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🧩 Special Needs & Special Education Homeschooling in Pennsylvania

What Pennsylvania offers homeschool families of children with disabilities or learning differences — special-needs scholarships, evaluations and services — from our Pennsylvania guide and articles.

Special education and health requirements

Students with disabilities: if your child has been identified under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as needing special education (gifted students are excluded), your program must address the child's specific needs and be approved by a teacher with a valid Pennsylvania special education certificate, a licensed clinical psychologist or a certified school psychologist; the written approval goes with your affidavit (24 P.S. § 13-1327(d)). You choose who writes the approval, and the certificate doesn't have to be active. A parent doesn't need any special skill or certification to homeschool a child with a disability.

Evaluations and services: if you believe your child has a disability but hasn't been evaluated, your school district must evaluate the child free of charge when you ask in writing, and explain the results. Districts and intermediate units are not required to provide special education services to homeschooled students but may at their discretion; services are a local decision, must be agreed to by both the supervisor and the district or intermediate unit, and are provided in the public schools or a licensed private school — not in your home. They are distinct from the free appropriate public education given to enrolled students. If the district doesn't evaluate on request, PDE's guide points families to the PDE Special Education Consult Line at 1-800-879-2301.

Immunizations: the first time your child enrolls in a home education program, the school nurse reviews the immunization record; after that, evidence is due every year with the affidavit. You can submit the actual records, a letter from a physician (after the initial review), or a letter objecting to immunization on religious grounds or strong moral or ethical convictions. Medical exemptions are also allowed.

Health exams: home-educated students must have the same health screenings (vision, hearing, height and weight, tuberculosis, scoliosis), physicals and dental exams as other students at the grades Article XIV sets. You can use the district nurse when the school holds screenings, or private providers within four months before the year the exam is due, and submit the results with the affidavit.

Work permits: home-educated students get work permits from their school district. PDE has ruled that 16- and 17-year-olds in a home education program may work during school hours, within limits (no more than six consecutive days, eight hours a day or 44 hours a week, and not after midnight Sunday through Thursday during the school year). Federal law still bars 14- and 15-year-olds from working while the local public school is in session.

Read the full section in our Pennsylvania guide

Summarized from our Pennsylvania guide (as of November 2026) and articles. Rules change — confirm on the official pages before you act.

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