VeggieTales Connections

 Good Will has a listing for Veggietales Connections.  eBay does, too!  This looks like a year-long Bible Study for kiddos.  What fun!

Portfolios

It’s that time of year: portfolios!  Each year I review several for home-school families.  I’ve been on the other side, preparing portfolios, too.  They are a lot of work! Let’s examine both aspects, reviewing and creating portfolios.  This may help you assemble materials for your own portfolio to submit.

Let’s talk reviews.  When I review portfolios, I prefer to interview the family—kiddos included!  The first time I work with a family, the interview takes hours.  What is their home-school philosophy?  What is the family’s style?  Is there a dedicated space?  Do the children work on their lessons daily?  Is school year-round?  There are many ways to home-school successfully.  Once I have a better idea about the family, I look at the program of study.  Does the family use a defined curriculum?  Are they enrolled in an on-line school?  How many hours and weeks do they teach?  Which courses did the children take?  Then it’s on to specifics.  I like to see work samples, reading logs, textbooks, essays, tests, certifications, and photos.  The kiddos tell me about their work, their interests, their favorite books.  Moms share anecdotes.  During the interview I take pages and pages of notes.  Once the interview concludes, I review my notes and draft a letter.  Sometimes, I contact the mom with more questions.  Next I craft a letter.

In Virginia and West Virginia, the school districts require a letter. Here is an example from last year’s review.  (BTW I taught Jacob in Bio and Comp.  I sat with him in Algebra 1, and tutored him in Latin.  I had plenty of material.)  

My reviews are positive.  I might make suggestions to the family; however I do NOT write negative comments in a letter to the school board.  Home-school families are sharply scrutinized.  I don’t invite more.  Once I get acquainted with the family, I can rely on work samples.  Although, several families prefer an interview at their homes.  My friend, Michelle, pulls out all the books, samples, and syllabi.  Another mom of eleven, Mrs. S sends me digital files in pdf and png format with photos, work samples, test scores, essay, etc.  I’ve reviewed her children’s portfolios for many years, initially in her home, occasionally from her van!  Mrs.S’s family is also enrolled in an on-line school.  I trust these submissions.  

How do you create your own portfolio?  Here is one I assembled and submitted to Kolbe Academy quarterly.  I like to include photos of the textbooks in Google Slides, with the subjects as titles. It is helpful to include work samples, tests, essays, etc from each quarter.  I just took photos and added them to the slide deck.

 Mrs. S creates one, annual portfolio for each child.  In each portfolio is a copy of Seton’s curriculum, work samples for each subject, a reading log (at my request years ago), tests, and transcripts for on-line classes, such as Rosetta Stone Spanish.  Mrs. S’s younger children have many more work samples; the teens have more essays and course transcripts with test grades because they take more of their classes on-line.  Every year, she includes over 50 photos and a summary for each child, with his or her strengths and weaknesses.  Why?  Mrs. S is documenting field trips, service projects, sports, and milestones.  The letters for her children’s portfolios are a breeze!

What about a child with learning differences or special needs?  Mrs. S has a child with Down’s and was very concerned about her portfolio.  This child, L, has a host of medical needs, too.  L. receives a myriad of therapies, all part of her education.  Remember you are home-schooling to address your child’s unique needs.  With L I’m looking at her development.  Has she learned new words?  Can she sing?  Tie shoes?  Copy letters?  What exactly can she do this year she wasn’t able to do last year?  L has had a number of surgeries which delay development.  All of that type of information goes into my portfolio, review letter.  Mrs. S and her family use every tool available to help L grow and learn.  

If your child has learning differences, emphasize his or her progress.  Reading is one of those areas where kiddos can make a big jump after several, very frustrating years.  If your kiddo is still struggling to read, explain your strategies.  Are you reading aloud as a family?  Taking turns with each page in a book?  Listening to audio books?  The same can be true of math facts.  Do you practice them anyway?  Use manipulatives?  Model strategies?  Some kiddos need devices to write because their hand-writing is illegible.  Do you practice handwriting, too? (Okay, maybe printing, not cursive.)  Is the child making adequate progress, not necessarily blazing new trails?

Now assemble work samples.  Scan math tests, essays, spelling lists, etc with your cell phone.  Scour your phone for photos of things your family has done.  Do you keep chickens?  Did you visit a museum?  Did you take a Co-op field trip to the park with a ranger as a docent?  Does your family garden?  Think of all of the ways you educate your child, which includes piano lessons, Latin, soccer, and tutoring.  

Organize your thoughts.  Are you working with a teacher, who will write a letter of evaluation?  What would you like the teacher to tell the school board?  I think it’s important to emphasize all of the ways the kiddo is making progress and developing rather than focusing on his deficits.  Put your thoughts on paper for the teacher to paraphrase in her letter.  Guess what?  After all of this exhausting work you are going to be even more resolved to help your kiddo learn next year!