Alden House. Parent Center

Homeschooling in Pennsylvania

What the law requires, what you file and when, and what to keep — with the statute behind each rule.

approval and review 8 sources Verified 12 October 2026

What Pennsylvania requires

Notify
Superintendent of your school district of residence — Before starting (the first year can start any time); then by August 1 each year (annual)
Testing or evaluation
Required. (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.
Subjects set by the state
Yes — 3 groups of required subjects, listed below
Teaching time
180 days, 900 hours, 990 hours — in detail
Compulsory school age
6 to 18 — in detail
Records
Portfolio for each child: a contemporaneous log of instruction (with reading materials listed by title), samples of work, grade 3/5/8 standardized test results, and the evaluator's report.

Taking your child out of school in Pennsylvania

First move: File the affidavit/unsworn declaration with the attachments with your district superintendent; you may begin once it is filed (no district approval needed).

Tell the school in writing so the child is not marked truant. If the child has an IEP, the program must first be approved in writing by a special-education-certified teacher or licensed clinical/certified school psychologist, and that approval goes with the affidavit.

The legal routes

4 routes exist in Pennsylvania. They carry different duties, and families often do not know the alternatives to the obvious one.

Home education program (24 P.S. 13-1327.1)
Parent/guardian with a high school diploma or equivalent files an annual affidavit or unsworn declaration with the district superintendent, keeps a portfolio, tests in grades 3, 5 and 8, and submits an annual evaluator's certification by June 30.
Private tutor
Instruction by a Pennsylvania-certified teacher who provides the majority of instruction to children of one family and is paid a fee or other consideration; PDE says a certified parent may tutor their own children. Tutor files background clearances and written assurance with the superintendent. No affidavit or evaluation, but this route does not by itself lead to a state-recognized diploma.
Religious day school satellite
The home operates as an extension of a church-related day school that meets state day, hour and subject requirements and files a compliance affidavit (24 P.S. 13-1327(b)).
Accredited school satellite
The child is enrolled in an extension/satellite of a day or boarding school accredited by an association approved by the State Board of Education.

The notice, and who receives it

Goes to
Superintendent of your school district of residence
Deadline
Before starting (the first year can start any time); then by August 1 each year
Renews
annual
Form
Home Education Affidavit (notarized) or Unsworn Declaration of the Supervisor (no notary; signed under penalty of perjury), elementary or secondary version. Attach: outline of educational objectives by subject, immunization records (or exemption), and required health/dental exam records. Includes a certification that the supervisor, all adults in the home and legal custodians have no listed criminal convictions in the past 5 years. Check your district's board policy; PDE samples are not the only acceptable format. — official form

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

See which courses here cover these subjects →

Compulsory school age

6 to 18 (lowered from 8 and raised from 17 effective the 2020-21 school year). A child who turns 6 by September 1 must be enrolled or in a home education program that school year.

Teaching time

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

Who may teach

Supervising parent must have a high school diploma or equivalent. Private-tutor route requires a Pennsylvania-certified teacher.

Testing and evaluation

(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

Records to keep

Portfolio for each child: a contemporaneous log of instruction (with reading materials listed by title), samples of work, grade 3/5/8 standardized test results, and the evaluator's report. The portfolio is reviewed by the evaluator and is not submitted to the district.

High school, diplomas and transcripts

Since Act 196 of 2014, a supervisor-issued diploma (PDE Form 6008, co-signed by the 12th-grade evaluator) or a diploma from a PDE-recognized home education diploma-granting organization carries the same rights as a public school diploma. Graduation requires at least 4 years English, 3 math, 3 science, 3 social studies, 2 arts and humanities (grades 9-12), plus an affidavit and evaluation filed for the senior year.

Alternative: Commonwealth Secondary School Diploma (equivalency test or 30 college credits).

Public school classes, sports and activities

Districts must allow home-educated students to take part in extracurricular activities (athletics, clubs, music, theater) if they meet eligibility rules (Act 67 of 2005). Since 2023-24 (Act 55 of 2022), districts must also allow participation in cocurricular activities, career and technical education, and academic courses up to at least 25% of the school day, under district policies.

Districts must lend curriculum materials on request.

Funding: education savings accounts, vouchers and tax credits

No ESA, voucher or tax credit for homeschool families. The EITC and OSTC business tax-credit scholarship programs fund private-school scholarships (not homeschooling).

As of August 2026 Pennsylvania had not opted into the federal tax-credit scholarship program (ECCA).

What changed recently

Act 55 of 2022 (effective 2023-24): districts must open cocurricular activities, CTE programs and academic courses (up to at least 25% of the day) to homeschoolers. PDE now accepts an unsworn declaration (no notary) as an alternative to the notarized affidavit, and revised its Home Education Guide in May 2026 with clarified graduation-requirement guidance.

No 2024-2026 amendments to 24 P.S. 13-1327.1 were found. Pending: whether PA opts into the federal tax-credit scholarship program.

What we could not confirm

The statute text on the legislature site could not be fetched (robots-blocked); requirements were taken from PDE's circular, guide (May 2026) and diploma form, which quote the statute. Exact secondary subject wording follows the statute as commonly summarized and the PDE guide; the list of disqualifying offenses for the criminal-history certification (24 P.S.

1-111(e)) was not reviewed. The legal basis for the unsworn-declaration option (general unsworn-falsification law vs. a School Code change) was not confirmed.

Listed because a legal summary that hides its gaps is harder to trust than one that names them. How these pages are checked.

Statutes and sources

Statute and regulation

  • 24 P.S. Sec. 13-1326
  • 24 P.S. Sec. 13-1327
  • 24 P.S. Sec. 13-1327.1
  • 24 P.S. Sec. 5-511
  • 24 P.S. Sec. 1-111(e)
  • 22 Pa. Code Sec. 11.31a

State agency

Secondary sources