Homeschool Portfolios

For many homeschoolers, evaluations are a source of confusion and anxiety. The misconceptions exploited by the media and the confusing terminology in state homeschooling statutes, it's easy for parents to get confused by stories about far away or long ago.

The solution is education. Learning about homeschool portfolio evaluations and local homeschooling laws, and thinking through what your real plans are,  can provide a rational focal point and  help eliminate the stress when it comes to keeping student records for your kids. It can also make the task of putting a strategy in place for keeping homeschool portfolio information much simpler.

It's important to note that for the most part, homeschool transcripts and portfoios are NEVER viewed by anyone outside the family.  Let me repeat that again, these are primarily private organizational tools. But there are some exceptions for:

- some states with special requirements (ex, Maryland). Here's a connection to homeschool info for each state.

- college admissions

What should a homeschool portfolio look like?

The most common portfolio is a three-ring binder with subject dividers that make organization and record keeping relatively straightforward. Accordion files can also be a great way of creating a homeschool portfolio. As a paperless alternative, some parents even choose to keep electronic homeschool portfolios for student record keeping.

Three-ring binders allow parents to organize samples of their child's work by using tab dividers. Homeschool transcripts, writing samples, assignments and most other elements of the child's educational portfolio can easily be dated and placed in their appropriate sections. Clear protector pages can be used to prevent documents from tearing, while pocket dividers and photo-album pages hold items such as project photographs and art drawings that parents often prefer not to hole-punch.

Accordion files are a great way to avoid the necessity of punching holes, allowing for a quicker way to file and access papers. With an accordion file, homeschool records, reports and many other materials can simply be dropped into the correct pocket.

Electronic portfolios offer an eco-friendly approach to student record keeping. With the help of a scanner and a camera, parents can keep an e-portfolio for their kids right on their computer. This can help to both reduce the mountain of debris and reclaim lost closet space. Offline assignments, field trips and projects can be scanned, video recorded or photographed and saved into each child's file.

Homeschool portfolios are as unique as the families who make them. Three-ring binders and accordion files are a common approach to homeschool record keeping, although electronic homeschool portfolios are growing in popularity.

Whether the homeschool portfolio is web- or paper-based, parents who use Time4Learning can run progress reports within the program and simply save or print them for each child's file. The choice is entirely up to the parent.