frantic fortnight digging through drawers for undated worksheets.
A workable system looks like this:
- One folder or box per child, per year — every finished piece of work goes in on the day it is finished, dated.
- A running reading log kept where you actually read — a notebook on the shelf, a note on your phone, a shared document. Title, author, date.
- Photograph anything that will not fit in a binder — the volcano, the painting, the Lego bridge, the recital.
- A monthly hour or day tally, totalled on the last day of the month rather than reconstructed at year end.
- A 20-minute quarterly tidy-up — cull duplicates, add dates you missed, check each required subject has at least one sample.
That last discipline is what turns a shoebox into a portfolio. Four short sessions a year and the evaluator meeting becomes a conversation rather than an audit.
If you teach from a planning system that captures outcomes as you deliver the lesson, most of the documentation stops being a separate job. LearnSpark builds the lesson, then records what was covered and how it went against your child's mastery profile, so the subject coverage, work-sample notes and progress summaries you need for the evaluator accumulate while you teach — which means the time you would have spent rebuilding a year of evidence in June goes back to your family instead. You can see how that fits a Pennsylvania homeschool week on the page explaining how to keep records as you teach.
Key takeaway: Date everything on the day it happens. Nearly every Pennsylvania portfolio problem traces back to undated work.
Summary
Pennsylvania's Act 169 asks more of a homeschool family than most state laws, but the requirements are specific and repeatable: notarized affidavit by August 1, required subjects for the grade band, 180 days or 900/990 hours, a maintained portfolio of reading log and work samples, achievement testing in grades 3, 5 and 8, and a qualified evaluator's certificate to the superintendent by June 30. Graduation runs on a credit minimum of 4 English, 3 mathematics, 3 science, 3 social studies and 2 arts and humanities, with a parent-issued diploma recognized under Act 196. Build the portfolio weekly rather than annually, confirm current details with PDE and your district, and Pennsylvania's reputation for strictness becomes a manageable calendar rather than a burden.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which state has the easiest homeschool laws?
States with no notification requirement are generally regarded as the easiest. Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, New Jersey, Connecticut and Alaska have historically allowed families to begin home education without filing anything with the state or district. Pennsylvania sits at the opposite end, requiring a notarized affidavit, a maintained portfolio, an annual evaluator certificate and achievement testing in three grade years.
Is there $10,000 for parents who homeschool in Pennsylvania?
No. The viral claim about large payments to homeschooling parents refers to education savings account and voucher programs in states such as Arizona, Florida and West Virginia — not a federal payment and not a Pennsylvania home education benefit. Pennsylvania's EITC and OSTC tax-credit scholarship programs direct funds to private school tuition rather than to home education programs. For an accurate state-by-state picture of which states actually fund homeschoolers, check current program rules before budgeting around any of it.
Are there any states that ban homeschooling?
No US state bans homeschooling. It is legal in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, though the regulatory burden varies enormously from no notice at all to Pennsylvania's full affidavit-and-evaluation regime. Some countries restrict or effectively prohibit it — Germany and Sweden are the most frequently cited examples. "Tightly regulated" and "banned" are very different things, and Pennsylvania is firmly in the former category.
Should I homeschool my autistic child in Pennsylvania?
Many Pennsylvania families do, and that decision belongs to you and the professionals who know your child. Act 169 includes a provision for a special education home education program, in which the proposed educational objectives must be approved by a certified special education teacher or a licensed clinical or school psychologist. Families should also discuss with their district what services, if any, remain available while a child is in a home education program. Our topic hub on homeschooling kids with learning differences covers practical teaching approaches rather than clinical guidance.
Do I have to send my portfolio to the school district?
No, not routinely. The only document you submit annually is the evaluator's written certificate, due to the superintendent by June 30. A superintendent may request the portfolio where there is reason to believe an appropriate education is not occurring, and Act 169 sets out a defined process and hearing route from that point. Keep the portfolio complete and available, but assume it stays at home.
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