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

Review of Fabkins Cloth Napkins

I have used cloth napkins exclusively for over a year now. We started with napkins my mom gave me; lots of yellow, orange and green styles made of polyester. They are serviceable, but hardly the best-looking napkins especially since they are older than me (although hardly used in the last 20 – 30 years)! Still, they are much more eco-friendly than paper napkins, and since I throw them in with the towels and other kitchen laundry, it doesn’t really affect our water consumption to use them.

VeraN-napkin

One of our cuter napkins, a vintage Vera Neumann pattern

All last year, I sent Ari to school with a cloth napkin in her lunch.She never complained about using her napkins; in fact some of her classmates liked them! I know she wasn’t crazy about the days I sent her in with some of the not so cute napkins, but she never said a negative word about them. Fast forward to this summer. I was looking through some of the blogs I follow and came across a giveaway for Fabkins cloth napkins for kids on Over Coffee: The Green Edition. I left a comment, and moved on to reading my next blog.

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Game Review of the EPA’s Recycle City

My daughter Ari discovered a game on the EPA’s website called Recycle City. She enjoyed it and learned in the process. The game starts with Dumptown, a municipality that sends all of its trash to the dump and it doesn’t look like a nice place to live. When City Hall is clicked, nine different recycling programs are available. Each program has a short description, the associated costs, and examples of how it has worked in different communities.

Recycle-City-Start

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