Governor Corbett has signed HB1013 (it would have become a law anyway on Sunday as long as he didn't veto it). Our diplomas now count (provided you print the one off the PDE site and have your 12th grade evaluator sign it) just as any other. And even better, no more double portfolio review!!! I know we still have many more hoops to jump through compared to other states, but now they aren't on fire. Maybe this is just the beginning of more great changes for us!
Well, GREAT! Maybe you'll get as good as Louisiana, where all we have to do is fill out a form once a year to register as a private school (they call it Registered Non-Public - we call it "private school option). IF we sign up as Approved Home Study for at least the last two years of high school, the kids are eligible for the state scholarship program.
Before, we had to use a diploma program in order to get any kind of state grants for college. Now, we can issue our own and still get the same benefits.
That is so great to hear! Congratulations to all the PA homeschoolers! Quality education works very similarly in the home and in schools: Let the teachers teach and you'll get an educated students. State and local administrators tend to spend too much time layering administrative requirements on schools that make it difficult to focus on the learning.
I wonder what will become of the diploma programs. I think I'll finish the one I started for my daughter, because I've already got two years filed with them. I am particularly pleased about not having to take the portfolios to the school district; that was redundant and ridiculous because I don't think they ever looked at them.
I'm not convinced I won't use the program I have picked out (picked it out when I thought ODS would be home for high school). I do think, even if I do it on my own, I will require what would have been required for the diploma I was planning on requiring. I chose Erie as our program because I liked the different levels of diploma they offer. I planned on requiring the kids to obtain the Academic diploma at a minimum (not the General which is just covering the basic state requirements), with their choice of going for an Honors diploma if they wished. I have printed out their requirements and put them in my master binder just in case it ever vanishes. I want to be able to look at it quickly.
I'm so excited about this!!!! Not having to go through the stinking diploma program makes me happier than a pig in slop!
You still have to follow the same laws pretty much, you have to file the affidavit all the way to graduation (even if they are over 17) and have an evaluation, and cover the same required classes.... but we had to do that anyway whether we wanted to go with a diploma program or ask the super to sign the paper for the PHEAA grant. My plan is (I think) to print out the PDE diploma but if it's "ugly" to look at, create my own for the kids too. They will have 2 versions of the same diploma... one won't mean crap once they get into college and have their grants taken care of.
