Almost there!!

I'm almost there! ("Push honey! Push!") Yup, my homeschool portfolios are almost finished for the year. Whew.

In Florida, we have a few different ways to certify our homeschooled kids as having received an education. We can have our portfolio reviewed and certified as showing that our child has "made progress commensurate with ability". We can have them take standardized tests and submit the results. We can have them take (and pass) the FCAT. Any way we choose to do it, we must make a portfolio and keep it for several years. (I'm not sure how many, but it's longer than I've been homeschooling!)

Portfolio means something different to different people. I always write about a ten-page summary of the school year and their accomplishments, broken out by subject. (I know, I know -- all educational fields overlap and we must integrate their learning. Blah, blah, blah. Just do it, dummy!) Then I pull out a sample day's work for each subject from each month. That comes to six subjects times nine months, times three or four pages each, or almost a half-ream of paper. Ick.

It's supposed to give me (and the reviewer and the state) a neat picture of the progression of skills, and I suppose it does. But I'm sick of doing it. My poor scanner and printer are, too. I feel like it deserves a margarita once we're finished. Or an oil bath. Whatever scanners like.

I can't wait...