Barbara McMillan
Barbara McMillan, M.S., Ed S, NCSP
Stillwaters Farm
208 Thompson RD
Acme PA 15610>br> 724-309-5953
I was among the pioneering homeschoolers in Pennsylvania in the early 1980s, and contributed to the writing of the PA homeschool law. I have served as a homeschool evaluator since 1993, and currently evaluate students each year at my home office in Western PA, near Donegal. As a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, I am qualified to evaluate elementary, high school and special needs students. However, at this time (2021) I am looking forward to retirement in the next few years, and am only accepting a few new homeschool families with special needs students.
I challenge students to take ownership of their learning, whether their goals are accelerated academics or basic life skills. I view my role as evaluator as three-fold:
- a nurturing audience to encourage students (and parents!) in their learning
- a mentor to help students set higher goals and access resources to achieve those goals
- an authority figure to hold students accountable to the high standards of both the PA Homeschool Diploma and their parents.
My evaluation reports are concise and detailed, with a subject-by-subject description of key academic skills and concepts covered, extra-curricular experiences, practical life skill development and community service outreach. While I encourage families to be diligent in documentation of learning objectives, log and portfolio, I am comfortable with a wide variety of formats. If there are problems with course content or documentation of learning activities, I discuss these openly with parents and students. If my families have difficulties with their school district, I am happy to intervene on their behalf with District officials to resolve the problem.
I have published Pennsylvania's only comprehensive guide to homeschooling special needs students in PA, called the WHATZ-UP MANUAL, available for purchase directly from me at the address above.