How to Start Homeschooling in Pennsylvania: Step-by-Step

Most families who decide to homeschool in Pennsylvania spend weeks researching before they take a single official step. That research is useful — PA is a heavily regulated state and understanding the law matters — but the actual process of starting is sequential. There is an order of operations. Do it in the wrong order and you risk truancy citations before your first lesson begins.

This guide walks through each step from the decision to homeschool through your first year of legally sound compliance. No step is skipped, and each one is framed around what the state actually requires rather than what rumors suggest.

Step 1: Confirm You Meet the Supervisor Requirement

Before you file anything or spend a dollar on curriculum, confirm you are eligible to supervise a home education program in Pennsylvania. The state's requirements for the "supervisor" — the person legally responsible for instruction — are intentionally minimal.

Under 24 PA C.S. §13-1327.1, the supervisor must:

• Be the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of the student
• Hold a high school diploma or its equivalent (a GED satisfies this)

That is the full list. You do not need a teaching certificate. You do not need a college degree. You do not need prior teaching experience. If you have a high school diploma and legal custody of your child, you are qualified.

The one credential-adjacent question: if you happen to hold a valid Pennsylvania teaching certificate, you may be eligible to educate your child under the separate Private Tutoring statute (24 PA C.S. §13-1327), which bypasses the affidavit, portfolio, testing, and evaluator requirements entirely. Most families will not qualify for this path, but it is worth knowing it exists.

Step 2: Withdraw Your Child from School (and Do It Right)

Withdrawing from a Pennsylvania public school is not the same as calling the office and saying you are homeschooling now. Legally, a student remains enrolled — and therefore subject to compulsory attendance — until the district officially removes them from enrollment. If you pull your child from school without filing the required paperwork simultaneously, you have created a truancy situation.

The correct sequence:

1. Do not send your child to school on the day you intend to begin the withdrawal process (or the day the affidavit is filed — see Step 3).
2. File the notarized affidavit with the superintendent's office of your school district of residence. This is what legally establishes your home education program.
3. Keep proof of submission — dated receipt, certified mail return card, or email confirmation from the district.

The affidavit is what triggers the district's obligation to remove your child from its enrollment rolls. No affidavit means no legal protection. The order matters: file the affidavit before or on the same day your child stops attending school.

If you are withdrawing mid-year, you file immediately — do not wait until August. If you are starting at the beginning of a new school year, the annual deadline is August 1 for returning homeschoolers, but first-time filers should submit before the school year starts.

Step 3: Prepare and File the Notarized Affidavit

The affidavit is the foundational document of your home education program. It is a legal declaration filed with your local school district superintendent that establishes the program's existence and your responsibility for it.

Pennsylvania gives families two options: a traditional notarized affidavit (requires a notary's signature and seal) or an unsworn declaration under penalty of perjury. Both carry identical legal weight. The unsworn declaration option exists because tracking down a notary is a real logistical barrier for many families. Banks, UPS Stores, and many public libraries offer free or low-cost notary services if you prefer the traditional route.

The affidavit must include:

• Supervisor name and address
• Student name(s) and age(s)
• Program location (usually your home address)
• A statement that instruction will be in English
• An outline of proposed educational objectives by subject area
• Documentation that the student is immunized per state requirements (or a valid exemption)
• Evidence of required health and dental services based on the child's grade level
• A certification that no adult in the household has been convicted of disqualifying offenses under Section 111(e) of the School Code in the past five years

One point that confuses families: the "outline of proposed educational objectives" does not need to be a detailed curriculum plan. The statute explicitly states that this outline cannot be used by the superintendent to determine non-compliance. A one-page subject list — "Mathematics: arithmetic, fractions, measurement; English: reading, writing, grammar" — is legally sufficient.

If you want a ready-to-file affidavit template, a filled-in sample, and a document checklist for everything in this packet, the Pennsylvania Legal Withdrawal Blueprint has them.

