I'm so glad I found you! I just pulled my second grade out of school because live school (online from 7:50 to 3PM one forty five minute break) was too much for my ASD daughter. Thank you!
Wow my sons 2 really considering homeschooling I definitely want to thank you so much for these videos to you all and for just being such super moms you are so inspiring ❤️
My homeschool is off to a rocky start because I’m still trying to find my footing between curriculum and consistency with my 5 year old. This portfolio situation has me so nervous for some reason! It’s like I’m being tested myself. Thank you so much for this!
Oh please don't stress over it. But I totally understand your feelings. Just remember, if for whatever reason the evaluator doesn't approve (which almost never happens), you can get another one. And if you are looking for an evaluator, get one who is either a homeschool parent or a former homeschool parent. They understand the laws.
Where can you find an evaluator? Is there websites online ? Is there homeschool parent evaluators with information I could obtain somehow. I am new to homeschool starting with my kindergarten this year and we are planning to move to Florida in august. I’m trying to do research as the laws are different in Florida than they are in Texas. Any bit of information is greatly appreciated. Thank you !
I do evals. I have a playlist on my channel that shares information about the law. You can also email me if you’re interested in getting an evaluation. Lei101978@hotmail.com
My state doesn't currently require a portfolio at this time but I feel better safe then sorry and am trying to keep clear records for everything my son is learning especially since my boy has special needs and I don't want problems in the future. This was a great video thank you.
The box system is too hard for me. For years and years, I’ve been using a large 3 ring binder for each child with dividers for each subject. We save assignments and put them in the binder every week to 2 weeks. In the front of the binder I keep all of the attendance and lesson plan records required for my state. At the end of the year, I store the binder and get new ones for the next year.
Yes I totally hated the box system, I just got lazy. No one sees the portfolio but me so I didn’t have accountability - I just threw it in the box. However, I wanted to walk in the homeschool parent’s shoes and see what it was like to organize it. Plus I really needed to get rid of these boxes. Thankfully this year I am doing a much better job of organizing and keeping my kids stuff together.
Lol this is me when portfolio time rolls around lol and we just need 3 samples of work per subject, per kid, twice a year. It can take me 2 to 7 days to finish them lol. This year I think I will have this all ready to go before portfolio time rolls around. We have workbooks this year. Last year we did online stuff and it was a pain to print it all out. Now, I will just copy it and send in a copy. I like to keep originals. Anyway...I think I'll be more organized this year...I guess we'll find out. Meanwhile, day one of homeschooling this year and I already can't find my youngest son's English answer keys that I absolutely know we have ordered and received! Ughhh! I thought I had this!
Do you think workbooks are ok to keep in a portfolio? For example, if we just did workbooks or language arts would that be sufficient enough to keep in the portfolio? I’m in Florida too!
I kept all of my kids' writing over the years, but only kept representative samples of their math. If my kid is doing Algebra 2 and getting good grades, obviously that kid di Algebra 1 successfully.
My daughter is more of a visual learner. She enjoys documentaries and educational shows. Are these acceptable to list in a portfolio, or does there need to be paper proof of her learning? (We are also in Florida.)
Thank you so much, this is great! I also live in Florida and I'm kinda freaking out. I didn't keep a detailed schedule or planner of the things we did?!? Looks like from this video that isn't required in the state of Fl, correct?
We do something similar, just a lot more pared down. In MO you don’t have to keep a full portfolio but just samples of work in at least the core subjects to show progress. So I keep about every 10th worksheet/activity and every test. That looked like a lot of work!
I’m in Florida and use acellus power homeschool. As far as I am seeing.. I am only seeing like reports and grades? How do I make a portfolio off of there?
Also, Requirements for our state for social studies are geography and history. I picked ms us history & there’s no option for geography. Does it matter which types of history I choose?
If we do The good and the beautiful and it’s all workbooks do I just give the evaluator the workbooks? Or do I need to pull out a few pages from each to make a portfolio?
