homeschool portfolio

{Homeschooling without a curriculum} {Eclectic Homeschooling} {Free print outs for your record keeping.}

Though I have seen countless blogs on the Internet offering advice on how to keep track of your child’s homeschool, I knew that I would have to come up with my own system or I wouldn’t stick to it. So I write this post with a grain of salt and encourage you to do the same. There’s no right or wrong here.

This past year was my “practice year” as I explained in my last post. I’m really glad I took the effort to keep track of what we did because it has helped me create a system that I think I’ll stick with.

First of all, I don’t use a packaged curriculum. I drew on different resources for my son’s “pre-kindergarten” year (which was actually kindergarten, and I’ll explain about that in my next post.) Most people call this eclectic homeschooling.

I consulted a preschool and kindergarten “course of study” that used to be on the World Book Encyclopedia website. I’m very disappointed they removed this page because it was very thorough, and upon reading whom they consulted to put it all together, I felt it was a good source. Fortunately, Beverly Hernandez got permission to put this list on About.com before they took it down! (Thank you, Beverly!) You have to click on a lot of links to read all of it, but I’m grateful it’s there. It’s comprehensive through the 12^th grade.

I did not worry about covering everything on these lists, and I don’t think you should be either. I was only intentional about teaching a few choice subjects: reading, math, the solar system, and the weather. Everything else we covered through my son’s own interests! Yes, that’s right! (And I should note that after introducing him to the solar system and the weather, he took an interest in these subjects and we’ve done much more than I was planning. Yay “mostly child-led”!) (Okay, so I’m intentional about storytelling too, but that doesn’t feel like work!) Recently I went over these lists carefully, and I was able to check off every point except for one. (Estimation, which is under math, so I’m doing that now.)

This is what I did this past year to keep track of our homeschool. To download these forms for free, see my printables page.

I created a Homeschool Chart that I kept on my desk at all times. Across the top were all the subjects that I have to cover by law and other subjects important to me. Since I walk by my desk several times a day, it was no problem checking off what we did and writing notes to help myself remember.
At the end of each week, I typed up a brief summery or Homeschool Journal. I would list any books we read, chapters we covered, projects we worked on, outings, and classes. Anything I thought was noteworthy. I knew I probably would not need all of these details, but I also felt it made a nice keepsake.
Last March I started an Excel spreadsheet for our Reading List. I figured out that I can go online to my library account and copy and paste the list of book titles we checked out along with the author’s name and date we checked it out! Then I put a checkmark next to them when we read them, or I deleted the row if we didn’t read it. I keep another spreadsheet where I list books we own. I’m adding to it as we read the books.
- My strategy here was to take the stacks of books we read during “book time” and place them on my desk. Then at some point during the day – or in the evening – I would update the spreadsheet.
Homeschool Portfolio: I used a 3-ring binder to store the charts, the Homeschool Journal (which I printed out at the end of the year), some of my son’s work, the spreadsheets, pamphlets to places we’ve been, receipts for his classes and anything I bought for homeschooling. I plan to keep one binder for each year for each child. (I may just keep the past three years for our records, or I may consolidate them and keep some of it for a keepsake.)
- I asked two facilitators from classes my son took to write up a brief report about him, and they were more than happy to do so. I added these to the binder as well.

This sounds like a lot of work, but it didn’t feel like it because I came up with a strategy that worked for me. I took the effort to make the chart and summary a habit, and I didn’t stress over fine details.

Last month (May 2012) I wrapped up the school year, and I wanted to commemorate it with a “pre-kindergarten” graduation. To prepare for it, I wrote up a progress report as is required by Georgia law. I’ll write more about that in the third part of this series, and I’ll share which parts of this record keeping I used and which parts I realized were not needed, and I’m debating whether or not to nix some of it.

I hope you’ll stay tuned by subscribing to my blog in the right-hand margin, and I hope you’ll share with me your record-keeping strategies!

What Did I Learn?

Note: This column was printed in the Barrow Journal on June 6, 2012.

Last week I wrote about the changes in the Georgia homeschooling law, which will go into effect during the 2012/2013 school year. This news was pertinent for my household since we’ll be filing the Declaration of Intent to Homeschool for the first time at the end of August when my son turns six-years-old.

I considered this past year my “practice year,” and I tried to set up a schedule for learning and a system for recording what my son accomplishes each day. I’m happy to say I achieved these goals, so I feel confident as we file our Intent form and begin our official homeschooling journey.

For me, the purpose of homeschooling is so that I can tailor my son’s education to meet his needs and to create an environment where he won’t lose his love of learning. For these reasons, I call our homeschool “mostly child-led,” for lack of a better term.

Earlier in the year, I sorted out what I felt were the priorities for my children at their current ages of five and two. At this age, I feel that fostering their imaginations, letting them play, move and explore nature is most important. They also need to be steeped in literature and storytelling and taught how to find answers to their questions.

With these things in mind, I set up a schedule when we spent time reading, storytelling, especially through puppet shows, and we also spent time on the computer researching snakes because my five-year-old loves snakes. Creating a snake book is an on-going project, and it also helped teach him about writing, phonics, and measurement.

I did formal reading and math lessons with my five-year-old, but since his attention span is short, they were short lessons during his younger brother’s naptime. I also considered time with friends important for their socialization, and my son took several science classes at the Sandy Creek Nature Center in Athens.

I kept tabs on what we did in a variety of ways, and by the end of the year, I have learned what works for me.* The most helpful tool I created was a chart that listed subjects across the top. I included the subjects required by Georgia law (reading, language arts, math, science and social studies) as well as some additional subjects that are important to me.

The left-hand column listed the date, and every day I checked off what my son worked on that day and notes for myself. At the end of the week, I typed up a journal-like summary of the work. I consulted a typical course of study for a kindergartener to get ideas on what to teach, though our library books and my son’s interests lead us through much of that naturally.

At the end of May, I decided that I wanted to do an informal graduation* for my son for two reasons. First, I wanted him to understand what his “homeschooling” consisted of and why, and I wanted him to feel a sense of accomplishment. I hoped this would also encourage him when we begin our new year. Second, my mother-in-law was visiting, and I hoped that showcasing his work might help ease any discomfort with the idea of homeschooling.

I put together a 15-minute slideshow of all the photos I took through the year of my son’s work, projects and field trips. Though it was a lot of work, it made me feel happy and satisfied that we’re on the right track. I had not realized how much he had actually done until I created the slideshow!

The Georgia law requires that we write an annual progress report, and though I didn’t have to do it this year, I decided I’d try for the sake of my son’s grandmother and the rest of our family. By doing this I realized that I will never consult that long, weekly journal I keep. Instead, I used the photographs and my blog’s table of contents….two items I had not realized would be so helpful.

Because my son’s birthday is so close to the cut-off date, he would be entering Kindergarten this coming fall. Because of that, I’ll still consider him a Kindergartener at home, though he may be learning at a higher level.* Like all children, I expect he’ll do better in some subjects than others. What I love about homeschooling is that we can teach to his own level, and as evident in this past year, I see he is moving ahead through his own love of learning.

**Stay tuned for follow-up posts with more details and a print-out for you to use!