Any homeschoolers in PA?

[Roland Deschain2]

From what I have gathered the home school laws in PA are rather restrictive. Can anybody here give me any practical pointers/advice/guidance on how you personally deal and is there anything important I should know.

Thanks.

[voxxpopulisuxx]

Actually Pa is the less restrictive state. We have a large amish population. What happens is the local school boards restrict there specific districts. You need to find a pro homeschool district. Also if your not a member of HSLDA ( google) your missing out...they have state by state breakdowns and unmatched legal support.

[Roland Deschain2]

Actually Pa is the less restrictive state. We have a large amish population. What happens is the local school boards restrict there specific districts. You need to find a pro homeschool district. Also if your not a member of HSLDA ( google) your missing out...they have state by state breakdowns and unmatched legal support.

Thanks, Vox. North Carolina is pretty lax but what I have read so far pertaining to PA makes me nervous.

[verenaerin]

I don't think Pa is lax. In fact they have a reputation of having a ridiculous number of requirements. Here is something written by another that sums up everything that has to be done- per child.

In PA, you must submit an affidavit of intent to homeschool (see form at site below)
You must submit objectives (hint... keep them vague) on what you plan to do during the year.

You do NOT need to submit a diploma (since the affidavit says, I attest to the fact I graduated high school). The PDE is explicit on this point on their website.

You do NOT need to await school district permission to begin homeschooling. (Some districts have begun telling homeschoolers that they must await school district permission...untrue. Our law is one of NOTIFICATION, not PERMISSION. You are telling them, not asking them)

You must keep an attendance record (dumb though it is) (some people want to fight this requirement, but they usually lose, so, I wouldn't bother. It is easy enough. I check off a box on a page...yep, they are here all right). Since there is no definition of what constitutes a school day, it is what you say it is. Did you read a story? Did they ride a bike? Did you go to the library? Did you watch the news together? Did you go to co op, classes, a museum, or state park? Makes it a school day. If you cannot find 180 days...something is very wrong.

You must keep a list of materials used. Curriculum and books and kits and games and DVD's and websites and whatever. The law says concurrent with use.

You must keep a portfolio of work samples...to prove you did something. (Understanding that it is written into our law that you cannot be HELD to your stated objectives...so it really is a useless exercise in bureaucratic nonsense.) I admit to going the extra mile and snapping digital pics of the kids DOING the work now and again...going on field trips and whatever. Some people don't like that. I see it as extra proof.

In grades 3, 5, and 8...you must submit test scores from an accepted test.

You must take all of the above to an evaluator, so that he or she can say if progress has been made in the students overall program.

You must add the evaluators letter to the pile of paper you have collected throughout the year, and give it to the school district, so that they too can check and see if the student has made progress in their overall program. (This is where it gets dicey...I have had the district pick at the forms I use for attendance-there is no requirement in the law what to use- and the separators in my portfolio-which don't even have to be there-and other minutia, not required under the law. Every time there is staff change, you have to educate the new staff about what the law says, because they generally have NO CLUE)

I have had years where they did not even look at the thing (because they left next years affidavit and objectives in the front...HELLO??? Don't you want these?) And years where they nitpicked stupid stuff...like what forms I used. Just depends on staffing at the moment.

The best defense against that kind of stuff is to take an actual copy of the law in to the administration...and ask them to highlight where you are required to provide that exactly?
The discussion generally stops right there.

If you wind up in a tough district...don't let them bully you. My district tried it a couple of times, until they realized I knew the law! They gave up...

SOME districts have done the sensible thing...they just want the letter from the evaluator saying progress was made. Those districts have a brain. Since the evaluator has seen the work, interviewed the student, and certified that everything legally needed is in the portfolio...why do it all again? That is dumb. I envy people in those districts! (You still have to keep the portfolio on file in case it is ever questioned, though)


Compare this to CA, where all you do is write to the school district- "Hey I'm homeschooing X, C ya next yr." and you are done.

Definitely join the HSDL. Do you use a program? That seems to make things a little easier. Keep a separate binder for each kid. Everything you send out to be graded ends up in that binder- which will be your portfolio. Also, only give what is exactly required. Don't go overboard, follow the law exactly to the letter, no more no less.

[voxxpopulisuxx]

Verena......theres a difference between buracratic and restrictive.....the scary end is the scial worker bs...and we didnt have any problems with that area in our district. I got extra hslda stickers put on all my doors in case though. When we homeschooled in the 90s things were more iffy and it was less accepted by the general public....now its considered a legitimate path in PA....while CA has it simple as far as settling up shop.....their social service child protection agency are much more aggressive. In many ways the stupid hoops in PA give you alot of cover in case something did come up. In CA your a sitting duck for social services.
And what about K-12 the computer public school option? Do you like it....we did when the kids got older.

