Breaking Down Portfolio Construction

contents page

Last week I wrote a quick post about preparing our end of year homeschool portfolios. I didn't go into much detail since writing about the portfolios wasn't really helping me meet my deadline to complete them. I wrapped up work at 1 am on Sunday morning and had a nice visit with our evaluator on Monday. I'm going to attempt to show the steps I follow to build our yearly portfolios per a request by a commenter, Jessica from Teachable Moments.

work basket

I'm going to start from the very beginning of the process. Every day when the boys complete their work, they place it in the basket pictured to the right. I review their work daily, then return it to the basket where, during a good week, it stays until Friday night when it gets moved to phase two.

big binders

Each of the boys has a two inch binder where I store their work. At the end of the week, I file each of those papers according to subjects required by the state. If you look at the picture on the left closely, you can see the front page in each binder has a list of the required subjects. JT has the secondary list, EM is still using the elementary. I use construction paper subject dividers to keep these more organized.

attendance chart

Pennsylvania requires homeschoolers to either put in 180 days or 900 hours for elementary/990 hours for secondary per year. We go by the 180 standard. I find it much easier to track. I include our attendance chart in the portfolio. I downloaded this from askPauline, an excellent resource for PA homeschoolers. In general, I like to include three samples for each subject in the portfolio, from the beginning, middle, and end of the year. I just keep an eye on our attendance total and when we reach 60, 120, and 180, I move to the next phase.

 

JT vocab test

 I sit down with the big binders and pull out one or two of the best samples for each subject and move them to the keeper binder. The rest of the pages get boxed up in case I change my mind about my decisions. That allows the big binders to be cleared out for the next 60 days. This process also lets me see which subjects need more tangible proof of accomplishments. Sometimes we spend so much time reading aloud, especially in subjects like American history, that I neglect to get something down on paper that proves what we are doing.

leftovers

All of those unused samples get moved to file folders that I label as beginning, middle, end, with each boy having his own set. I also place completed workbooks into that pile. I have a large shoe box that holds all of my folders. When the year is completed, I also place their spelling lists, weekly plans I made, and copies of fliers from activities. I will keep this box until I receive our approved portfolios back from the school district. At that point, I sit down and go through the box one more time, pulling out all of my favorite examples of their work, and usually all writing assignments, to keep. Everything else goes in the recycle bin. I learned early on in this process that keeping everything is a sure way to get overwhelmed by clutter.

Now it's time to look at the components of the portfolio itself. Again, askPauline is a wonderful place to get information on how to construct a portfolio. Here's an excerpt from 24 PS 13-1327.1 that outlines what needs to be in there according to PA state regulations:

  The portfolio shall consist of a log, made contemporaneously with the instruction, which designates by title the reading materials used, samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials used or developed by the student and in grades three, five and eight results of nationally normed standardized achievement tests in reading/language arts and mathematics or the results of Statewide tests administered in these grade levels. An annual written evaluation of the student's educational progress as determined by a licensed clinical or school psychologist or a teacher certified by the Commonwealth or by a nonpublic school teacher or administrator. ... The evaluation shall also be based on an interview of the child and a review of the portfolio required in clause (1) and shall certify whether or not an appropriate education is occurring. 

evaluator's approval

The first page in our binder after the cover page shown in the first picture is the letter of approval from our evaluator. She interviews each of the boys while reviewing the portfolio and from that determines whether an appropriate education is occurring. She is always has good questions for both the boys and me.


I already shared the attendance chart above. I would place that next in the binder. 

book log

Next we have our log. I typically keep a spreadsheet running for each of the boys throughout the year to track their reading. I divide the log into two sections. At the beginning, I list all the textbooks that are being used. I include title, author or publisher, subject, and date completed, if applicable. Then I list all the books they read throughout the year, both individually and aloud. I break those down by subject, as well, and also have a category called Free Reading. Typically their book logs are between four and five pages long.

subject dividers

After that, we move on to samples of their work. I print out divider pages with the subject and sub-categories, plus the school year dates on each. I like to keep the binder organized to be sure the district representative has an easy time following what we have done. There are ten different subjects represented in the binder. Some are straight-forward, like mathematics. Others are split into sub-categories like the English shown on the left. Those specific subdivisions are listed for secondary level requirements.

art summary

For the less tangible subjects including art, physical education, and music, I include short summaries of what we did for the year. This is the summary I wrote for JT's portfolio. Usually I can change a few things in the summaries to fit each of the boys without having to write completely separate accounts. Because I try to make the material we cover accessible to both of them, this method works well, especially for the subjects where summaries are necessary.

