AmandaVT Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Anyone else have to submit portfolios for your state? I'm working on ours now and I'm on page 18 already and I just finished the first item on the list. Granted it's the longest one because for some reason my state decides that "communication" covers reading, writing and math (and literature is a separate category from reading)- so I had a lot of samples to add. 1 down - 5 to go. This is going to be one long document! I keep reminding myself that I like to have a nice portfolio of our year, so I'm not too crabby about it, but I'm tired! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Yeah, we have to do them too. They take me a while, but they end up being nice keepsakes of our years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stratford Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Yes, we do them. I finished mine yesterday (yay!) and had our evaluation, so we are done for the year. (Yay again!) Next year is the first year I'll have more than one portfolio to assemble and I really need to not wait until the last minute to do it. They are a lot of work. I was thinking of putting together a "rough draft" of the portfolio (minus the samples) over the summer, since I've ordered most of the curriculum for next year. Then, I should only have to tweak it and add in samples. Hmm. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Yes, we do them. I finished mine yesterday (yay!) and had our evaluation, so we are done for the year. (Yay again!) Next year is the first year I'll have more than one portfolio to assemble and I really need to not wait until the last minute to do it. They are a lot of work. I was thinking of putting together a "rough draft" of the portfolio (minus the samples) over the summer, since I've ordered most of the curriculum for next year. Then, I should only have to tweak it and add in samples. Hmm. :iagree: I started this year’s portfolios in August. I put the year's official documentation in the front of a binder followed by labeled dividers for each subject. Samples were added as we progress through the year. That way I didn't lose or forget samples from subjects that were not full year. It also ensured that samples from year long subjects represented the beginning, middle, and end of the year rather than just fourth quarter. In May, I printed out and added resource lists, and a narrative overview of our year. I culled excessive samples and added info or photographs to a few sections (documentation for P.E.? Our evaluator always checks the P.E. section.). It was still a lot of work, but better than the year I waited until May to do everything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I hate them. I call them my State Mandated Scrap Book because it feels a lot like scrapbooking, and I hate scrapbooking with the passion of a thousand suns. The past two years have been horrible and have taken me hours and hours (like 40 hours) to compete the portfolios. This year was better. It took only one weekend. I had a better handle on the kids' papers so it was easier to pull out samples. The other yeears, their papers had been stuffed in one big pile and I'd had to sort them before putting them in the portfolio. This year, I was rigid about every paper being put away the moment after it was created. Also, what takes me a long time, is that I get easily distracted and bored out of my mind while doing them. I'm not kidding when I say it's like a scrapbook and I hate scrapbooking. The moment I sit down to do the portfolio, I'm bored and irritated and can't focus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 3, 2015 Author Share Posted June 3, 2015 I hate them. I call them my State Mandated Scrap Book because it feels a lot like scrapbooking, and I hate scrapbooking with the passion of a thousand suns. The past two years have been horrible and have taken me hours and hours (like 40 hours) to compete the portfolios. This year was better. It took only one weekend. I had a better handle on the kids' papers so it was easier to pull out samples. The other yeears, their papers had been stuffed in one big pile and I'd had to sort them before putting them in the portfolio. This year, I was rigid about every paper being put away the moment after it was created. Also, what takes me a long time, is that I get easily distracted and bored out of my mind while doing them. I'm not kidding when I say it's like a scrapbook and I hate scrapbooking. The moment I sit down to do the portfolio, I'm bored and irritated and can't focus. I think this is my problem - I hate crafty stuff and the thought of scrapbooking makes me want to stick forks in my eyes. :-) I did a pretty good job setting work aside throughout the year, so I'm not missing too many samples. My current annoyance is that we have to submit a fairly detailed curriculum at the start of the year (for the first 2 years of homeschooling and once when the child is 12) and then our portfolio has to represent what we submitted at the start of the year. So if we go off on tangents or spend time on something not in my curriculum, it doesn't "count" for anything with the state. Also, I am a terrible mother and haven't done nearly enough in the art category this year - so I need to work on that this week and next to have more for my portfolio. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockhopper Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I hate them. I call them my State Mandated Scrap Book because it feels a lot like scrapbooking, and I hate scrapbooking with the passion of a thousand suns. The past two years have been horrible and have taken me hours and hours (like 40 hours) to compete the portfolios. This year was better. It took only one weekend. I had a better handle on the kids' papers so it was easier to pull out samples. The other yeears, their papers had been stuffed in one big pile and I'd had to sort them before putting them in the portfolio. This year, I was rigid about every paper being put away the moment after it was created. Also, what takes me a long time, is that I get easily distracted and bored out of my mind while doing them. I'm not kidding when I say it's like a scrapbook and I hate scrapbooking. The moment I sit down to do the portfolio, I'm bored and irritated and can't focus. Not so much bored, but I am so irritated at the whole thing that I put it off, and off, and off. Passive resistance at its finest -- I recognize it but still do it. My kids are all sick today and asleep and what should I be doing? Pulling the stupid things together. What am I doing? Anything but. It doesn't help that my ds is way behind in chemistry and one of his electives, and I've totally dropped the ball on music (required) with my dd so I've got to pull something out of the ether on that one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 