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For some homeschoolers, homeschool assessment can be confusing and even challenging. Join Jamie, homeschool mom of 6, as she shares how you can make it simple and easy.

Once upon a time, in the quiet corners of suburban homes, families embarked on a unique educational journey: homeschooling. As they navigated this path, they encountered various forms of assessment to gauge their children’s progress. Let’s delve into the world of homeschool grading and assessment and explore the different ways homeschoolers evaluate their young scholars.

The Morning Routine: Every day, homeschooling parents don their teacher hats, armed with pencils and grade books. Their mission? To assess their child’s progress through daily grades or observations. These grades and observations weren’t just numbers; they were windows into understanding.

Formal or Informal? Formal assessment is the giving and taking of quizzes and tests while informal assessment is the observation that we conduct every day as we homeschool our children!

Flexibility and Freedom: Unlike traditional schools, homeschooling allows flexibility. Parents can choose when to grade, how to grade, and whether to grade at all. Some days, they skip the grading altogether, opting for experiential learning—a trip to the local museum or a nature walk.

The Quest for the Right Level: Imagine a treasure map with an “X” marking the spot. Placement tests served as those “X” marks for homeschoolers. Parents use them to determine the appropriate grade level or mastery level within the grade for their child. Was little Timmy ready for third-grade math or perhaps a leap into fourth-grade beginning algebra?

The Chronicles of Progress: Portfolio assessment was homeschooling’s grand epic—a saga chronicling a student’s journey. Imagine a thick leather-bound book filled with pages of achievement. Each entry told a tale: a poem penned, a science experiment documented, a painting captured. We’ll use Timmy as an example.

Showcase Portfolios: In the portfolio, showcase sections sparkled. Timmy’s best work—his eloquent essay on ancient civilizations, the watercolor masterpiece of a sunflower—found their place. These were the gems he’d proudly share with visiting grandparents.

Progress Portfolios: Progress portfolios whispered secrets of growth. Timmy’s early attempts at cursive writing, shaky and uncertain, now flowed like a babbling brook. His science notes evolved from scribbles to structured hypotheses.

Working Portfolios: Working portfolios held drafts—the raw clay of creativity. Timmy’s short stories, revised and polished, nestled here. His math scratch paper revealed the journey from confusion to clarity.

Virtual Portfolios: In the digital age, virtual portfolios emerged. Timmy’s blog chronicled his adventures—virtual field trips, coding projects, and book reviews. The internet became his canvas, and the world his audience. Visit this podcast for a cool app that let’s you create Virtual Portfolios with a snap.

State Requirements: Some states demand these portfolios for evaluation. Parents meticulously curate them, ensuring a balanced representation of the child’s learning odyssey.

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Join Jamie as she interviews Kimberly Langen, a highly educated and gifted educator who started Spirit of Math in 1994 to challenge learners to think differently!

Kimberly has developed an alternative way to helping gifted and high performing learners stay motivated and learn mathematics in ways that align with their particular style of thinking. This podcast was very enlightening and if you have a gifted or high-performing learner you’ll want to listen in. Kim shares a great many practical tips on how to homeschool and keep your learners motivated.

One of my key takeaways was that mathematics needs to be taught in 4 steps:

1 Drill to build automaticity

2 Core Content including topics and spiral learning for younger children

3 Problem Solving in real world application that allows students to use reasoning and logic

4 Collaborative Group Work that elevated thinking, let them talk about it out loud it will stretch them to new reasoning

And something else I learned, in case you were wondering what the difference was between a gifted learner and a high performing learner:

1 Gifted Learner is a student classified as gifted by demonstrating a high level of intellectual ability.

2 High Performing learner is a learner that is simply very motivated to learn!

Don’t forget that it is also important for these learners to learn from failure. Learning from failure often brings about a new level of logical reasoning that wasn’t accessible before.

If you have a gifted or high performing learner and are feeling challenged on how to homeschool them reach out to Spirit of Math. They have regional classes as well as online options for homeschool students.

Listen to More

Helping Your Students Pursue Their Excellence

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This episode is one of my favorites! In honor of School Choice Week, I was able to join several other homeschooling mamas who shared their ups and downs and encouragement for homeschoolers new and experienced! We had a great time talking about homeschooling and this episode is full of nuggets of wisdom from four very experienced homeschool parents!

If you are interested in learning more about homeschooling please visit our Getting Started Guide to Homeschooling.