sweetsouthern Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 we moved from florida to pennsylvania earlier this year and this will be my first time being required to show a portfolio & evaluation. from what i gather locally (not a big group near me and we are down to one vehicle, so not alot of support at the moment) it seems rather strict arround here. honestly we spent quite a bit this year with my 5th & 6th grader with math, LA, writing and reading because i felt we were on some shaky ground where we were, so i didnt add in alot of other activities. i just have no clue to do with the rest of my portfolio requirements. i mean i have a few things for some subjects that i can come up with, but they just dont look "sufficient". money is also tight, so we dont have many extracurriculars or field trips in there :( science (few worksheets), geography (few worksheets), history (reading books only), art (some drawings), music (guitar lessons from a family member).. and thats about it! any ideas at all?? thanks so much! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I'm in PA, and our evaluator likes to see 3-5 examples of work for each of the major subjects. Throw in a worksheet on fire safety, an art project or two, and something (anything) that shows some small bit of PA history, mention taking family walks/hikes or going swimming (for PE), and you should be good. Have your child write a few sentences about some history topics you covered. We do a lot of informal work, so last year, I pulled a few free worksheets off of the internet for things like health. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 How long before you have to hand it in? At the age of your kids I would just have them read a few books on whatever subject you are needing and have them do a short book report. For music -study a composer - and again a short book report type project. I know how you feel - I have to submit portfolios for my kids as well from June this year when my DD is officially enrolled. Up till now we've been concentrating on Handwriting, reading and maths because my DD is stubborn and doesn't like to do much work being 5 and all - I have to submit a portfolio for 8 subjects :001_huh: so I can see quite a bit of struggle going on for the next few months getting my DD to actually produce any samples and trying to fit 6 more mandatory subjects into our day at K age :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justasque Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Remember Pauline's Pennsylvania Portfolio Policy: Focus on educating your children; if you are doing right by them educationally, the portfolio will follow from that and you'll be fine. There's nothing wrong with focusing on math, LA, writing and reading - that's the core of your portfolio right there. Remember you're not showing your entire year's work, just "samples". Honestly it sounds like you have plenty, and we're only 1/3 of the way through the year. By June, you may find that your history readings have coalesced into several areas of interest that can be presented as unit study topics, if you like. No worries about the lack of field trips. (My local public school allows only two per year.) Have you read my "portfolio summaries" page? It might help you to visualize how you can present what you've done in a way that will work for your family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 We put 10 - 12 samples (tests or worksheets) in from each main subject, a few art projects and/or pictures of wood projects when they did wood shop, and a calendar listing school days (numbered to 180). But we seem to live in an area that doesn't care beyond the evaluator's report as one year my youngest took all of his math out after the evaluation to reorganize it and forgot to put it back in. I waited for the phone call. When it came all it said was, "Your portfolios are fine and are ready for picking up." We did get a call when middle son was in 8th grade and forgot to include his standardized test results (a mandatory year for those). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 we moved from florida to pennsylvania earlier this year and this will be my first time being required to show a portfolio & evaluation. from what i gather locally (not a big group near me and we are down to one vehicle, so not alot of support at the moment) it seems rather strict arround here. honestly we spent quite a bit this year with my 5th & 6th grader with math, LA, writing and reading because i felt we were on some shaky ground where we were, so i didnt add in alot of other activities. i just have no clue to do with the rest of my portfolio requirements. i mean i have a few things for some subjects that i can come up with, but they just dont look "sufficient". money is also tight, so we dont have many extracurriculars or field trips in there :( science (few worksheets), geography (few worksheets), history (reading books only), art (some drawings), music (guitar lessons from a family member).. and thats about it! any ideas at all?? thanks so much! :grouphug: You didn't have to do a portfolio in FL? Why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanceXToo Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Here's a link to a blog post where I explained how I did my most recent portfolio (5th grade) step by step with what I put in it, a few pics etc, you might find it helpful. :) http://nancextoo.livejournal.com/226816.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Go read Pauline's site. It's gotten me through 2 years of portfolios (6th, 7th, and 3rd grades) just fine and dandy! You have plenty of time to collect samples in other areas. You can include photographs of fun projects/games/activities. For things like fire safety, music, PE, etc. I usually include a page with blurbs like "Once again, we visited XYZ Township's annual firehouse Open House and reviewed our home fire plan." "J enjoyed another year of Little League and spent a good deal of the off season jogging and working on his skills." "H has learned to read sheet music this year, and enjoys practicing on her keyboard and recorder." For samples, I try to keep it to one page for each "big" subject from the beginning of the year, one from the middle, and one toward the end. Then I add a couple of my favorites that cross the curriculum just to brag. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 You didn't have to do a portfolio in FL? Why not? lol. that's what i was wondering as well. i just moved from SC to FL & i have to meet with an evaluator and show a portfolio at the end of the year for the first time ever. so like the OP, i'm a little nervous too -- but i'm in FL:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetsouthern Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 You didn't have to do a portfolio in FL? Why not? lol. that's what i was wondering as well. i just moved from SC to FL & i have to meet with an evaluator and show a portfolio at the end of the year for the first time ever. so like the OP, i'm a little nervous too -- but i'm in FL:001_smile: we were involved in an umbrella school (florida unschoolers) and werent required to turn in anything to them accept attendance. as far as i can tell though, PA doesnt have umbrella schools :glare: thanks so much everyone! making notes and looking things up... if anyone has anymore ideas, toss them to me! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 we were involved in an umbrella school (florida unschoolers) and werent required to turn in anything to them accept attendance. as far as i can tell though, PA doesnt have umbrella schools :glare: thanks so much everyone! making notes and looking things up... if anyone has anymore ideas, toss them to me! :grouphug: Ah. That makes sense. We're in Florida, but we've pretty much always done the portfolio/evaluation thing, except for a couple of years when I had testing results to submit. Let's see. Our portfolios usually look something like this: - Title Page - Child's name, academic year, etc. - Table of Contents - List of everything in the binder. - For each subject I plan at home, a list of all of the books and materials used, any field trips we took, projects done, etc. - The course description and outline for any outside or online classes the kid took that year, as well as any grade reports for those classes. - A few samples of work for each subject. I usually choose one or two from early in the year, another one or two from the middle and one or two from near the end. - Photos of projects and field trips. - A list of all of the kid's extracurriculars and activities for the year. - Photos of those activities. - Any test results I might have for the year, if we did testing that doesn't qualify to stand alone. For example, in Florida, standardized testing "counts" for homeschools only if it's administered by a certified teacher. However, I often test on our own using the CAT or Iowa. I usually include the results of those in the portfolio, just so the evaluator can see them. That's it. We always get compliments on our portfolios, and my kids always "pass." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly1730 Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 It's not as difficult as it sounds. Our evaluator has a rule of thumb that if the log is detailed than you don't need as many "samples" and vice versa. My advice is to be familiar with the PA homeschool law and don't let the school district try to make you comply with something that's not in the law. Whenever we've had any conflicts (maybe twice over the years) I just send in a copy of the law with the section highlighted that is in question. Never heard anything back. :glare: I spent some time this week getting the boys notebooks in order and at the end of the year I just pull from them for the portfolio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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