page of art work

One of my more time consuming activities when I'm creating the portfolios is converting physical art work and other projects into digital format. Last week in my post, I shared a picture showing how I photograph the boys' art work. Once I have a full set of those images, I print them in tiles, nine to a page, and include them in the art section of the portfolio. I do the same with posters, timelines, and objects like dioramas.

field trips

The final section I include in both portfolios is one that is not required by the regulations. I label it 'supplemental'. That is where I include a list of our field trips, fliers from activities, pictures of the boys enjoying places we have visited, and for JT this year, the certificates of completion from his Coursera classes. Some homeschoolers argue that extra things shouldn't be given to the district because it raises the bar for all the other parents. I personally like to include this section because it allows the school to see that my boys don't spend all of their days doing worksheets and sitting at home reading books.

big binders and finished portfolios

So there you have it! The black binders in the picture on the left are the completed portfolios for our school year 2012-2013. Each has approximately 90 pages. I will take them to the district office to drop them off as soon as I get next year's affidavits and objectives put together. I don't like to make the trip more than once if I can help it.

Portfolio construction can be tedious for me. I sometimes wish I lived in a state that didn't require this kind of work. But I wonder if I would feel as good about where the boys are in their education if I didn't have those pages to reassure me that they are making progress.

For now I am happy to say that they have made progress in this school year. Let the summer begin!

Portfolio Scramble

photo shoot

It seems that the more years I homeschool the boys, the worse I am at getting things together in a timely manner. Our meeting with the evaluator is Monday morning. Due to a weekend full of already scheduled events, I basically have tomorrow to complete this project.

It's going to be a long day.

In Pennsylvania, there is no standard way of creating a portfolio. There are several mandatory components; a letter from the evaluator certifying that the student has received an 'appropriate' education, something indicating that the student has met the required 180 days or 900 hours of instruction, a log designating the titles of reading materials used, samples of work, and standardized test results for students in grades 3, 5, and 8. This simple set of guidelines really allows me to show their work in a wide variety of ways. My usual method is a combination of actual samples of their work, photographs of activities they have participated in during the school year, flyers from performances we have attended, written summaries of their work in hard to show subjects, like physical education, and a sample of their art work. For the art work sample, I typically take photos of each piece of work on a white background, load them into a photo printer and print a page or two of tiles showing the variety of work they have done.

Today I managed to complete the art work photos and printing. I spent a little time updating their reading logs to include their most recent books. Starting work on the summaries of subjects like physical education, art, and health, I ran into a road block. I realized I never wrote out the outline for our health unit this year. That particular unit had come together in a very fluid way. Even though we were learning new things about our eating habits through documentaries and websites, we never really had a definite direction to each day's work. After going back through the weekly lists I give each boy on Mondays, I had made a quick outline of what we had done. Then I remembered! I had written a blog post all about our healthy eating unit that would work perfectly for the portfolio!  It looks like blogging has paid off for me this time.

Tomorrow I will need to make final decisions on what work samples to include. I will also need to scour my hard drive for good pictures of our adventures this year. Putting the portfolios together can sometimes feel like busy work for me. However, I realize going back and following our path through the year from beginning to end is a great way to appreciate where we have been and where we are headed for the future.

Didn't We Just Get Started?

the smell of summer

Nothing says summer to me quite like the smell of lilacs and fresh cut grass. I can't believe we have left winter behind and are well on our way to summer. It feels like our school year just kicked off and now I'm looking at wrapping up the year tomorrow.

The boys have been doing just a little whining about the idea of keeping a bit of a schooling routine going through the summer, but I feel that this year it might be essential. As JT is moving closer to the high school years, I want him to be making a little more progress in his math. Pre-algebra threw him for a loop this year and he's just now starting to be more consistent in his work. I'm afraid that two months off may be too much right now. So I worked out a one day a week deal with both of the boys. We will only do math. They will also be working on their summer projects, coming along for the ride on the latest Coursera class I signed up to take, Child Nutrition and Cooking, and taking another class on Coursera together, Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative. Those things count as 'fun' so they don't seem to mind. They will also both participate in Kids' College, Fire Safety Day Camp, and EM might take part in a history camp. No one will be able to say they are bored!

book haul

As usual, I plan to plan during my break. Here are some of the books I picked up at the local library book sale two weeks ago. Some of them look very promising. I especially like the looks of Government by the People and hope to use it for Civics next year. I started a list of materials I'd like to buy over the summer and so far it's a very short list. I think I may finally have enough stuff here to take care of these boys. Today I was discussing estimating with EM and we did a rough estimate of the number of books in our library and classroom. We came up with 1,500. We didn't even count any books in bedrooms or a bookcase we keep in the hall between the bedrooms. I have only one weakness when it comes to shopping. I bet you can't guess what it is...

