Tag Archive | homeschool review

Homeschool Assessment Options

Jan18

Wow! How did that happen? 2021 is here and before you know it, school will be ending. If you are new to homeschooling, I wanted to let you know you have a few options for having your child assessed. These assessments only apply if you are going to continue to homeschool for the 2021-22 school year. Otherwise, you just enroll your child for the coming school year.

If you are going to homeschool for the 2021-2022 academic year then you may choose one (or more) of these options. Some families choose to do testing and a Written Narrative. Why? Because they want to see where their student is ranked nationally for their own knowledge, but don’t want to turn in the results and turn in the Written Narrative instead.

** Option 1: Testing with a nationally normed test (IOWA Test of Basic Skills, Stanford, or the California Achievement Test are those that are typically used). You can fill out this form and submit it with the Ohio Home Education Notification Form. Option 1 Link

** Option 2: Portfolio Review/Written Narrative It is referred to by several names, but they all mean the same thing. What is this exactly? A licensed or certified teacher, holding a valid Ohio teaching certificate reviews samples of your child’s academic work that you supply. The teacher reviews the work and signs a form that states your child has progressed in accordance with his/her abilities. Each assessor is a bit different in what they would like to see with regard to your child’s work. As an assessor, I like to see a sample of the beginning, middle, and end of the year in each subject area. This gives me an overview of your school year. Here is the form you need to have signed for this option. Option 2 Link This form is submitted with the Ohio Home Education Notification Form.

** Option 3: An alternative academic assessment of the child’s proficiency mutually agreed upon by the parent and the superintendent. I don’t know many families who choose this option, but what I have heard done is if you know someone who holds a teaching license from a different state and you want them to assess your child, you can use this option. Or, if you are an Ohio licensed teacher and want to submit a written narrative of your student’s work you can as the superintendent if that is acceptable. I personally just had someone else do the assessment since it was good to have another teacher’s thoughts.

Speaking of Written Narrative assessments, I will begin reviewing students’ work in March and will finish in August. I will have more information on how to submit paperwork, pricing, etc. The first week of February I will have my annual portfolio review giveaway so be sure to enter for a chance to win.

Have a great week! ~Lisa~

Showcasing your Student’s Work: Health, Safety

Feb16

Health, first aid, and fire safety are topics that we are to cover throughout the academic year as part of homeschooling here in Ohio. How do you show this has been accomplished? Here are various ways this can be done.

  • Textbooks are the easiest way to cover these subjects through a health curriculum such as ABeka or Bob Jones. You can also go to Cathy Duffy’s website and read her reviews on various curriculums. CLICK HERE You can bring the book, have your student answer the questions that are in the book, or write down some of the topics you discussed.
  • Library books and discussions about the topic are a natural way of covering a topic . Write the title of the books you read and a brief summary of what you discussed. Some books even have activities that accompany them, such as  Nick is Sick. This book is a beginning reader book, so your student can practice reading to you too! 🙂
  • Movies such as the Magic School Bus provide a springboard for discussion of health topics. The Magic School Bus Inside Ralphie is an episode where he is sick and the children get to see firsthand what is happening with germs being attacked. You can use the receipt from the library or take a picture of the cover of the DVD, or find the description of it on the internet. You can even watch it on YouTube!
  • Safety and/or Health Fairs are offered various times throughout communities. If you go to one of these, pick up the coloring books or handouts that are age appropriate. Incorporate those into your school day and file away with your other papers for your portfolio review.
  • Fitness programs such as what is offered at the YMCA or  a community center are fantastic ways of fulfilling the health and physical education requirement. Instructors reinforce what you have been teaching at home. 🙂 There is usually a description  of the course or activity that can be added to your portfolio of your student’s work.
  • Sports programs such as Upwards or local teams can count for health as well as physical education. Coaches discuss hydration, stretching before games, conditioning, and eating well. If you have a team picture or a game schedule that will be proper documentation.
  • Create a first aid kit for your car and/or your home. Have your child help you make up a list of what items should be included. What a great way of teaching first aid and safety without having to get a CPR dummy. (Although,that is a great idea!) if you need help in knowing what to include for your kit, CLICK HERE for the American Red Cross site.
  • Babysitting courses or a self defense class are not only helpful, but are practical too. If you saw the advertisement for the class, include that for your documentation. There are usually certificates of completion or photo opps that can be included for your review.

Here are two books you can check out on health topics.

