Contributor:
Sarah Shelton
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A homeschool portfolio is a collection and keepsake of samples of your students’ work, assignments, grade records, and reading lists over the course of their homeschool year. Download some free Homeschool Portfolio Printables at the bottom of the post to help keep your homeschool organized.
Portfolio pages are normally kept in a 3 ring binder, but can also be done digitally. I like to store samples of artwork, extra curricular activities, and collect brochures and handouts from nature classes or field trips that we have taken. A portfolio serves as a record keeping tool, but is also fun to look back on each year and see how your children have progressed. Some states have homeschool laws that require you to keep a portfolio for a certain amount of years. You could be called on to have that portfolio of work reviewed, so it is important to always have that up to date.
Depending on your state laws and reporting, you may have the option to either have your student tested with a standardized test, or evaluated by a certified teacher. You can find out your state’s homeschool laws on the HSLDA website. Since we homeschool at our own pace and have some learning disabilities, I have opted out of testing my children. Instead, I am able to have their portfolio evaluated and “signed off” by a local homeschool mother who has a teaching license. This is so helpful and eases a lot of stress for a child that has testing anxiety. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for free homeschool portfolio printables!
If you aren’t very organized, or you wait until the end of the school year to get your portfolio in order, this can be pretty stressful. Ask me how I know! I have nightmares of piles and piles of papers for FOUR children that I have had to sort through. This panic escalates when you are trying to get ready for an end of the year portfolio review date.
With just a little planning and weekly or monthly preparation throughout the school year, you can have your portfolio ready for a review without the added stress and last minute scrambling. You can use our free end-of-year homeschool checklist found at the bottom of this post to make sure your homeschool portfolio includes everything you want (and need) it to.
These free printable Homeschool Portfolio Printables are the perfect tool to help you take control of the mountains of homeschool paperwork.
Scroll to the bottom and click the instant download to open the file and save it to your computer!
We have created a Portfolio Review Checklist to help you put together your portfolio. You can check off each item as you add it to your binder to make sure you haven’t forgotten any important information.