Our annual meeting with our homeschool evaluator is scheduled for May 20th. I will spend some of the days in the next two weeks putting the boys' portfolios together. But before I do that, my husband and I will head out for a little get-away without the kids. I won't be posting next week, but I will be back the following week to share a summary of what the boys have accomplished this year, at least, the measurable things. So much of what they learn can only be seen by watching them in action...

and you just can't put those things in a portfolio.

Looking a Little Closer

insect sample

Every now and then a great opportunity for learning comes along that has nothing to do with what we are currently studying. Sometimes we let those programs slip by and sometimes we throw our routine out the window for the day and explore that path. This week just such an opportunity became available. A member of our homeschooling Meetup group was approached by a professor at Bucknell University with an offer to bring the homeschoolers into the microscope lab for an afternoon. EM was not all that interested, but JT knew it would be right up his alley. Many times I take both boys to events that I think only one of them will find interesting just to see what happens. This time, I did choose to leave EM at home because I wasn't sure what level the material might cover and I didn't want him to get antsy if it was over his head.

cool bug

The professor running the program had five of his students set up at different learning stations. The homeschoolers were split up into groups and traveled around the lab. Our first stop was a short discussion on forensic science. We talked about DNA evidence and how it is used to solve crimes. From there we moved on to using a stereo microscope. The university student running this station had taken entomology the previous year and brought his insect collection for viewing. JT had opportunity to discuss his favorite subject while we checked out the bugs in detail.

creepy cat

The lab also had a fluorescence microscope station. There was a slide show of fluorescent animals running on a nearby computer while we were learning how the microscope worked. These animals had been treated with a dye, as opposed to the biogenetically engineered animals JT has been reading about in the book, Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts. JT launched into a discussion of the book and told the student he should check it out. We were able to see some pretty cool slides of organelles at that station. Another student then explained how a polarizing microscope worked and showed the kids slides of sugar, salt, and citric acid.

on my Christmas wish list

My pathetic manual microtome couldn't hold a candle to the instruments in this lab! The homeschoolers were able to slice samples and prepare slides for histology, both in the slower method using the microtome on the left, and also witnessed the preparation of a slide using the much faster frozen section procedure which is used most often during surgeries where cancer is being ruled out or diagnosed.

As a final treat, the professor had one of his students do a demonstration using liquid nitrogen. Although it wasn't directly related to microscopy, he told us it is always a 'crowd pleaser'. He was certainly right about that. The student poured a Styrofoam cup full of the liquid. Then he placed various objects in to show us what would happen. First he froze a few cherry tomatoes and threw them on the floor to smash into bits. He also froze a penny, a new one made mostly of zinc, and had a young boy smash and break it with a hammer. He poured more of the nitrogen into a large Styrofoam container so he could put a small inflated balloon in to watch it freeze and shrink. When he removed it from the liquid, it quickly re-inflated and he passed it around to the children. JT's favorite part of the demonstration was when a frozen banana was used to hammer a nail into a block of wood.

rock hard banana

The university students did an excellent job sharing some of the interesting things we can see when we take a closer look using tools in the lab. JT's desire to study science in college was renewed. He even suggested that I should get a job at the university now so he could go to school for less in a few years.

I'm hoping some doors have been opened that will allow us to visit the school again, either as homeschoolers or maybe in the future when JT has started on his way in the real world as a young adult.

Does Learning Take a Vacation?

summer dreaming

Summer break is just around the corner. So naturally I'm starting to picture days of sun, relaxation, traveling, and learning. I guess learning may not be the first thing people think of when planning their summers, but learning is such a natural part of our daily lives now it seems ridiculous to imagine a break from it.

I watched a video this week about a high school that is experimenting with new ways to allow students to direct their own learning. As part of the plan, each student chooses an independent learning project that they spend a large portion of a semester exploring. That made me start thinking about ways to put my boys more in charge of their own learning. So I'm going to try an experiment this summer. Instead of having them do school work one day a week, like I have done in the past, I asked them to choose something they want to learn on their own throughout their summer break. We haven't set the choices in stone yet, but for now here's what they are leaning towards.

hello

EM recently started showing more of an interest in computer programming. Earlier this week, in an offhand way, my husband handed this Hello, Android book to him and said, "Here's a book for you to read," not really thinking he would. EM picked it up and started right away. He quickly decided that he should write some apps and make loads of money. We told him that was a good long-term goal, but he might need to start out a little more basic. As the week went on, his interest seemed to be holding. I suggested that this might be something he'd like to work on this summer. He seemed positive about that possibility.

louder than they look

JT has been spending more time drumming. This is working out well for my husband who has been waiting to form his own version of The Partridge Family for years. I would like to see JT commit to learning some songs that he might think of as beyond his ability for his project. I am not sure if we will sign him up for formal lessons or just continue allowing him to learn on his own. I think it would be nice if he took lessons, but I also know that in the past that hasn't been the best way to motivate this particular child.


