Homeschool Portfolios can be a daunting task, especially in your first couple of years on your homeschool journey. If you live in a state like mine, where this is an option for your end of the year evaluations, this might be an important part of your role as the homeschool parent. I’d like to help walk you through how I do our homeschool portfolios in our homeschool.
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Homeschool Portfolios
So, what exactly is a homeschool portfolio? Essentially, it’s samples of your homeschool year compiled into a binders to show the academic progress of your child from that school year.
In our state, we are required to provide a portfolio, which is evaluated by a certified teacher after completing each school year. Once they sign off on it, we send in the appropriate form, to which the school board will approve (or deem satisfactory or unsatisfactory). We are then free to move on to our next “grade”. I say that lightly, because if you’ve been homeschooling for a significant amount of time, you probably know by now, homeschoolers don’t always learn within their own grade levels and/or even remember what grade they are in half of the time. 🙂
So, with that, I will share a simple guide to putting together a homeschool portfolio. Be sure to also check out my Homeschool Portfolio Printable Templates to take your portfolio organization to the next level!
Step 1: Understand your homeschool portfolio requirements. – This goes back to knowing your state homeschool laws. (Read this post for more on that). Be sure you are up to date on what your state requires you to include in your portfolio. This could be things like attendance, hours logged, curriculum list, and samples of schoolwork and/or tests and quizzes.
Step 2: Include Samples of Schoolwork – Decide which materials you will include in your portfolio. I always include any and all quizzes/tests my children do as well as any pieces of work that gives a good overview of what they are learning throughout the year. Include essays, artwork, reading lists, etc. This will also depend on which curriculum you use. If your child is doing a course online, be sure to print any grades and/or reviews to show the work completed for that course.
*Extra Tip – This is something I like to do ALL throughout the school year to make things easier and more organized. Rather than trying to go back through the entire years’ schoolwork, which can be very time consuming. *
Step 3: Organize Materials – Try to keep things in chronological order so the evaluator can see the progress in the same order it was completed. I like to separate each subject with dividers and each child gets their own binder.
Step 4: Include Extracurricular activities – This could be done in a variety of ways. One way I like to include this is with pictures. If your child plays a sport or instrument, include pictures of those lessons in your portfolio. This can also be any youth groups, community service activities, etc. This is a great way to showcase a well-rounded education and socialization practices that you are providing your child. Using these photo pages in the binder is a great way to include these.
Step 5: Parent/Teacher Evaluation – Write an evaluation of your child’s progress, include areas that they’ve mastered and skills they need to improve on. This is a great way to provide the evaluator with your personal view of how the homeschool year went.
Additional Tips: Cover Pages – In the beginning of each binder I like to add cover pages with things like our curriculum overview list, reading logs, attendance records, field trip logs, etc. All of these can be created using my Homeschool Portfolio Printables.
In conclusion, a homeschool portfolio is much more than just an academic record of your child’s achievements, it also serves as a testament to the personalized, well-rounded and wholesome education that homeschooling can provide. It also is a great tool for parents to use to reflect on previous years to determine what worked well, or what needs to be improved upon in the future. When I look at those completed homeschool portfolios each year, I’m proud of the commitment I’ve made to my children, what homeschooling has allowed us to learn together and the blessing it is to be able to be at home with my kids each day.
Happy Homeschooling! 🙂
Be sure to download your Homeschool Portfolio Printables here!
