What Goes in a Pennsylvania Homeschool Portfolio

Required hours

900 hrs/year

School days

180 days/year

Required subjects

11 subjects

Notice

Required

Testing / evaluation

Professional evaluation

Portfolio

Required

Jump to the full Pennsylvania requirements for plain-English detail on each of these.

The Pennsylvania portfolio checklist

Assembled from Pennsylvania's own requirements. Work down it once a term and the spring review stops being an event.

• A dated log of educational activities

  What you covered and which subject it served, written as you go. Reconstructing a year of this in the week before a review is the single most common portfolio scramble.

• A reading list, by title

  Every book and material named. This is the piece families most often rebuild from memory, and the piece a reviewer can check fastest.

• Samples of your student's work

  Writings, worksheets, workbooks, and creative work. A few pieces per subject spread across the year reads as evidence; a stack from one good week does not.

• The assessment or evaluation record

  Pennsylvania requires a professional evaluation. Keep the result filed with the portfolio rather than loose, since the two get asked for together.

• Your hours record

  Pennsylvania sets an hours requirement, and the portfolio is where the evidence that you met it usually gets shown.

• A copy of anything you filed

  Your notice of intent and any correspondence with the district, dated. If a question ever comes up, dated proof that you filed on time closes it.

What Pennsylvania actually requires

Under 24 P.S. § 13-1327.1(e), families keep a contemporaneous log of reading materials by title plus samples of the student's writings, worksheets, workbooks, and creative materials. Standardized tests in math and reading/language arts are included in the portfolio in grades 3, 5, and 8.

Who sees it, and when

You keep the portfolio. Pennsylvania does not collect it, and nothing is submitted unless someone asks. Pennsylvania requires a professional evaluation. That result is the part that normally travels, while the portfolio stays with you as the evidence behind it.

What Homeschool Fox tracks for Pennsylvania

Everything Pennsylvania expects you to keep, in one place — no spreadsheets, no lost notebooks.

• Hours toward your 900-hour goal
• Required subjects & core hours
• Daily activity logs
• Attendance records
• Notes & portfolio records
• Printable PDF reports
• High school transcripts
• State-specific progress tracking

More Pennsylvania guides

• Pennsylvania Homeschool Requirements Hours, notice, assessment, and subjects at a glance.
• How to Start Homeschooling in Pennsylvania A step-by-step guide from withdrawal to your first logged day.
• Homeschooling High School in Pennsylvania Credits, GPA, transcripts, and graduation.
• Record Keeping in Pennsylvania What to document, how to organize it, and staying compliant.
• How to Withdraw From School in Pennsylvania The steps, the letter, and timing to avoid truancy issues.
• Moving to Pennsylvania What to file when you arrive and whether your records transfer.
• Public School Sports in Pennsylvania Whether homeschoolers can play, what it takes, and who to ask.
• Homeschool Hours Required in Pennsylvania The number, what counts toward it, and the pace to hit it.
• Required Subjects in Pennsylvania The list, how much time each needs, and proving you taught them.
• Pennsylvania Letter of Intent Who to file with, when it's due, and a free generator.
• Pennsylvania Year End Report What goes in it, when it's due, and who reviews it.
• Homeschool Testing in Pennsylvania What the state asks for, when, and low-score rules.