The end of the year is coming and it’s time to wrap up homeschooling. Before you rush off to your much-deserved summer break, take some time to assess your homeschool. Here is a homeschool year-end assessment guide to help you can finish out the year strong.
Setting and Meeting Homeschool Goals
Did you start the year with lofty goals? Goals are part of planning. Now is the time to take out that list of goals, again. How many have you met? Are there any goals that were unrealistic? Did one of your children blow your goals out of the water? Could you set a bigger goal next year?
Assessing your goals will help you plan better for next year. In addition, you can see how far you have come. Sometimes, we all have difficult homeschooling years. However, every year has its own successes. Yet, it’s difficult to see progress in the every day. So, look at your goals, celebrate the ones you met, and re-evaluate those that you didn’t.
Prepare Homeschool Portfolios for Evaluation
Portfolios are an important part of homeschooling for many families. If your state requires a portfolio, this is a vital step in concluding your year. Here are some simple steps to prepare your portfolios for submission:
- Gather any required documents and ensure that they are filled out completely
- Finalize grade sheets
- Tally hours/days completed
- Update field trip and book lists
- Collect any certificates or outside documentation for courses
- Go through sample work and make final decision on what to include
- Double check that all subjects are represented
- Organize all the contents and submit
Assessment of Your Curriculum Choices
Curriculum choices are big decisions. We all invest abundant effort, time, and energy into finding what our family needs. Sometimes those choices are perfect fits. However, sometimes our choices don’t live up to our expectations. So, how did you choices work this year? What did you love? On the other hand, what was a struggle for you or the kids? First, make a list of what worked well. Next, make a list of what didn’t work and why. Now, make notes of anything you would do differently with the curriculum you liked. This will help you plan an even better year for the fall.
Review Student Progress in Each Subject
Student assessments are essential for reviewing your year. In fact, it should be your central focus.
- What progress did each child make?
- What new skills were mastered?
- Where did they each struggle?
- What surprised you about their progress?
- How do your children feel about their school year?
How do I Preform a Homeschool Assessment?
There are many ways to assess your children. In general, standardized tests and final exams are the most common end of year assessments. However, there are endless means for evaluating student progress. Here are some suggestions:
- End of year narration (Students retell everything that they learned over the year.)
- Comparison of samples of work throughout the year.
- Student self-evaluations
- Score based evaluation
- Written narrative
- One on one interview
- Cumulative project for each subject
- Administer the same skills test at the beginning and end of year
- Grade appropriate checklist
Review of Homeschool Schedule and Systems
Before you finalize your year, take a moment to review how your homeschool is run. Firstly, how is your homeschool schedule working for you? Consider start times, end times, length of the day, extracurricular activities, and online courses/meetings. Next, consider where you have been homeschooling. Is that space still adequate? What can you change? Do you need a new organization system? Conversely, do you need to re-locate your school area? Lastly, review your habits and systems. What worked and what didn’t?
Make a list of what changes you want to make. In addition, record any items you need to replace, replenish, or would like to try next year. Now, take a deep breath, pay yourself on the back, close your “homeschool door.” and enjoy your summer break with your children.
Do you have the itch to plan out your Summer? Try our Free Homeschool Field Trip Guide!
