Portfolio review today!
If you're wondering what a portfolio review is, it's the twice a year
check up that my state does on my home school. And I love them!
Maryland actually only requires that I demonstrate that my children have
made progress in a range of subjects, not tremendously difficult to
prove, actually.
It all starts when I realize I have a review coming up. I "realize" this in my inbox.
Reviewer: Courteous e mail reminder.
Me: Aaaaaahhhh! Really? So soon? What did we do? Did we do anything in the past 6 months?
I then go through my blog and records and rediscover all the fun and
fabulous things we actually did and I get excited about everything again
(plus a million more ideas of things we could do next).
By the time we get to the interview it goes like this:
Reviewer (very politely - I love my interviewer!): You are actually educating your kids, right?
Me: You're not going to believe all the great stuff we did!!!
And we go on from there and have a big brag fest. The county now
consistently gives me the same kind, supportive interviewer (who does
not read this blog, by the way), so I know we'll both have a great time.
This review is covering last June to last December and here are things we did in:
English
Math
Science
Social Studies
Art
2 comments:
Wendy,
I love your enthusiasm. Most of us feel a bit resentful we have to answer to the education department, proving our children are actually getting an education. Obviously you have a good relationship with your reviewer. I bet your kids enjoy chatting about all they have learnt. Sounds like they are getting a wonderful education. I hope you enjoyed your review meeting.
Yes, it was very nice! I find I need to be cautious about my enthusiasm for home schooling because so many feel it is an indictment of their own educational choices, especially if they used to home school and now don't. It's nice to be able to talk about all the neat stuff we do!
I know what you mean about feeling resentful - who are these people to tell me if I'm doing a good enough job?! And yet... I know I'm doing a better job for having to stop and reflect twice a year (something I otherwise don't do much).
Also, (and this is an unpopular stance in many home school circles)I do want every child to be well educated. There are rare exceptions when a child is being "home schooled" by a parent who actually is not educating them, but using them as a baby sitter (to use the example of what happened to a friend of mine who is now an adult). My state's requirements are lax enough to allow true unschooling, but strict enough to catch the rare really bad situation.
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