Homeschooling

Archive for the ‘Student Progress’ Category

You should give high school credits to your children when you have taught them a class within the curriculum that can be counted as a high school credit. You can record everything you taught your children on the report card and give your children proper credits. However, if you taught your sixth grader a class that is supposed to be for seventh grader, wait until your child is a seventh grader before you give him or her that credit. You should save all documents related to that course that you have taught and enter it on the child's transcript at the appropriate level.

Bear in mind, though, that some states do not acknowledge high school credits given by parents who are Home Schooling. Other states feel that if the child is smart enough to pass a standardized exam, then there is no problem. You will want to check your state's Home Schooling rules.

Your child can be in many course levels at once

For example, if your child is normally a sixth grader but excels in mathematics, you child can be the equivalent of eighth grader in Mathematics also and still be a sixth grader in all other subjects. This is an advantage of Home Schooling. Your child can excel in whatever areas he or she can excel in. It is more important, though, that whatever grade your child is in, he or she can read or do what an average child of the same grade can do. While Home Schooling, you need to not let your child's age be a question of what he or she can study. How old a child is and what grade that age should be in has no meaning in Home Schooling. The bottom line is, make sure that your child knows AT LEAST the same amount as the kids in public schools.

Entering High School or College from Home School

If you have been Home Schooling your child for awhile and now want for any reasons for your child to go to a public high school or private high school, there is no problem. Your child may have to take a test given by the chosen high school. Usually, if your child passes the test, you child can just attend the class he or she passes the test for. However, some states will not recognize the high school credit from Home Schooling and will want your child to re-take those classes. You need to discuss the high school credits validity with the chosen high school. The same with entering a college from Home Schooling, you or your child need to discuss your child's high school credit with the college. Sometimes, scores from a standardized test will be enough to enter a college. Other times, high school credits on your child's transcript are also a requirement.

Homeschool portfolio evaluation or home school portfolio assessment is somewhat a newer concept in Homeschooling. However, a homeschool portfolio evaluation is very important for a homeschooler to feel a sense of accomplishment and have something to be proud of. By dedicating hours of your time for a homeschool portfolio evaluation, you can be part of your homeschooler's work and life in a more meaningful way than ever before.

How does homeschool portfolio evaluation work?

You need a system for a homeschool portfolio evaluation to put together a portfolio of your homeschooler's work all year long. Below is how a homeschool portfolio evaluation system or home school portfolio assessment works.

Building a portfolio for homeschool portfolio evaluation

In order to evaluate a portfolio, there has to be a portfolio to be evaluated. So, the first step is to teach your homeschooler how to put all their work in a safe place, in a folder, file or even a portfolio! You also need to teach your homeschooler to document each piece of work with a date and name.

Time for a Homeschool Portfolio Evaluation

Every few months, you should schedule a time for a homeschool portfolio evaluation with your homeschooler. During this homeschool portfolio evaluation or home school portfolio assessment, you will go through each piece of homeschool work with your child and select best pieces of work to be included in the homeschool portfolio. The homeschool portfolio evaluation process should be fun and you should allow plenty of time to do this evaluation. Homeschool portfolio evaluation is very important for the progress of your homeschooler so spend plenty of time necessary to complete it.

Purpose of homeschool portfolio evaluation

The purpose of having a homeschool portfolio evaluation or home school portfolio assessment is to select best pieces of work to show anyone what the homeschooler has learned in Home Schooling. Once the best homeschool pieces are selected, the homeschooler should be encouraged to reflect on the experience of completing that particular piece of work, get feedback and express themselves. Note down the observations and comments.

Final portfolio after many homeschool portfolio evaluations

At the end of the year, your homeschooler will have developed a final portfolio consisting of all the best pieces of work throughout the year that had gone through homeschool portfolio evaluations with you.