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I am Ann Zeise, your guide to the best and most interesting and useful sites and articles about home education on the web.

 
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Legal Information

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Evaluations
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High School
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A Charlotte Mason Companion : Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
by Karen Andreola
A thorough chapter-by-chapter overview of the inspiring teaching principles of Christian educator Charlotte Mason, this book reveals the practical day by day method of how to teach "the Charlotte Mason way".
 
The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom
The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom

by Mary Griffith
Unschooling, a homeschooling method based on the belief that kids learn best when allowed to pursue their natural curiosities and interests, is practiced by 10 to 15 percent of the estimated 1.5 million homeschoolers in the United States.
 
Creative Home Schooling for Gifted Children: A Resource Guide
Creative Home Schooling for Gifted Children: A Resource Guide
by Lisa Rivero
Lisa addresses areas not usually covered in homeschooling books such as asynchronous development (uneven development), perfectionism, and learning for self-actualization.
 
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
by Engelmann, Siegfried
Based on the excellent DISTAR program, my daughter learned to read well and fast. Combines phonics with interesting reading material for youngsters.

Pennsylvania Homeschooling Legal Information

Education Code and Explanations

Pennsylvania Education Code for Homeschooling
AN A TO Z RESOURCE
Here is the homeschooling part of Act 169-1988. Not intended as legal advice. For your information only.

Getting Started in Homeschooling
CHAP offers a clear English version of the requirements in Pennsylvania and what you really have to do to fulfill them. Not legal advice. Information only.

Pauline Harding's Guide to PA Homeschooling Law
Info on Act 169 and alternatives, the affidavit, sample objectives, useful forms, evaluations, testing, portfolios, logs, high school information, and extracurricular participation.

PHEN- home educating for freedom & simplicity in Pennsylvania
PHEN explains how you can avoid going overboard trying to do too much.

PHEN- Home Educating in PA 101
This page is for those who want the simplest explanation possible of the legal requirements to home educate in Pennsylvania.

School Districts Allowing Participation
Some PA school districts will allow limited participations by homeschoolers.

Evaluations

Evaluators & Evaluations
Evaluator qualifications, list of evaluators, sample evaluator's report, sample "prior approval" request letter, special ed pre-approval forms. From Paula's Guide.

List of Homeschool Evaluators in Pennsylvania
Please think carefully about what you are looking for in an evaluator and seek out someone who is comfortable with your approach to homeschooling.From Paula's Guide.

PA Home Education Evaluations
PA Law on the Evaluator, PA Law on Portfolios, Perspectives on Evaluations in PA, Distance Evaluations, and FAQs on Evaluations

Forms

Free Downloadable Homeschooling Forms for Planning, Record-Keeping and Complying With the PA Law
Here are a bunch of forms I've created for myself and for my friends. Some might work for you too. Some might not. You might want to keep some kinds of records just for yourself, and others to hand in to your district. From Paula's Guide.

Simply Home Schooling
How to apply to and work with school districts.....how to lesson plan....how to keep attendance....how to report field trips, reading, etc., how to keep grades....create report cards and certificates of merit. Commercial manual and CD with record keeping forms needed when homeschooling through a public school program.

High School

Homeschooling High School
PA diploma options, including info about the PA diploma programs, required subjects, compulsory attendance law, email groups. From Paula's Guide.

Legislation

Alliance for Intellectual Freedom in Education
With all of the misinformation being disseminated over the last year or so by Howard & Susan Richman of PA Homeschoolers and PHAA, I feel certain things should be made public to protect the interests of homeschoolers in PA. Norma Young.

Changing PA's Home Education Law
House Bill 2560. This is what the new law would contain if it would pass in its current form. From Catholoic Homeschoolers.

CHAP's Position on a Potential New Law
There is a groundswell among many homeschoolers across Pennsylvania about possible changes being made to the Homeschool law. [Note: this link has been up for some time and the article is undated. It remains up purely for historic interest and is no longer "news."]

Homeschoolers can join school sports teams
Gov. Ed Rendell signed a law affecting at least 2,595 homeschool students in Lancaster County on Jan. 1, 2006. On Thursday, Nov. 10, Gov. Rendell signed the homeschool bill permitting home-school students to participate in after school activities-like sports, drama, and band because Rendell said, "To deny these girls and boys the opportunity (to participate) is wrong."

Medical Form Info

Medical Form Info
Information from the PDE on the medical requirements, sample medical and dental forms. From Paula's Guide.

PHEN- medical exemption form
The following is a version of the medical exemption form one can file with their affidavit instead of filing other more specific medical forms.

PA Homeschool Forms
CHAP has the affidavit on page 3 of their Homeschool Briefs. A .pdf file.

Portfolios

Creating a Portfolio for Your Homeschooled Child
Homeschool portfolios - what PA law requires, how to create a portfolio, examples and ideas. From Paula's Guide.

Logging in Pennsylvania
The log is just a list of reading materials which should be created as the materials are being read. by Carol Narigon, HEM J/F 06.

Portfolios
AN A TO Z RESOURCE
Creating portfolios for personal use or for getting into college.

Samples of Affidavits and Objectives

Academic Standards
Accepted and proposed education standards from the state DOE for you to draw from. These are NOT laws, just suggested course outlines.

Affidavit
PDF Format. Just select/copy/paste either the elementary or secondary part of this page into your word processor, fill in the blanks and have it notorized. List of nationally normed standardized tests for home school use included. From Penn Link Teacher Pages.

Affidavit - PHEN
Three versions of the affidavit form the parent or guardian must file with the superintendent of the school district of residence, prior to the commencement of the home education program and annually thereafter on August 1st: .pdf, .doc, and .rtf.

Educational Objectives
Are you required to submit educational objectives? Here's a sample from the Forrest Family of Pennsylvania.

PHEN- sample objectives
First is a list of the subjects required by law, then a sample list of elementary and secondary objectives. PHEN recommends only 1 or 2 "open-ended" objectives per subject.

Samples of Affidavits & Objectives
Sample affidavits, health forms and PDE info on health requirements, large collection of sample objectives, special ed pre-approval forms. From Paula's Guide.

Testing Resources

Acceptable Tests
The Department has approved ten nationally normed standardized tests for home school use. Expires June 30, 2004.

Achievement Testing In Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Home Education Law requires that the results of a nationally-normed Standardized Achievement test be included in the year-end portfolios of those students in grades 3, 5 and 8. Here is a list of the approved tests.

Standardized Testing Available
In Pennsylvania, the state maintains a list of tests approved for use with their students. Resources for these tests that are acceptable to Catholic homeschoolers.

Testing Homeschoolers
AN A TO Z RESOURCE
A variety of testing resources are on these pages.

Testing Resources
Explanation of testing requirements, list of acceptable tests, list of test suppliers, test prep info. From Paula's Guide.

Tutor Option

Home Education and Private Tutoring in Pennsylvania
Legal information for those who wish to tutor or hire a private tutor. From the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Tutor Option
Alternatives to the PA home education law (Act 169), including private tutoring, homebound instruction, church schools, religious exemption, umbrella schools, public cyber-charter schools, and underground homeschooling. From Paula's Guide.

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