What to teach in Pennsylvania

The subjects Pennsylvania requires

• Elementary (K-6): English (spelling, reading, writing), arithmetic, science, geography, history of the U.S. and Pennsylvania, civics, safety education (including fire prevention), health and physiology, physical education, music, art
• Secondary (7-12): English (language, literature, speech, composition), science, geography, social studies (civics, world history, U.S. and Pennsylvania history), mathematics (general math, algebra, geometry), art, music, physical education, health, safety education (including fire prevention); economics, biology, chemistry, foreign languages and trigonometry are optional
• Instruction in English

Quoted from the statute or regulation cited on the law page. Requirements for Grades K–5 are listed where the state sets them, but this site teaches Grades 6–12, so only those are matched below.

Courses that cover them

Pennsylvania's list touches all four subjects taught here. Each course below is a full year.

Mathematics

English

Science

Social studies

Each is planned as a 36-week year of about 180 sessions, five a week — the year 20 of the 21 course guides set out explicitly. How long a session runs is yours to set.

Does this meet the hours?

180 days, or 900 hours (elementary) / 990 hours (secondary) per year.

Each course here plans a 36-week year of about 180 sessions, five a week — the year 20 of the 21 course guides set out explicitly. The length of a session is left to you, because a Grade 6 session and a Grade 12 one are not the same thing.

At 45 minutes a session — an assumption, not a rule — that is about 135 hours a course, so four courses come to roughly 540 hours. Against Pennsylvania's 990 hours that leaves about 450 hours to account for: independent reading, the subjects below that this site does not teach, projects and field trips. Longer sessions close the gap quickly — at 60 minutes the same four courses come to 720 hours. Work it with your own session length rather than ours.

The four high school years

Pennsylvania reviews the work each year, so the high school record matters twice: once for the annual assessment and again for whoever reads the transcript afterwards. A full sequence of these courses looks like this.

Four subjects across four years is 16 full-year courses. Credits, grades and the diploma itself are Pennsylvania's business, not this site's — what Pennsylvania says about diplomas and transcripts.

What this site does not teach

Pennsylvania requires 5 subjects that these courses do not cover: health, physical education, art, music, a world language. Saying so plainly is more use than a page implying full coverage. Families commonly meet these through sport clubs, instrument or art lessons, a language app or tutor, and documented family activity — all of which count where the state asks for a log rather than a transcript.

Evidence for the annual review

Pennsylvania asks for testing or evaluation, so the year has to leave a paper trail. These courses produce four things that serve as evidence, without any extra work:

• Printable lessons. Every lesson has a print view holding the full teaching text, worked examples and practice — dated pages for a portfolio.
• Exams with answer keys and marking criteria. Each course has a midterm, a final and a sample exam, each question carrying response criteria an evaluator can read.
• A 36-week pacing table. The parent guide for each course lists the week-by-week assignments, which is the planning document most evaluators ask to see.
• Exit tickets and checkpoints. Short written responses through each lesson, showing work over time rather than one test score.

(1) Standardized tests in grades 3, 5 and 8: PSSA (the district must allow it on request) or a PDE-approved nationally normed test (e.g. CAT, CTP, Iowa, MAP, Stanford, TerraNova, Woodcock-Johnson, WIAT) in reading/language arts and math; results go in the portfolio, not to the district; no opt-out. (2) Annual evaluation in every grade: a qualified evaluator interviews the child and reviews the portfolio and certifies whether an appropriate education is occurring. Evaluators: licensed clinical or school psychologist; PA-certified teacher with 2 years' grading experience at the level evaluated (K-6 and/or 7-12); nonpublic teacher/administrator with 2 years' PA teaching experience in the past 10 years at that level; or someone the superintendent pre-approves. Not the supervisor or spouse. A superintendent with a documented reasonable belief that education is inadequate can require an evaluation mid-year; noncompliance can lead to a hearing and loss of homeschooling for up to 12 months (appealable, with stay-put during appeal).

Deadline: Evaluator's certification due to the superintendent by June 30 each year