Homeschool Requirements in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's homeschool law is detailed but clear. You file an affidavit with your school district, keep a portfolio, and have an evaluator review your year. Here's the whole year, step by step, in plain English.

Natalie Riggs

Homeschool mom of two and co-founder of Packet Day

✓ Last verified October 2026 against the Pennsylvania School Code and education.pa.gov

Pennsylvania affidavits go to your district superintendent before you start and by August 1 each year. Your evaluator's certification is due by June 30.

The short answer ⚡

Yes. File a notarized affidavit with your district superintendent before you start and by August 1 each year. Keep a portfolio, test in grades 3, 5 and 8, and send an evaluator's certification by June 30.

Pennsylvania at a glance 📋

Notify the district: Yes; An affidavit before you start and by August 1 each year
Supervisor: Required; A high school diploma or its equivalent
Portfolio: Yes; Kept by you and reviewed by your evaluator
Annual evaluation: Yes; Your evaluator's certification to the district by June 30
Testing: Grades 3, 5, 8; Reading and math, not given by a parent
Days or hours: Yes; 180 days or 900 hours at the elementary level, or 990 hours at the secondary level
Health records: Yes; Submitted with the affidavit

Pick your path 🛤️

PDE lists several options for Pennsylvania families. This guide covers the home education program; here are the others in one line each:

At home

1. Home education program

You, as the supervisor, run the program and file an affidavit with your school district. Under the School Code, a home education program isn't a nonpublic school.

Tutor option

2. Private tutoring

A properly qualified private tutor is a separate legal option, with its own duties to report the children they tutor to the school district.

School options

3. Public, charter, cyber charter, or private school

PDE lists public schools, which are free and include charter, cyber charter and career and technical schools, along with private schools.

Good to know

4. Private cyber schools

PDE says non-public, private cyber schools aren't registered with PDE, and their diplomas aren't state recognized.

Your Pennsylvania school year, step by step 🗓️

The school year for homeschool paperwork runs July 1 to June 30. Your district collects just two things, the affidavit and the evaluator's certification. The portfolio stays with you.

What goes in your affidavit

The supervisor's name
Each child's name and age
Your home education program's address and phone number
That the required subjects are taught in English, with an outline of proposed education objectives by subject
Health evidence. The law asks for "evidence that the child has been immunized in accordance with the provisions of section 1303(a) and has received the health and medical services required for students of the child's age or grade level in Article XIV"
That the program will comply with the law
A certification, signed by the supervisor, that the supervisor, all adults living in the home, and anyone with legal custody of the children haven't been convicted of the offenses listed in section 111(e) of the School Code within the five years before the affidavit's date
Notarized. PDE also accepts an unsworn declaration, signed under penalty of perjury with no notary needed, and publishes templates for it.

Before you start, and by August 1 every year: file your affidavit with your district superintendent, with the health attachments.
All year: keep your portfolio log as you teach, naming reading materials by title, plus samples of your child's work.
In grades 3, 5 and 8: test reading and language arts plus math with the PSSA (free at your district) or a PDE approved test (at your cost). A parent can't give the test.
Near the end of the year: your evaluator interviews your child and reviews the portfolio.
By June 30: give the evaluator's certification that an appropriate education is occurring to your superintendent.
If it's late: the superintendent sends a certified letter, and you have 10 days before the school board provides for a hearing.

Who can be your evaluator

A licensed clinical or school psychologist
A Pennsylvania certified teacher, with experience at your child's level
A nonpublic school teacher or administrator with at least two years of teaching in a Pennsylvania public or nonpublic school within the last ten years
Someone else, only with your superintendent's prior consent
Never the supervisor or their spouse

PDE approved tests, if you skip the PSSA

California Achievement Test; Comprehensive Testing Program (CTPIV); Iowa Test of Basic Skills; Measures of Academic Progress (MAP); Metropolitan Achievement Test; Peabody Achievement Individual Test, Revised Version; Stanford Achievement Test; Terra Nova; Woodcock-Johnson Revised Tests of Achievement; Woodcock-Johnson; Wechsler Individual Achievement Test

Health exams

Physicals, dental exams and health screenings at the grades the state sets go to the district with your affidavit. PDE's Home Education and Private Tutoring Guide has the details.

If your district questions your program

The superintendent sends a certified letter with the reason, and you have 30 days to submit an evaluation or a compliance certification
If needed, an impartial hearing examiner holds a hearing within 30 days and decides within 15; a mutually agreed remedial plan can keep your program going
Your program may continue during any appeal

Moving to another Pennsylvania district

Request a letter of transfer by registered mail 30 days before you move, then file it with your new superintendent

Source: Public School Code §1327.1 (24 P.S. §13-1327.1)

Want this as a printable? Get the free Pennsylvania checklist.

Records to keep 🗂️

Pennsylvania requires you to keep a portfolio and your evaluation on file. You keep them; since Act 196 of 2014, the district doesn't collect the portfolio.

A log written as you teach naming the reading materials by title
Samples of your child's work writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials
Test results in grades 3, 5 and 8 reading and language arts plus math
Your evaluator's written evaluation

A three ring binder with tabs for the log, test results, work samples and evaluation keeps it simple.

