The Homeschool Portfolio

Don't forget to enter to win a $25 Chocomize custom chocolate gift certificate by visiting my blog frog community and joining one of the discussions there or starting a new one.  In fact, I just started a discussion on homeschool portfolios that you could comment on to enter.  I'll announce a winner tomorrow night in my blog frog community.

Do you keep a portfolio of your child's work?  We started this habit half-way through last year and I'm tweaking it a little for the upcoming school year.

I'm one of those people that throws my kids' math homework in the trash right after they correct it.  I can't stand accumulating too much paper!  However, I want my kids to take pride in their work and have something to show for their year, so they each have a portfolio. 

Here's what we put in our portfolios:

History-  Any drawing projects or lapbook type activities that the kids work on during read-aloud time.  For instance, last year the kids traced the lifecycle of the Plague virus and colored and cut-out pictures of Old London Bridge while we were reading Master Cornhill.  I honestly don't know if this enhances their learning or just keeps them quiet while I'm reading, but these little projects make for visible reminders of what we read and studied throughout the year.

 

Vocabulary- The kids will write and define their vocabulary words that are keyed to our Sonlight reading.  Their Wordly Wise workbooks are separate and will not find their way into the kids' portfolios.

Writing- All writing assignments will go into their portfolios in order to show a record of progress.

Math-  Only exams will go in the portfolios.

Science-  Monk (11) will use this section of his portfolio to write-up his labs.  We may include some pictures of his experiments, too.   Twinkle Toes (9) will record her discussion questions from Nutrition 101, any drawings or diagrams, as well as recipes from each section. 

Bible- The kids' Community Bible Study homework will remain in their CBS spiral, so they will mainly use this section of their portfolios to write out Scripture memory passages assigned in our Sonlight schedule.

Art- The kids all have a much larger art portfolio for their paintings and other work they do in private art classes.  Monk and Twinkle Toes are also going to work through Artistic Pursuits 4th-6th grade book this year on their own and it's these drawings that we'll preserve in their school portfolios.

Greek-  The kids each have their own Greek workbook so this section of the portfolio will be for extra practice or copy work.

What do you put in your homeschool portfolios?