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Showcasing your Student’s Work: Writing

Feb9

Showing student work for a portfolio review in the area of writing can be done in various ways. Whether you have a student who is just beginning to write or a student who is authoring a novel, samples of work can be included in their portfolio review.

Primary Grades

Simple words and/or drawings are ways of writing and communicating so include those as part of your budding author’s portfolio. Can you guess what this is representing? If you guessed the fourth day of Creation you are right!

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If you have a child that is not yet writing, but loves to tell stories, be the scribe and write it down for them. You can read it back to them and they can illustrate parts of it. The important point is that they see themselves as an author, being able to communicate through writing.

Beginning writer’s work can also be samples of writing the alphabet or practicing their name.

Elementary and Middle School

Children love to express their love and, while you may not consider a card  to be “writing”, it is because a thought or idea is being communicated.  Put those in the portfolio as part of language arts.

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What about lists and jokes? Yes, they count too! My son Ian had this eight page book that was nothing more than a list of animals and a name next to it. He had a lot of fun with it and would carry it with him throughout the day. I would see him scribbling something in it and then chuckle to himself as he read back over the list. The funny thing is that I just found that list the other day when I was cleaning out some of his old artwork!

Here are other ideas:

Short stories and chapters of books

How-to do something (play a game)

Writing a letter (take a picture of it before you send it off in the mail)

Book reports

Short research project (1-2 pages on various history or science topics)

For you who have techie children and families

Emails to a grandparent

Blog (Some of your children may be contributors to a blog or have their own.)

Facebook messages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Showcasing your Student’s Work: Reading

Jan26

Children-readingAs I am preparing for families to come this spring and summer for portfolio reviews, I am thinking it beneficial to discuss different ways to document what your student has done this year. I am going to break this down into subject areas over the next several weeks so I can provide you with various options for each area. This week I am going to address Language Arts, particularly reading.

Reading

Record oral work. When little ones are just beginning to sound out letters and read, it may be difficult to “show” work that has been done since a large portion of the work is oral. For beginner readers you can record a book that you are reading aloud and the interaction that is taking place. For instance, if you are reading In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming and you are having your reader listen and follow along, pointing to certain letters or words, it documents what is being accomplished. You can have a grandparent listen to it as well. Those are button-busting moments for all involved!

You can also have any of your readers create audio books over a period of time to show progress. Modeling this would be helpful to your child, either by listening to a book on CD or by recording one yourself. These can be short books or a chapter book; it just depends upon what you would like to do. Since it is January, you still have several months to do this before a portfolio review. Play it back for your husband at the dinner table and let your student shine!

Keep a book list. Either keep a receipt from the library; record the titles in your lesson planner; or take pictures of the books, or bring three books with you that were read at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the year. This is an amazing way to see the progress your student has made throughout the year.  There are times when I just don’t think I have done anything and if I have someway of looking back to where I began I am encouraged that I actually did more than I thought. Sometimes you see tremendous growth with your child, and much of the time it is slow and steady.  Both of these are great, so don’t be discouraged. 🙂

Keep workbook pages. If you are using a traditional workbook, you can pack it up to show at your assessment, or you can tear out 30 pages or so. These pages would be from the beginning, middle, and end of the year.

Check comprehension of reading passages. This can be done by stopping in certain portions of  the story and ask questions such as, “What do you think will happen next?” “How do you think the story will end?”, “Why did the character act that way?” (motive) If your child is not writing yet, then record their answers and be sure to title the page. For example: Caps For Sale  Why did the seller throw his hat down? Record your child’s response.

Having your student draw a picture of the story as a summary or as a prediction for what will happen is a way to record comprehension too. Many reading programs have comprehension questions at the end of the passage so you can include some of those for the portfolio.

Create a picture collage of activities. Perhaps your children make crafts or do some of their schoolwork on the computer. You can take pictures of your children reading directions, and/or show a picture of the computer screen with the results that are given at the end of the lesson or game.

I hope this has given you ideas of documenting your student’s work. As you can see, there are many ways to do this and you are not limited to just one way to do things. You have unique pupils and not each child learns the same way.

Please leave a comment if you have another idea. I’d love to hear it!

~Lisa

 

My friend Ann sent me a picture of what they do to celebrate reading at their house. They create a Reading Wall. Every time someone reads a book they write the title and their name on a post-it and stick it to the Reading Wall. I love it! Thank you for sharing, Ann. 🙂photo 1 photo 2