"Do I really have to keep a log every day?" It is the most common question new Pennsylvania homeschool parents ask us. The answer is reassuring: PA law does not require a daily log. But a simple log is the easiest way to prove your 180 days / 900 hours and to assemble your portfolio later.
What PA actually requires
Act 169 requires a log of reading materials as part of your portfolio. It does not require a daily schedule, attendance sheet, or hourly breakdown. Most evaluators, however, expect to see some kind of attendance record showing you met the 180-day minimum.
The 10-minute weekly log method
Set a recurring 10-minute appointment with yourself every Friday afternoon. In that time, jot down:
- Days "in session" this week (1–5)
- Subjects covered
- One memorable moment per child (a breakthrough, a question, a field trip)
- Books finished or started
That is it. Five entries a year of skipped logs is recoverable. Five months is not.
What to skip
- Hour-by-hour time tracking. Pennsylvania measures days or hours — pick one.
- Letter grades for elementary students.
- Lesson plans you do not actually follow.
What to actually track
- Books read — required for the portfolio anyway.
- Days in session — running total toward 180.
- Field trips and experiences — these count as instructional days.
- One sentence of narrative — the difference between a log that helps you write the evaluator narrative in June and one that doesn't.
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Paper, spreadsheet, or app?
All three work. The right answer is whichever one you will actually open on Friday afternoon. Paper bullet journals are wonderful and zero-maintenance — until you have to type up a year-end summary. Spreadsheets work until the formulas break. Pennsole's digital planner was built specifically for PA's day/hour rules and exports the formats evaluators ask for.
A sample week
Week of Sept 14, 2026 — Day count: 23/180
• Mon–Thu in session (4 days)
• Friday: Carnegie Museum field trip (counts)
• Subjects: Math, Reading, PA History, Science
• Books: finished "Charlotte's Web" (Eva); started "Magic Tree House #3" (Sam)
• Win: Eva narrated a full chapter back to me unprompted.That entry takes 90 seconds. Repeat 36 times and you have a complete year — and a portfolio narrative that practically writes itself.
For more on what your evaluator wants to see, read our portfolio checklist.