You can and I’ve seen many people do it, I’ll obviously accept it but the process will take longer since the evaluator will have to sort through everything. I like it when the parent just takes out the best work the student did over the year, maybe four samples every 2 weeks per subject. But there really isn’t a formula, and you can do whatever you want.
@@LivingWithEve thank you so much for clarifying that. It’s my first year doing kindergarten and we are almost finished. I was starting to stress out about it. We are on the east coast of FL and my next step is finding an evaluator near me. Is there a website or list that has homeschool evaluators near you area?
If I'm making a portfolio for the very first time, where can I obtain/buy some of the study materials for my kids? Also, how does one know what to teach too them according to their grade/level of comprehension?
There is so much information I can give you. First check with your state. Each state has their own requirements. I know Florida. If you need more information on Florida, we can chat in more detail. For curriculum, there is so much! My suggestion would be to first find an open book curriculum, one that walks you through everything for the first year. It takes about 3 years to really get a good grasp of what is best for you and your family. Some open book curriculum include My Father's World (Christian), Bookshark (Secluar), Masterbook (Christian), Sonlight (Christian), Tim 4 Learing (Internet / Secular), Easy Peesy (Online / Christian / Free). That can get you started. There is a TON more. The best thing to do is research through youtube, talk to other moms, ask questions and go to conventions. There are so many options, approaches and what's so great about homeschooling is that you are in charge of your child's education. Hope this helps to get you started. Don't hesitate to ask more questions!
Grade level, I forgot to answer. I would see if the previous school have any test results. Also you can check with specific curriculum. A lot of them have placement test. Doing the placement test, with the curriculum you like best, is probably the best bet.
Get a new evaluator. I’m serious. That’s why it’s important to get a good recommendation, and/or meet with them before hand. So you don’t waste your money. If you truly didn’t homeschool or your child didn’t make improvements then you probably would schedule an evaluation. Also, another tip, do not give them your information until after the evaluation is over and they agree to sign the paperwork. That way if they decide that they aren’t improving they will not have your information or forms to send to the state. You can simple book another evaluator.
Nope. I go through the laws in another video.... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PHChHmDY5a4.html (It's a little cheesy, I might redue it, but the information is all there). Every state is different, so it's always good to go back to the Statutes and understand the law.
Awesome! Thank you 😊 I was just freaking out because this is our first year using Timberdoodle instead of FLVS and she is 3 months in and I just saw that I needed what I thought was a daily log. I’ll check out your other video. Thank you
Wouldn’t it be easier to do this every couple of months? I was homeschooled and we had a chaotic system but in college I evaluated all my bits and pieces both hard copy and digital at the end of every semester and organized them for easy reference. Just got to the part where you say to do it throughout the year lol Great video, I saw one person who had a wire book binder to put lol the pages together into one book at the end of the year have you ever considered that?
Yup... lol The problem I have is that I actually evaluate my own kids, so I end up throwing all of their work into a box. No one really looks at their portfolio, so I never really put one together. However, if the district need to view it, I can put one together in a few hours. (They never do though). So I made this video to really show others how i would put together one if needed. I see hundreds of portfolios and almost everyone seems overwhelmed, nervous and scared (unless they know me). I now know why. 😄
Helen Caldicott, “Teachers, I believe are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.” Teaching has always scared me…Teachers have the power to affect their minds. Producing young people for life-ready to achieve the life purpose on their life. Now, the world can be a nasty crazy place out there, we need a lot of courage and we need a lot of resilience after that, and we will fall down before we stand up… What really matters is the silence of the night in our conscience, when we are alone. We cannot control what happens but we can use what happens. We have so much reserves of love and support inside us, if we can just remember that in our mind and move on.
Lots of photos, list any curriculum that you use or any field trips you may take. Lots of lists. Then in the interview process, you can explain how you work with him. Remember therapies count.
Maybe it’s a silly question, but here it goes anyway: Do you keep a portfolio binder for each of the 12 grade for each student or what do you when you need to make next year portafolio?
But it comes together... this is what a lot of my families do because they just throw it in the box. I had to put myself in their shoes. It really wasn’t that bad.