[verenaerin]

I see your point. Though I resent the fact that we have to do anything. I think a big reason why HSing laws are so lax in CA is because of the Hollywood kids. I am not familiar with CPS's attitude toward HSing there. We did it for one year and didn't have an issue.

One of the big reasons why I am pulling out my kids is because of common core. I am going to have to reteach my daughter math next year. She barely understands the concept of addition and subtraction on paper, and forget about double digits. With my son I will have to concentrate very hard on reading, since his school focused mainly on sight words.

I would not consider on-line public school for those reasons. (Though my kids went to a NO school). My eldest will only be going into 2nd grade next year, so my experience is limited to young grades.

[Chestertonian]

With my son I will have to concentrate very hard on reading, since his school focused mainly on sight words.

ugh, my son came home from the Pre-K daycare at our Catholic school with a bucket of flash cards for learning sight words.  I don't think we ever did this when I was a kid, especially in a 3 year old preschool class!  All I remember from being a kid in preschool was playing with blocks and kissing girls on the playground (the feeling was not mutual)

[verenaerin]

Ugh, don't even get me started on homework. Homework for pre K and K should be banned. I would be ok if they didn't have homework till 4th grade. Seriously, you have my kid the majority of the day, and then you send homework?

[voxxpopulisuxx]

DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN BE TAUGHT SIGHT READING....it could foul up their reading abilities for DECADES! Sight reading circumvents your Childs God given ability to read phoneticly. Avoid it like broken glass. The number one responsability of all homeschoolers is to teach their child to read ahead of ALL other school subjects including math. Sight reading is a diabolic attempt to destroy the ability to read scripture.! Did I express myself with adequate intensity?

[Penelope]

I don't know much about early childhood and elementary education, but doesn't the ability to sight read sort of come naturally after kids have learned the principles of phonics and have learned a bit about how language works?

Common Core is so, so, stupid; it will create a nation of automatons, making us more moronic and more complacent than we already are.

[verenaerin]

I don't know much about early childhood and elementary education, but doesn't the ability to sight read sort of come naturally after kids have learned the principles of phonics and have learned a bit about how language works?

Common Core is so, so, stupid; it will create a nation of automatons, making us more moronic and more complacent than we already are.

Yes, but they do sight words instead of phonics. For some reason phonics is considered too much work, or too hard, or not cool enough. It's better then it was, but considering the literacy rate, not enough.

[Chestertonian]

I don't know much about early childhood and elementary education, but doesn't the ability to sight read sort of come naturally after kids have learned the principles of phonics and have learned a bit about how language works?

Common Core is so, so, stupid; it will create a nation of automatons, making us more moronic and more complacent than we already are.

that's what I thought.  People naturally learn sight words by having someone read aloud to them.  When I'm home, I usually spend many hours reading to him so I'm sure he'll pick it up without being taught.  The best "homework" you can do with your kids is reading to them

Also, when I was really little (like 2 or 3) I watched TV a LOT.  I was on dialysis and there was never any children's shows on... It was always "Learn to Read" on  PBS, which was geared toward illiterate adults.  It explained how phonics works, and I was reading at a very early age without being taught formally

[Akavit]

I used to like having my parents read to me but during the year I was being taught to read, my mom started requiring me to read the first page before she'd take over.  It wasn't long after that I before I started picking up and reading as many books as I was given access to.  At that point I preferred to read on my own because I didn't have to wait on other people.

In class, it was phonics that I had to study followed by reading the typical "Jane sees Spot run" sort of stories.  Love of reading is how I mastered the skill.  I believe by the age of 10 that would have amounted to about 6 children's mysteries or 120,000 words a week.  By 14 I had completed the Father Brown series and Sherlock Holmes.

If someone can just get a child interested in reading, everything else should follow.  There are books suited for just about every interest.

[Penelope]

I don't know much about early childhood and elementary education, but doesn't the ability to sight read sort of come naturally after kids have learned the principles of phonics and have learned a bit about how language works?

Common Core is so, so, stupid; it will create a nation of automatons, making us more moronic and more complacent than we already are.

Yes, but they do sight words instead of phonics. For some reason phonics is considered too much work, or too hard, or not cool enough. It's better then it was, but considering the literacy rate, not enough.

That's the whole mentality with Common Core--previous methods don't "meet the needs of today's learners" because they are too old-fashioned, which really means "too difficult" or "too troublesome." I really fear what this country is going to look like in twenty years when today's Common Core students are breaking into the workforce.

[Lydia Purpuraria]

I just saw this on FB about legislation in PA regarding homeschooling, so thought I'd pass it along:
http://chaplegislativeaction.blogspot.com/