Schoolmarm Ohio

LAST WEEK FOR GIVEAWAY

If you haven’t yet signed up for the giveaway you still have time. Here is the post from earlier with details.

Guess what? I am giving away a free portfolio review!($40.00 value) All you have to do is follow my blog.  If you are currently following my blog, leave me a message about what you like most about homeschooling. If you are a new follower, leave me a message too! One message entry per person.  If you’d like more chances to win, tell a friend and get them to follow! They will need to mention your name with their message. This portfolio review would be beneficial to you who live in the Cincinnati area as you will meet with me, a current Ohio certified/licensed teacher, to discuss your student’s school year.

The Giveaway ends February 25, 2013. I will announce the winner on February 26 at 5:00 AM.

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 As I sit here in my cozy house and watch the temperatures drop it is hard to imagine that spring is just  around the corner. But it is, and at that point in time you will need to do some type of evaluation for your child(ren), whether it is a portfolio review or testing.

I am going to assume you are choosing to do a portfolio review since that is what I offer to home school families. If you haven’t begun to think of the end of the year’s evaluation process now is a great time to do so. It will only take a short time to gather what you need so don’t worry, be happy! You’ll be glad you began now instead of waiting until spring.

Here are some ideas to help you organize your portfolio:

• Choose work samples of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Remember that when you come to see me, the evaluator, you want to be able to have a representation of the work that has been done. This is NOT a reflection on how well you taught or how awesome the projects were that your pupils did, but rather a cross-section of the year’s progress. I am not giving you a grade. (Shew!) Some years there is rapid and tremendous progress, while other years it is a slow and steady pace. I am looking to see that overall progress has been made and your student is progressing to the best of his/her ability.
• Use the Home Education Notification form as your guide for subject areas that are needed for samples.
• Decide in what you want to put work samples. Will it be a manilla folder, a plastic bin, a semi tractor? Label it for easy reference and keep in one place. Just kidding about the semi!
• Date the work samples after your scholar has completed the work.  This will be a terrific reference point to which you can refer when you have your narrative appointment. You and the assessor will see the progress that has been made. Samples can include a story, handwriting, a math page, a program from a play, artwork, a narrative that you have written down for your budding writer as they have dictated it to you, titles of books read, etc. Put it in the above-mentioned place.
• Getting back to those awesome projects, take a picture of what you are doing with your studious one. You can send me the pictures if you like, or we can view them when you come for your appointment. Do you have to share them with me? Absolutely not if you don’t want to, it’s up to you. I would be most happy to see them though, if you’d like to share.
• Add samples each month and before you know it, you are all done!
• You don’t have to use textbooks to provide a sample of work. Document what you can, either through pictures, projects, lesson plans, journal entries, summaries of the month, etc.

Not sure if you want to do a portfolio review? Please read through my other articles in the category of Portfolio Reviews to help you determine whether you would like to do this. I am beginning to take appointments (March through July) if you’d like to contact me. Don’t live here in Cincinnati? Write me and I’ll help you with some options.  Have questions? Drop me a note and I’ll be sure and contact you. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

*** schoolmarmohio@me.com

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