PA

How to Start Homeschooling in Pennsylvania (2026)

Pennsylvania law requires a home education program supervisor to file a notarized affidavit with the school district superintendent before the program begins and each August 1, to provide 180 days or 900 hours (elementary) or 990 hours (secondary) of instruction, to keep a portfolio, and to provide an evaluator's certification by June 30 each year (Public School Code Section 1327.1).

Legal framework

Section 1327 of the Pennsylvania Public School Code of 1949 requires a child of compulsory school age to attend a day school teaching the subjects prescribed by the State Board of Education in English. Compulsory school age runs from the time the child's parents elect to have the child enter school, no later than six years of age, until the child reaches eighteen (Section 1326). Among other options, the requirement is met through regular daily instruction in English by a properly qualified private tutor, meaning a person certified by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to teach in the public schools who teaches one or more children of a single family, provides the majority of the instruction and receives a fee or other consideration, and who files a copy of the certification and the required criminal history record with the superintendent of the student's district of residence (1327(a)); through a day school operated by a bona fide church or other religious body that provides at least 180 days or 900 hours of instruction a year at the elementary level, or 990 hours at the secondary level, and teaches the courses listed in paragraphs (1) and (2) of that subsection (1327(b)); or through a home education program under Section 1327.1.

In a home education program, the supervisor, a parent, guardian or custodian with a high school diploma or its equivalent, files a notarized affidavit with the superintendent of the district of residence before the program starts and each August 1 (1327.1(a) and (b)(1)). The affidavit names the supervisor and gives the name and age of each child and the address and telephone number of the program site; states that the subjects required by law are offered in English, with an outline of proposed education objectives by subject area; includes evidence that the child has been immunized under section 1303(a) and has received the health and medical services required for the child's age or grade level under Article XIV; and states that the program will comply with Section 1327.1 (1327.1(b)(1)). The affidavit also contains the supervisor's signed certification that the supervisor, all adults living in the home and persons with legal custody of a child in the program have not been convicted of the offenses listed in section 111(e) within the five years before the date of the affidavit (1327.1(b)(1)).

The program provides 180 days or 900 hours of instruction a year at the elementary level, or 990 hours at the secondary level (1327.1(c)). The program teaches the courses listed in 1327.1(c)(1) at the elementary level and (c)(2) at the secondary level, including English, arithmetic at the elementary level and mathematics at the secondary level, science, geography, history of the United States and Pennsylvania, physical education, music and art (1327.1(c)). The minimum courses in grades nine through twelve required for graduation in a home education program are four years of English, three years each of mathematics, science and social studies, and two years of arts and humanities (1327.1(d)).

The supervisor provides and maintains on file, for each student, a portfolio consisting of a log made contemporaneously with the instruction that designates by title the reading materials used, samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials, and, in grades three, five and eight, results of nationally normed standardized achievement tests in reading/language arts and mathematics or of Statewide tests (1327.1(e)(1)). The supervisor ensures that the nationally normed standardized tests or the Statewide tests are not administered by the child's parent or guardian (1327.1(e)(1)). The supervisor also provides and maintains on file an annual written evaluation of the student's educational progress, based on an interview of the child and a review of the portfolio and made by a licensed clinical or school psychologist, a teacher certified by the Commonwealth, or a nonpublic school teacher or administrator with at least two years of teaching experience in a Pennsylvania public or nonpublic school within the last ten years; at the supervisor's request and with the prior consent of the superintendent of the district of residence, a person with other qualifications may conduct it, and in no event is the evaluator the supervisor or the supervisor's spouse (1327.1(e)(2)). The supervisor provides the evaluator's certification that an appropriate education is occurring to the superintendent of the district of residence by June 30 of each year (1327.1(h.1)).

A supervisor relocating the program to another school district in Pennsylvania during the public school term or before the fall term opens applies by registered mail, thirty days before the relocation, to the superintendent of the current district for a letter of transfer and files the letter with the superintendent of the new district (1327.1(b)(2) and (3)).