Step 4: Know What You Are Required to Teach

Pennsylvania mandates specific subjects by grade band. You do not need a commercial curriculum to satisfy these — you can use library books, free online resources, and hands-on projects — but you do need to cover the subjects and document that you did.

Elementary (Grades K-6): English (spelling, reading, writing), arithmetic, science, geography, US and Pennsylvania history, civics, safety/fire prevention, health and physiology, physical education, music, art.

Secondary (Grades 7-12): English (language, literature, speech, composition), science (biology and chemistry), geography, social studies (civics, world history, US history, PA history), mathematics (general math, algebra, geometry), art, music, physical education, health, safety/fire prevention.

The time requirements: 180 days of instruction per year, or 900 hours at the elementary level / 990 hours at the secondary level. You can track either days or hours — whichever method suits your record-keeping style.

Not every subject must be taught every day. Secondary students are not required to complete biology and chemistry in the same year. The law requires that these subjects be covered across the secondary span.

Step 5: Set Up Your Portfolio Record-Keeping System

Pennsylvania requires that you maintain a portfolio throughout the academic year. This is not submitted to the district — since Act 196 of 2014 eliminated that requirement — but it must be available for your evaluator to review at year's end.

A compliant portfolio contains:

• A contemporaneous log that identifies reading materials by title. This is not a daily diary — it is an ongoing record of what your child is reading as instruction occurs. A running list in a notebook or spreadsheet is sufficient.
• Work samples: writings, worksheets, tests, art projects, lab notes. The goal is to show progress across the year — samples from early, middle, and late in the year across core subjects work well.

You do not need an elaborate binder system. What you need is consistent record-keeping from day one. Families who scramble to reconstruct the portfolio in May from memory face unnecessary stress and sometimes insufficient documentation.

Set up a simple folder — physical or digital — and add to it weekly. That habit is what makes the end-of-year evaluator review straightforward.

Step 6: Plan for Standardized Testing in Grade 3, 5, and 8

Pennsylvania requires homeschooled students to take a nationally normed standardized test in reading/language arts and mathematics during grades 3, 5, and 8. The test must come from the PDE-approved list, which includes assessments like the California Achievement Test (CAT), Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), Stanford Achievement Test (SAT-10), and several others.

You order and administer the test yourself — there is no requirement to use a testing center or have a proctor present. Test results belong to you. They are reviewed by your evaluator and remain part of the portfolio; they are never submitted to the district.

Plan ahead on timing: most families schedule testing in the spring so results are available for the evaluator review. Some tests require ordering 4-6 weeks in advance. Do not let this catch you off guard in a Grade 3 or 5 year.

Step 7: Find an Evaluator and Schedule the Year-End Review

At the end of each academic year, a qualified evaluator must review your portfolio and interview your student. The evaluator then issues a brief letter to the superintendent certifying that an "appropriate education" is occurring. That letter — not your portfolio itself — is what goes to the district.

Pennsylvania recognizes three categories of qualified evaluators:

• A licensed clinical or school psychologist
• A Pennsylvania-certified teacher with at least two years of classroom experience
• A non-public school teacher or administrator certified by the denomination or institution

Evaluators can be found through HSLDA Pennsylvania, local homeschool co-ops, and state homeschool organizations. Many evaluators work remotely and will conduct the interview by video call, which expands your options considerably.

The evaluator is not a gatekeeper. Their job is to confirm that instruction in the required subjects happened and that the student is making "sustained progress in the overall program." Evaluators do not assign grades, determine promotion, or report concerns to the district beyond the certification letter.

Pennsylvania's compliance system has more moving parts than most states, but each part has a clear purpose and a clear standard. Starting with the right paperwork — especially the withdrawal and affidavit sequence — keeps you legally protected from day one. The Pennsylvania Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers the full first-year compliance sequence with ready-to-file templates, an evaluator checklist, a required subjects reference card, and a first-year calendar mapped to Pennsylvania's actual deadlines.

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