The Pennsylvania portfolio is a year-long record, not a June project.

Pennsylvania asks homeschool families for something most states don't: a portfolio of the year's actual work, reviewed by an evaluator. Pennsylvania homeschool families maintain a portfolio and file an evaluation by June 30. Families do that one of two ways: a spring spent excavating binders, camera rolls, and the bottom of backpacks, or thirty seconds of capture at a time, all year, so that by spring the portfolio already exists.

Make your Pennsylvania paperwork, free preview

Checked against 24 P.S. §13-1327.1. Requirements on this page last reviewed September 14, 2026. The regulation text is always the source of truth.

The PA portfolio in 50 seconds

Music: Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0

What the law asks for, in general terms

Pennsylvania's home education law asks families to file an affidavit with their district, keep a portfolio of records and materials through the year (a log of activities and samples of the student's work), and have progress reviewed by a qualified evaluator, with the evaluation filed by June 30. The statute defines the specifics: required subjects, evaluator qualifications, what the district may and may not ask to see. Those specifics are the statute's to state, not this page's. Read the current statute, or confirm with your district.

Stated as a calendar fact, not an alarm: on any day of the year, the portfolio is simply either being kept or not.

The evidence file is the portfolio

The portfolio requirement describes, almost exactly, a record kept as the year happens. On Eformogi that record is a timeline with an evidence file behind it:

The essay: photographed when it's finished, one entry under English.
The science project: a snapshot and a sentence, filed the day it's built.
The book: logged when the last page turns; the reading log assembles itself.
The math work: a sample a month is a year of progression by June.
The day's activities: one line, thirty seconds, part of the log.

Each capture is free, and each piece of evidence is sealed into the record when it's added. By spring the portfolio isn't a project. It's a view over a record that already exists: the year's work, organized by subject and date, samples attached.

Evaluator-ready, on the evaluator's terms

Evaluators differ: some want a binder by subject, some want a chronological log with samples, most publish their preferences. A record organized by subject and date can be presented either way. Eformogi generates an evaluator-ready portfolio package from the year's record (log, samples, organized and dated) as part of Family Pro, $99 per year, the one optional paid family service; the preview is free, and the underlying record is free forever. Ask your evaluator early what format they want, and hand them that.

Graduation: the diploma and the transcript

The portfolio years add up to something: a complete academic history, in the family's own hands. When graduation comes, that history issues a family-issued verifiable transcript, every entry sealed, checkable by a college, employer, or scholarship program directly at a public link, no account on their end (see how receivers verify). Family-issued transcripts are the norm in homeschool admissions; what verification adds is that a receiver doesn't have to take the family's word for it.

Why a family-owned record

The district holds the affidavit. The evaluator holds their certification. The record of your child's education (twelve years of work, evidence, and progression) belongs with your family, owned and portable, free forever by contract. The portfolio, the evaluation packet, and the transcript are documents that record produces, not the place it lives. Read the sovereignty contract.

Graduating a homeschooler in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania writes homeschool graduation into law, rare among states. Across grades 9–12 the statute asks for four years of English, three of mathematics, three of science, three of social studies, and two of arts and humanities (24 P.S. §13-1327.1(d)). No standardized testing exists in grades 9–12; the evaluator's annual certification, filed with the district by June 30, is the compliance document.

The diploma has two equally recognized routes: the parent-supervisor issues it on the standardized PDE-6008 form, co-signed by the same evaluator who performed the 12th-grade evaluation (legally equivalent to a public school diploma since Act 196 of 2014), or a PDE-recognized diploma organization grants it (organization extras are policy, not law; the recognized list changes, so check PDE's current list). No GED is ever required.

The practical trap is the evaluator lock-in: the diploma co-signer must be the graduation-year evaluator, so choose senior year's evaluator early. If you keep your record in Eformogi, the graduation readiness view reads your transcript against the statutory units as you go, and the college-facing read sits in the transcript builder.

Frequently asked questions

What does Pennsylvania homeschool law require each year?

In general terms, Pennsylvania's home education law asks families to file an affidavit with their district, keep a portfolio of the student's work through the year, and have the student's progress reviewed by a qualified evaluator. Pennsylvania homeschool families maintain a portfolio and file an evaluation by June 30. The statute sets the details (required subjects, evaluator qualifications, what districts may ask for), and those details are worth reading in the current statute or confirming with your district directly.

What goes in a Pennsylvania homeschool portfolio?

The portfolio is generally understood to be a record of the year's work: a log of reading and educational activities plus samples of the student's work across subjects: writing samples, math work, project photos, test results where applicable. The exact contents the law requires are defined in the statute, and evaluators often publish their own guidance on what they want to see. The practical rule is simple: work captured during the year is a portfolio; work hunted down in June is a scramble.

Who can evaluate a Pennsylvania homeschool student?

Pennsylvania's law names categories of qualified evaluators, typically including certified teachers and licensed psychologists, with specifics set by statute. Families choose their evaluator, and evaluators differ in how they like a portfolio organized. Check the current statute for who qualifies, and ask your evaluator early what format they prefer.

How does Eformogi map to the portfolio requirement?

The evidence file is the portfolio, kept as the year happens. A photo of a finished essay, a snapshot of a science project, a completed book, a log entry for the day's work: each is one timeline entry with the evidence attached, captured in about thirty seconds, free. By spring the portfolio isn't a project; it's a filter over a record that already exists, organized by subject and date, ready to hand to an evaluator.

Can a Pennsylvania homeschooler get a diploma and transcript?

Pennsylvania recognizes routes to a homeschool diploma, and the transcript a student hands to colleges is the family's to issue. The receiver's own published policy says what it needs, and many colleges publish guidance for homeschool applicants that names a family-issued transcript. What Eformogi adds is that the transcript is verifiable at one link: every entry is sealed and a receiver checks it directly, with no Eformogi account on their end, and verifying one link is free. The policies we have read are mapped at eformogi.com/receivers/directory.

What does this cost?

The record (capture, the evidence file, the verifiable transcript, verification, export) is free forever. Generating filled-in compliance artifacts, like an evaluator-ready portfolio package, is the one optional paid family service, part of Family Pro at $99 per year, and every document previews filled-in, free, first.

What are Pennsylvania's homeschool graduation requirements?

Pennsylvania is one of the few states that writes homeschool graduation into law: across grades 9–12, four years of English, three of mathematics, three of science, three of social studies, and two of arts and humanities (24 P.S. §13-1327.1(d)). Instruction runs 180 days or 990 hours per year at the secondary level. Notably, no standardized testing is required in grades 9–12 (the required testing years are 3, 5, and 8), and the annual evaluator certification, filed by June 30, is the compliance document.

Who issues a Pennsylvania homeschool diploma?

Two equally recognized routes. The parent-supervisor issues the diploma on the standardized PDE-6008 form, co-signed by the same evaluator who performed the submitted 12th-grade evaluation. Since Act 196 of 2014 it carries all the rights and privileges the Commonwealth affords, and PHEAA accepts it for state grants. Or a PDE-recognized diploma organization grants one (their extra requirements are their policy, not the law, and the recognized list changes, so check PDE's current list). A GED is never required; the Commonwealth Secondary School Diploma exists only as a fallback. One practical trap: the diploma co-signer must be the graduation-year evaluator, so families should not switch evaluators senior year.