Effortlessly Create and Organize a Homeschool Portfolio
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As a homeschool parent, an important job I have each spring is re-organizing our homeschool materials and figuring out the best way to store all of our completed work. Some states require a homeschool portfolio be kept to show academic progress throughout the year. Our state does not specifically require this, but as I began packing things up, I realized that it might be a good idea to start keeping one for each of my kids.
We used BJU Press curriculum this year, and I had binders full of paperwork, printables and worksheets my kids had completed during the year. I kept a binder for each subject, and while this really helped my organization in our homeschool, at the end of the year I found myself wishing I had set aside some of their best work samples, or projects that really showed growth, that I could keep all in one spot for easy reference.
I ended up trudging through all of the work we did over the year to pull out these items and put together a portfolio for my kids. I do not recommend this – instead, put your portfolio together as you go throughout the year that reflects your child’s progress (hindsight is 20/20, right?).
Even though I don’t have to keep a portfolio, I realized that I probably won’t keep every single worksheet or printable or project forever. But what would be nice to keep are the highlights of our year, and artifacts that show some of the fun things we did and how my kids have grown in their learning.
I decided that at the beginning of the school year I would begin organizing my kids’ homeschool portfolio right away, and I created a printable to help me keep track of everything I wanted to include.
What is a homeschool portfolio?
It might feel intimidating to think about putting together a homeschool portfolio, but it shouldn’t be! A homeschool portfolio is really just a collection or representation of work reflecting your school year and child’s progress.
It doesn’t even have to be your child’s “best” work. I like to include stuff from the beginning and end of the year that shows growth and progression of learning, as well as keepsake records that helps me remember what we did during the year (that type of thing is always fun to look back on and reminisce!).
A homeschool portfolio can be physical papers and work that you keep together, or digital files (or a combination of both, which can often be necessary in today’s age of increasing technological resources for homeschooling).
The Homeschool Portfolio Printable Pack I created is a great resource for your homeschool record keeping, and will help you organize any physical items you want to keep track of in your portfolio.
Why keep a homeschool portfolio?
There are a few reasons why you might want to (or have to!) create a homeschool portfolio.
For starters, there may be homeschool laws in place from your state that require you to keep a homeschool portfolio each year to demonstrate what your kids are learning.
Start by checking out your state’s requirements to verify what will be required of you.
You might also want to keep a homeschooling portfolio as a keepsake. It’s a great way to look back at all you have accomplished over the year, and how your kids have grown in their learning!
Another reason is simply…organization. Keeping a homeschool portfolio during the year will make the spring-scramble so much easier. Most likely you’ll keep a lot of your kids’ work for a couple of years, but when you’re ready to let go, you know you can hang on to the portfolio and ditch the rest.
What you’ll need to create your homeschool portfolio
This is really going to be up to you and how you like to organize your homeschool materials. However, it’s common to use either a 3-ring binder system, an accordion file, or a file box system to store your physical portfolio documents. Here are some common supplies you’ll need:
Three-Ring Binder System
- 3-ring binders (most likely 1.5″ or 2″)
- Page protectors
- Tab dividers (I really like these ones with folders)
My Printable Portfolio Pack is perfect to use with a binder system.
Other Options
You might prefer to use a file box for storage, and keep a folder for each kid. Or you might like to use an accordion folder for each child as well.
The most important thing is to use the organizational tools that will make it easiest for you, so you are most likely to use it and stick to it throughout the year!
What to include in your child’s portfolio
Again, your first step is checking out your state’s requirements and making sure you have all those bases covered. But aside from that, you can really include what you want in your child’s portfolio that reflects educational progress.
Typical items that might be required by your state, or that might be nice to have for keepsakes are things like:
- Attendance logs
- School hours log
- Grade records and report cards
- Reading logs or a Book log
- Field trip logs
- List of curriculum used or scope & sequence from your curriculum
- Art projects
- Extracurricular activities (include programs or awards)
- Samples of any writings or other student work
Remember that you don’t have to include everything, but it’s a good idea to have a sample of work from each subject. This could be worksheets you completed, or tests and quizzes that show progress over the year. Select samples and put them in your binder or folder in order by date; if you’re filling your portfolio as you go, this will be easy – just stick new items in the back!
Don’t worry if all of their work isn’t perfect – remember, you want to show your child’s progress in learning. There’s something so meaningful about looking back and seeing just how far you’ve come, and I think it’s a great way to help foster a growth mindset in your kids as well.
And why not let your kids help put together their homeschool portfolio? After you finish a unit study or a part of your curriculum, ask them to help you decide what they think represents their work, and what they would like to add to their portfolio.
Digital items in your child’s homeschool portfolio
With how much technology is used in homeschooling nowadays, it’s a great idea to consider including some digital artifacts in your child’s homeschool portfolio.
Obviously, these won’t be things you print out and add to your binder. There are lots of options out there for creating a digital portfolio, but at the moment I simply use Google Drive. I have a folder created for each of my kids and add items to the folders as needed.
What kinds of digital items might you include in a homeschool portfolio? Photos of science projects, videos of performances or presentations, clips of your child reading aloud, and online projects they have created are a few ideas to get you started.
You can grab a free Student Digital Homeschool Portfolio template for Google Slides if you would like to give this option a go!
Easily organize your homeschool portfolio
Now that you know the basics, take a deep breath – you can do this! I created a printable to help me keep my homeschool portfolio organized, and I think you’ll love it too!
This is a great resource to help you easily keep your attendance records, course of study, reading logs, field trips, lesson plans, grades, homeschool assessments, and MORE. By the end of the school year, you’ll have a nice portfolio showing growth within your child’s grade level, learning progress, samples of student work, and important data you’ll want to keep for your homeschool.
What’s included:
- All About Me & Student Summary Pages
- Attendance Log
- Daily Schedule Sheet
- Pages to help note your Courses of Study and Scope & Sequence
- Lesson Plan Page
- Reading and Educational Video Logs
- Field Trip Log
- Extracurricular Activity & P.E. Log
- Service Hours Tracker
- Achievements & Awards Log
- Homeschool Report Card Template
- Favorite Moments Page
- Cover Sheets for core subjects
Simply print out this homeschool portfolio for each of your kids, add it to your new portfolio binder, and get a head start on organizing your homeschool year!
And here’s a freebie that you can print out and use right away. My Student Summary sheet is included in the Homeschool Portfolio printable, but it’s FREE for my subscribers. Simply opt-in below and print yours out right away:
I’d love to hear from you, friends: do you have any tips to add when it comes to organizing your homeschool portfolio? Share in the comments below!
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Very good advice about being selective when it comes to keeping records vs keepsakes. I’ve been keeping everything for portfolio review but we are going to establish our own PMA to avoid reporting and that means I can winnow out most of the storage binders. Woo!
Thank you for the great information!
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This is a generous giveaway. Christian Books have a great selection of books. Thank You for the chance to win.
Marilyn