The Homeschool Review

My first homeschool review was scheduled in early January. For those of you who don’t know the homeschooling rules in Maryland, we have the choice of either being “reviewed” by someone from the county we reside in or we can join a homeschooling “umbrella group” where the group reviews the instruction of your children(there are various methods for this). Essentially it is like choosing public school over private school; you have more freedom in how you choose to school your children with the second option, but you pay for it and you need to research your umbrella group well to make sure they will be supportive of your methods.

 

I chose to complete my review through the county I am living in now. I believed I could demonstrate my methods were providing instruction as required by the state of Maryland, without compromising my own homeschooling goals.

 

The state requires parents to demonstrate instruction in English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Health Education, Physical Education, Fine Arts (Art, Music) and Other (Technology, World Language). Parents can show the instruction through:

  • text(s) or equivalent
  • reading materials/list
  • writing samples
  • worksheets/workbooks
  • tests/quizzes
  • creative materials
  • field trips
  • other

 

I chose to create a document for each girl where I could enter in our activities to show our reviewer what we had done. Below you can see Ari’s and Abby’s charts.

A spreadsheet divided into subjects with activities Abby completed in each this semester  A spreadsheet divided into subjects with activities Ari completed in each this semester

I made a list of all of our field trips, the dates and which child participated.

 

I had pictures of many of our activities, assignments and field trips so I organized these into subject areas and also into Unit studies, as Ari has been completing most of her work through various units.

A screenshot of the albums I had prepared for the HS Review

A lot of Abby’s Language Arts work was done in a spiral 11×14 sketchbook, so I brought that along.

 

An example page from Abby's ELA "Good book" a spiral sketch book Abby used for writing/drawing

Finally, I had a 3-ring notebook for each girl. Abby’s was divided into subjects and assignments; she has a tab for math, letter practice, number practice, assessments and awards and one for writings and stories. Ari’s notebook is divided into math and then a tab for each unit.

All of this preparation not only made the review easy and a positive experience, but it really helped me to reflect on what we had done so far this year. I am happy with what we have accomplished and the learning and growth I have seen in both girls. We were given a paper that showed we had “Clear Evidence of instruction throughout” our portfolio and we will return again at the end of the year.

Abby's HS Portfolio Review Reflection Form
Abby’s HS Portfolio Review Reflection Form
Ari's HS Portfolio Review Reflection Form
Ari’s HS Portfolio Review Reflection Form

Homeschooling: Abby’s First Day

Today was Abby’s first day of First Grade.

Abby and Tigger, first day of school

She brought along a friend (that’s a cool part of homeschooling).

Abby’s school day started off with an Adventure Walk. Basically, we went on a walk while I made up a story that we acted out. Eventually I will have a repertoire of songs and actions I can do on an adventure walk, but for today I made it up as I went along. In the story the fictional characters got up and dressed, explored the woods, saw birds and trees, ran down hills and walked backwards up others, all of which we did together. It might seem like an odd thing to do, but we worked up a sweat (it was about 85 degrees out) and got a great workout. Abby loved it:)

Abby then began her “classwork”; we recalled the story I had told her yesterday, we spoke a verse (Abby knows a little of it) and we drew pictures from the story. My picture even had some hidden letters which we found! Abby then went off to play:

cat dojo house

She created a “Cat Dojo House”?!?

After lunch we had Quiet Time, which is a time of inner reflection or focus. Abby worked on her “cat dojo  house” as I looked through materials for Ari’s afternoon Math lesson, cleaned up a bit and made sure I was calm and centered for what would follow.

While Ari did math, Abby played with some math manipulatives. When she was done, she decided to do math “like Ari” and made herself some addition problems to complete. Once done, we all read a story about finger crocheting. Abby did a bit herself, and then begged me to do more. I held off and right at bedtime she decided to work on it herself using the nightlight we have for her. I don’t think she did many but she had completed a few more when she last told me where she was. For those of you who haven’t spent a few hours with Abby, you won’t know that she talks incessantly and loves to narrate what she is doing. I usually tune her out, which she says is fine with her!

Day one for Abby is finally done, Ari has started week two and our rhythm actually seems to be working out! I’m excited to see what tomorrow brings.