I don't want to turn these projects into something that feels too much like work. I want this to be the thing they do when they are tempted to claim boredom. I plan to help them set a few tangible goals before we reach the last day of formal schooling so they have a little direction, but nothing too tedious. After all, summer is not supposed to be about about deadlines and checklists but about relaxing with no schedule ...

and learning just for the fun of it.

Spring has Sprung

early flowers

It's hard to believe that we are only fifteen days from the end of our fifth year of schooling at home. The weather has been gorgeous and I am having a hard time cracking the whip to keep these boys working. I've cut back a bit on what I expect them to accomplish each day to allow them more time outside.

In all honesty, there is very little I feel we need to do yet to have a full year of learning. We will wrap up our American history with a book about the 13th president, Millard Fillmore. EM will finish off his Singapore Math 4B book. JT is writing a short research project on an animal he knows little about, the Tasmanian Devil. EM will take a four week pottery class at the local Y.M.C.A. arts center. I also plan to take a field trip to see a planetarium show in Harrisburg to complete our astronomy unit for science.

crocus

But most of all, I want the boys to enjoy the outdoors. It always seems such a shame to me that children are stuck inside so many hours a day when the spring weather first hits. By the time June rolls around, it's starting to get too hot to play outside all day. With our last day being May 3rd, the boys will have a full month of freedom before summer comes along. This will also give us more time to work on our gardening projects together. We are not planting as many vegetables this year since we joined a local CSA. However, we do want to experiment with some container gardening. I went to a program at the library with my daughter last weekend and came home with new ideas.

As homeschooling has become a more integrated part of our daily routine it seems there is less of a line between summer vacation and the school year. Sure I like having an open chunk of time where I won't be actively planning for the next day's schooling, but I also don't mind that planning part of my life so much anymore. Maybe some day I'll give up the planning completely.

Would that be so bad?

Healthy Eating Unit

good food

Our health unit this year came about because of a class I took in January. An Introduction to U.S. Food Systems was offered through Coursera by the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The knowledge I gained through that class has caused us to make major changes in our shopping and eating habits. I decided to develop a health unit for the boys to help teach them why we are making these changes.

As a family, we watched the movie Food, Inc. This was an eye-opener for all of us. My husband said it was the scariest movie he had ever seen, and I agree. From that point on, we decided we wanted to try to buy meat that had not been produced in factory farms. We also decided to start taking part in Meatless Monday. It's a simple concept- reduce your family's meat consumption by skipping meat every Monday. We also began reducing our red meat consumption to only a couple times a month (grass fed only), eating organic chicken, and sustainably caught seafood.

labels are important

 The next step in our education about food was to learn what all the different labels mean. Just because something is labeled 'all natural' or 'farm fresh' doesn't mean much. We found this guide to help us sort the truth from the fiction. JT quickly became my go-to at the grocery store. He memorized the 'dirty dozen' and 'clean fifteen' list to help me decide which vegetables and fruits we should avoid if they weren't labeled USDA organic.

We also started looking for more local buying options for our food. I quickly discovered that we are fortunate enough to have a CSA in our area. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The members buy a 'share' in the farm and then during the growing season, get to pick up their share of the produce. The boys were able to learn more about this concept by watching the movie, Out to Pasture, available online, produced by John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. We became members of our local CSA and will start receiving our produce in June. We will also be able to volunteer to work on the farm to get a real feel for how our food is grown. The farm that runs our CSA also sells meat, so now we have a good local source for our chicken, beef, pork, and turkey.

There is an entire curriculum available through John Hopkins covering this topic. It is set up as a high school level course, so I decided not to use it since I wanted our study to be for both JT and EM and it seemed a little too advanced for a 9 year old. 

Finally, JT has also been reading the book, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, by Michael Moss. This book has really brought out some anger in my justice-concerned boy. In the grocery store this week, I was allowing EM to buy juice made by Nestle. I know it's not organic, but we are still working to eliminate all of our vices. It's 100% juice, so I feel it's a step in the right direction. JT saw what EM was getting and said to me, "Do you have any idea what an awful company Nestle is?"

I told him that EM is working to change the way he eats and that I was allowing him to do it in his own time.

JT said, "You could just say 'no'. Don't you know the advertisers are using your child as a tool against you?!"

Teach them a little and look what happens!