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I love wrapping up the school year, but the thought of putting together homeschool portfolios doesn’t excite me. In fact, I put it off because it’s a big job that requires energy. And at the end of the homeschool year, who has energy? I don’t want one more thing to do. I want summer vacation!
Some years my daughter’s homeschool portfolio has consisted of a bin where I dumped loose papers and got no further. There’s a pile of artwork sitting on a shelf, waiting to be filed somewhere or tossed. And what about all those workbooks? They’re sitting on a shelf taking up valuable shelving real estate.
I came up with a method to organize my mind and all the “stuff” my daughter learned and accumulated over the school year. With homeschool portfolios made easy, you can put together a homeschool portfolio that’s manageable, attractive, and a valuable keepsake.
Homeschool Portfolios Made Easy
The first step in creating your portfolio is to figure out your audience. Is your homeschool portfolio solely a keepsake? Does your portfolio need to be submitted to your state, shown to a certified teacher, or shared in a group? In Maine, we don’t have to submit portfolios, so I design my portfolios as a keepsake, highlighting activities and accomplishments.
How to Make Homeschool Portfolios
1. Design a Cover
The first step is to design a portfolio cover. I put my child’s name at the top with the title, “Homeschool Portfolio.” Then I add her picture in the center. At the bottom, I write her grade and school year. I print the cover on card stock.
2. Create a Table of Contents
Next, create a table of contents. This step will help you decide what to include in your homeschool portfolio. It’s a nice organizational feature as well.
3. Make Lists
If you like to make lists, you’ll enjoy this step in making a homeschool portfolio. The four types of lists that I recommend are outlined below.
List Curriculum & Classes
Make a list of all the subjects your child studied. Then, under each subject heading, list the curriculum you used or the name of any class your child was enrolled in. For example, in third grade, under “art” I wrote, “studied artists Lavinia Fontana, Diego Velazquez, Rembrandt, Bada Shanren and JMW Turner using library books and internet resources.”
List Field Trips & Outings
It’s fun to look back and remember any field trips or special outings. I look through my planner or calendar for the year and type up places we’ve gone, organized by date.
List Extra-Curricular Activities
I also type up a list of the extra-curricular activities that my daughter participated in on a regular basis, like ballet class or swimming lessons.
List Books Read
Throughout the year, my daughter keeps a log of the books she reads for pleasure. I also include a separate list of books that I read to her. I look back through my planner to make my list and print it on the computer.
4. Collect Samples of Work
Choose 3-5 work samples that showcase what your child learned during the year. These samples can be pages from workbooks (so you don’t have to keep piles of workbooks lying around), copies of quizzes and tests, writing pieces, art pieces, reports, maps, worksheets, diagrams, charts, photo collages, certificates, and awards.
Taking photographs makes it possible to include special projects, like dioramas and science experiments in the portfolio. Make a photo collage, print it out, and add it to the right subject section.
5. Organize Work Samples by Subject
Next, you’ll need to get all those work samples organized. Using the list of curriculum and classes as a guide, organize samples of work according to subject. For example, I start with reading, so my daughter’s book lists are the first thing you see after the list of extra-curricular activities.
For my daughter’s first grade homeschool portfolio I wrote a summary of what she learned or covered in each subject. The summaries helped give a visual division to the various subjects. They took a lot of time to put together, but I wish I had kept up the tradition. You may want to try adding summaries to your child’s portfolio. A simple way to do this is to summarize the table of contents from your child’s textbooks. Then add details about his/her growth in the subject.
6. Assemble the Portfolio
Finally, put all the pages of the homeschool portfolio in order. Then hole punch the pages and insert into a binder. My favorite way to bind portfolios is with report covers (affiliate link). The clear plastic covers are good for protecting your card stock cover that has your child’s photo and grade level. Also, using a report cover limits how many papers you can include, so you’ll only choose what’s really important to remember. If you want to make the homeschool portfolio even more user friendly, you can add tabs (affiliate link).
In Conclusion
Homeschool portfolios don’t have to be hard, but they do take some time. Make a cover, type up the various lists, collect work samples, and bind it all together in a report cover. That’s it. You’ll have a manageable portfolio ready to share with others and treasure for years to come.
Your Turn
Do you make homeschool portfolios? What tips can you suggest to make the task easier for other homeschoolers?