Testing: what Pennsylvania actually requires 🧪

In grades 3, 5 and 8, your portfolio includes reading and language arts plus math results from the statewide tests (PSSA) or a PDE approved nationally normed test. The parent can't give the test.

The PSSA is free at your school district; an alternative test is at your cost, and you don't have to give a reason for choosing one. Results go in your portfolio for your evaluator; the district doesn't collect the portfolio.

What to teach 📚

The School Code lists the required courses by level. You choose the materials, and the objectives outline on your affidavit can't be used to judge compliance.

Elementary (K to 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; and art
Secondary (7 to 12): English, including language, literature, speech and composition; science; geography; social studies, including civics, world history, and history of the United States and Pennsylvania; mathematics, including general mathematics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical education; health; and safety education, including fire prevention
Optional secondary courses: economics, biology, chemistry, foreign languages, trigonometry, or other age appropriate courses, at the supervisor's discretion
To graduate (grades 9 to 12): four years of English, three of mathematics, three of science, three of social studies, and two of arts and humanities

Days and hours, in the law's words: "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."

6 mistakes new Pennsylvania homeschoolers make ⚠️

1. Starting before filing the affidavit.
The affidavit is filed before your home education program begins, then renewed by August 1 every year.
2. Leaving out the health attachments.
The affidavit must include evidence of immunization and of the health and medical services required for your child's age or grade level.
3. Writing the log later.
The law says the log is made contemporaneously with the instruction, meaning as you go, and names reading materials by title.
4. Giving the grade 3, 5 or 8 test yourself.
The statewide or alternative test can't be administered by the child's parent or guardian.
5. Choosing yourself or your spouse as evaluator, or missing June 30.
The evaluator can never be the supervisor or their spouse, and the certification is due to your superintendent by June 30.
6. Moving districts without a letter of transfer.
Request it by registered mail 30 days before you move, then file it with your new superintendent.

Pennsylvania homeschool FAQ 💬

Do I need to notify anyone to homeschool in Pennsylvania?

Yes. Before you start, and then by August 1 every year, file a notarized affidavit (or the unsworn declaration PDE accepts) with the superintendent of your school district of residence. It covers the July 1 to June 30 school year and includes your objectives outline, health records, and a signed criminal history certification.

What goes in a Pennsylvania homeschool affidavit?

The supervisor's name; each child's name and age; your address and phone; a statement that required subjects are taught in English, with an outline of objectives by subject; immunization and health evidence; a promise to follow the law; and a signed certification about criminal convictions in the past five years.

Who can homeschool in Pennsylvania?

The supervisor, the parent, guardian or legal custodian running the program, needs a high school diploma or its equivalent. The affidavit also certifies that the supervisor, all adults in the home, and anyone with legal custody haven't been convicted of the offenses listed in section 111(e) within five years.

What does a Pennsylvania homeschool portfolio include?

A log written as you teach, naming reading materials by title; samples of your child's writing, worksheets, workbooks or creative work; and, in grades 3, 5 and 8, standardized test results in reading and math. You keep it; your evaluator reviews it. Since Act 196 of 2014, districts don't collect it.

Who can be my child's evaluator?

A licensed clinical or school psychologist, a Pennsylvania certified teacher, or a nonpublic school teacher or administrator with two years of Pennsylvania teaching in the last ten. Others need the superintendent's prior consent. The evaluator interviews your child, reviews the portfolio, and can never be you or your spouse.

When is the Pennsylvania homeschool evaluation due?

Give your evaluator's certification that an appropriate education is occurring to your district superintendent by June 30 each year. If it's late, the superintendent sends a certified letter, and you have ten days to submit it before the school board schedules a hearing.

Do Pennsylvania homeschoolers take standardized tests?

In grades 3, 5 and 8, yes: reading and language arts plus math, using the free statewide PSSA at your district or a PDE approved test at your own cost. A parent can't give the test, and the results go in your portfolio for the evaluator.

How many days or hours do I need?

The law asks for a minimum of 180 days of instruction or 900 hours a year at the elementary level, or 990 hours a year at the secondary level. PDE says that if you track days, your portfolio doesn't need to list hours for each day.

Get your free Pennsylvania checklist ✅

We turned this whole page into a 1 page printable checklist: every affidavit step, every portfolio piece, every evaluation deadline. Stick it in your homeschool binder and you're covered.

Plus, make your first learning packet free. 11 to 17 pages, generated around your kiddo in a minute or two.

Sources 📖

Public School Code §1327.1: Home Education Program (checked October 2026)
PDE: Home Education and Private Tutoring Guide (May 2026) (checked October 2026)
PDE: Home Education Program BEC (checked October 2026)
42 Pa.C.S. §6204: Validity of unsworn declaration (checked October 2026)

Last verified October 2026. Requirements are summarized from the sources above.

This page summarizes public information for general reference. It is not legal advice. Laws change; confirm current requirements with your school district, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, or a qualified attorney before making decisions for your family.

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