Making Homeschool Portfolios
We’ve all been there. You’re having a great school year but the papers are piling up and now is the time to make sense of everything. You love your children’s progress but you have to be practical in what you decide to keep. You have to find the balance between keeping too little and keeping way too much.
To this end, we’ve put together a few simple guidelines to get you organized and to keep you organized throughout the year.
First of all, you should know what your state requirements are, and you should be meeting them.
(Our guidelines are for all the other stuff.)
Since you can’t keep everything, choose a few academic pieces each quarter/semester that are representative of the subjects and extra curricular materials you covered (for each child).
Second, in addition to academic keepsakes, make sure you choose some selections based on what you enjoyed most/ the favorites moments of the year.
Third, include your children in the process, as 1) this can be a fun project for them, 2) it gets them into the routine of helping, 3) your children will appreciate having a say in what goes into the portfolio, and 4) you can turn portfolio making into an academic experience. It’s a win-win all the way around.
Technology
Use technology to help reduce the amount of physical papers you keep, which in turn, reduces the clutter. Keep your portfolio on your computer or on a flash drive. Be sure to back up your computer, as losing all of the information would be heartbreaking and that heartbreak can be avoided.
Now that everything is on the computer, it’s easy to share with family and friends. You can even make a photo book or album online. Your children will get a kick out of having their own albums.
In Conclusion
If you are choosy in what you keep, and if you digitize your children’s portfolios, you can eliminate a lot of clutter. But the best part? You can keep wonderful memories in tact – for years to come.