We're sort of supposed to but no one checks. I do them anyway though. I don't do them all at once. Several times in the year, I write up a little list of books, field trips, couple of sentences summary about what we're up to, etc. And then I let the kids pick the work they'd like to keep and we toss the rest. Then we do it again in a couple of months. At the end of the year, it's all finished. I stick everything in plastic sleeves because then it automatically looks neat and tidy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I think this is my problem - I hate crafty stuff and the thought of scrapbooking makes me want to stick forks in my eyes. :-) I did a pretty good job setting work aside throughout the year, so I'm not missing too many samples. My current annoyance is that we have to submit a fairly detailed curriculum at the start of the year (for the first 2 years of homeschooling and once when the child is 12) and then our portfolio has to represent what we submitted at the start of the year. So if we go off on tangents or spend time on something not in my curriculum, it doesn't "count" for anything with the state. Also, I am a terrible mother and haven't done nearly enough in the art category this year - so I need to work on that this week and next to have more for my portfolio. That's brutal!!! That the curric at the start of the year is all that counts at the end of the year. Yikes! What state are you in? I'm in PA and we have to give a brief (ridiculously brief) outline at the beginning of the year of what we expect to accomplish, but it doesn't have to match the end of the year at all. I write things like, "To advance in mathematics." And that's it. As long as the boys learn a single new mathmatical fact, I've met my objective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 That's brutal!!! That the curric at the start of the year is all that counts at the end of the year. Yikes! What state are you in? I'm in PA and we have to give a brief (ridiculously brief) outline at the beginning of the year of what we expect to accomplish, but it doesn't have to match the end of the year at all. I write things like, "To advance in mathematics." And that's it. As long as the boys learn a single new mathmatical fact, I've met my objective. I'm in VT - technically we can change our curriculum plans, but we have to notify the home study office and let them know before we do so. Thankfully, after this year, as long as my portfolio gets accepted, I won't have to submit a course of study again until DS is 12. I had to attach scope and sequences for textbooks we used and write a bit about each subject. In VT, you have to cover Vermont studies each year as a homeschooler (even though they don't cover it yearly in PS), we also have to cover health including drug, alcohol and cigarette effects on the human body and on society as a whole (which is ridiculous, especially in the earlier grades). The minimum course of study takes up 4 pages in the VT homeschool guidelines. Blech. Thankfully the women in the Home Study office are really nice and are former homeschoolers themselves. So they're pretty good about helping out when I call with questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom-ninja. Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I do them, but if I brought in a portfolio that had 18 pages for just 1 category my evaluator would freak out on me. She likes short and sweet. She's more interested in talking to the kids about what they've done, favorite subject/topic, projects they have done, favorite books, and so forth. The first year the portfolio was very thick, and she kindly told me not to do that to her again. :lol: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Next year I want to switch to a teacher evaluation for our year end assessment. VT requires 4-6 dated work samples for each of the items on their checklist. The 1st section includes reading, writing, math and it's also where we put any spelling, phonics or anything else related to "communication". The rest of the items shouldn't be as long! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knittingout Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 We are starting 1st in the fall in Vermont. I am working on my course of study right now. trying to make plans for the portfolio easy at the end of the year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Oh wow. Makes me thankful I don't have to do them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 We are starting 1st in the fall in Vermont. I am working on my course of study right now. trying to make plans for the portfolio easy at the end of the year. What helped me over the past couple of years is setting aside work each month. So I've got math pages from each month and handwriting, etc. One thing I need to do more of is keep a log of all the books we read throughout the year. As we read and finish books, I think, Of course I'll remember this for the end of the year. Here we are at the end of the year and I'm trying to remember what we read! I would advise not to put in too much for VT studies at once. I put in a ton last year and wished I had saved some for this year! I had pictures from Echo center, maple syruping, apple orchards, pumpkin picking, etc. :-) Let me know if you want me to message you either my MCOS for 1st or our portfolio (once I finish it!). I'm happy to share. Where in VT are you? We're just outside of Montpelier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knittingout Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 We are in Burlington, my mom lives in Montpelier we are there often. My plan for Vermont studies this year was to keep it really basic. I want to go to the Snowflake Bentley museum this year. Our science is going to be nature observation so it will connect well. I would love to see your mocs and portfolio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Cool! I'll send those over to you in PM when I've got my head back in the school game later this afternoon. (I'm supposed to be working right now but I'm doing a spectacularly good job of procrastinating instead) DS goes to Accents School of Foreign Language once a week for French - it's in S. Burlington and I can't say enough good things about it if you're looking for something like that to do! It's been such a great year and I'm amazed at how much the kids learned this year - they offer Spanish too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knittingout Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Thank you I got them, it is a huge help to see, but can't get a reply to work there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Great - glad it came through ok! If you're on FB, there's a pretty active homeschooling group. I think it's called Homeschooling Vermont Chat Group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.