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Gauging Homeschool Progress – Masters of their Material?

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Gauging homeschool progress is one of those things that can cause uneasiness in our journey and especially as we get closer to the end of the school year.  Do we ever stop stressing over measuring our homeschool progress by either a pass or fail standard?  I think so.  But I also think it does not come without wrangling with our own mind-set.  Okay, maybe it comes with clashing with naysayers too, but then again I never did set out to homeschool so that I could prove to others that my kids were making progress.

Gauging Homeschool Progress

Measuring progress in our homeschool though is natural, but it can be done in many other ways besides doing a standardized test each year.  Tests, like any tool, have value in homeschool.  But like any useful tool, it can become dangerous if we don’t handle it correctly.

Too, children are no different than us at times when they need validation as to their progress.  Sometimes kids need that assurance that they are making progress.  And there is nothing wrong with visual charts, stickers and progress report to praise them for those efforts.  Unlike children though, we need to determine what will be our standard for progress or success and ways to measure it.

When we don’t determine the standard for our family, then we may be among the first ones to jump aboard the newest wave of educational thinking as to what proves academic rigor.   And sometimes that new, so called revolutionary way or measuring stick is far-fetched.

What is not far-fetched is to expect growth and improvement in our children.  The rub normally comes in when we are comparing ourselves to other families or when we compare our own children to each other.

5 Tips to Gauge Homeschool Progress Other Than the Standardized Test

Look at these ways that I have used to gauge homeschool success that is unique to each child.

  • 1.)  Plot your course before you can gauge your course. I have made it no secret that I am a paper planning girl by sharing my 7 Step Homeschool Planner both on my blog and on Pinterest.

Visit Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus’s profile on Pinterest.

Even if you are not a paper planner person, you still need some way to plot your course or write it all down.  It is hard to gauge progress if you don’t have a starting point to measure from.  I would like to think that I was all organized (okay I am just a wee bit) and could remember it all (I am for sure not that), but I can’t.  Trying to remember what my sons knew at the beginning of the year whether I was teaching them to read or teaching them a new math concept and what they know now is not always easy to recall.   Plot your starting point somewhere each year whether you use my free homeschool planner or not. The key is writing it down so that you remember and can look back later.

      • 2.) Do a project and it doesn’t have to wait till the end of the year.  Even if you live in a state or country that requires regular testing, I encourage you to do your own evaluations mid-year too.  Evaluations do not have to take the form of a written test either.  Even in college highschoolers are expected to not only be familiar with their subject, but to learn how to display that subject in a visual way that is appealing to others.

What projects do we have in homeschooling?  Science fairs, notebooking, lapbooking and book reports are just a few of the ways our children can demonstrate that they are masters of their material.  I’ll let you in on a little secret why I started off doing lapbooks and that is because I never wanted to be in the position of not having proof to show that I was homeschooling if the friendly homeschool laws changed here in Texas.  If I ever had to show a portfolio to show our school progress, I would have plenty to choose from each year.  Though fear was not the best motivating force to start them, I did learn quickly enough that I could easily shed the doubt that we weren’t doing enough.

      • 3.) Hands-on projects count too.  Keeping memorabilia from field trips and hands-on projects cements learning.  Do you ever review with your kids where you have gone on field trips or what you learned at co-ops?  You should because you would be surprised at what they have retained.  Reviewing mastery of material and educational facts learned does not have to be so painstaking.  Most children bubble over in talking about the events of the day and you can naturally fold in and reinforce key points learned.

 

Ways to Show Homeschool Progress One year, we had a year end talent show.  Not only did it provide a lot of fun to end our year, but it allowed the kids to showcase what they had learned.  Can you guess how much time they spent beefing up their skills, without my urging them to do so, before they stood up in front of others?  I am telling you, it’s easier than you think when it comes to charting progress and we don’t have to follow the public school to do it.

      • 4.) Maybe your teen doesn’t like lapbooks, but you still want a way for them to demonstrate their creative prowess and progress.   Teens can prepare Powerpoint demonstrations of either your homeschool journey or to illustrate mastery of their subject.  And as they grow older, they can help you to store and keep homeschool records by creating DVDs of your homeschool journey and their work.  I have  a huge tower of DVDs in my cabinet proving our homeschool journey.
      • 5.)  Blogging is a way for me to chart my sons’ progress, but also a private blog by your child is another creative way of proving what they know.  When your child has readers, it only fuels their passion to prove to Grandma what he or she knows.

Keeping and comparing writing samples, reading lists and logs, quizzes, maps to show learned geography skills, charts that demonstrate your child has some knowledge of science and history and free-on line tests are not just for reporting purposes, but should be kept for you.

Then again too there are some things that can’t be so easily charted like maturity, reasoning ability, character training and learning responsibility.

You do know know what your children are learning because you are around them 24/7.  But when self-doubt creeps in or when we do forget that even tiny baby steps forward is progress, having informal ways to gauge homeschool progress assures us that our sacrifices day in and day out are worth every second spent homeschooling.

What ways do you prove homeschool progress?

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature Pinterest Tips to Grow A Business From Just A Mom With 24K Followers

Need some more tips!

Resist the Urge to Homeschool in the “What if……” World

Day 21: Time Tested Teaching Tips. {31 Day Boot Camp For New Homeschoolers on My Blog}

Day 7: Tied Up with Testing? {31 Day Boot Camp For New Homeschoolers on My Blog}

And it doesn’t hurt to have some forms too. Be sure you grab my free evaluation forms.

Should You Homeschool?

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I am so excited to tell you that I am a guest panelist today at Bright Ideas Press!  Bright Ideas Press will be hosting a LIVE Google Hangout.  We will be discussing the topic: “Should I Homeschool?”  I would LOVE to have you in the event room as I talk LIVE.  Even if you have been homeschooling for a while, come and share your tidbits of wisdom.

What is a Google Hangout on Air? What do I need?

Basically, it is a live streaming.  You just need to click the link at the bottom and determine your time zone. Then, come to the event page minutes before it starts.  All you need is your device {computer, iPad,etc.} and sign into your google account.

How does it work for guest?

There are no cameras on you.  It’s a bit like a chat room as far as the conversation.   As we are streaming live, you can comment on the event page.  If you post questions to me, the host can try to let me know and I will try to answer them.  To comment on the event page, type the plus {+} sign and then follow it by typing out my Google name which is either “Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool” or “New Bee Homeschooler” and then type your comment.  That way I know the comment is for me.  If you can’t figure that out, which is totally fine, just type my name if you have a comment or question to me.

should-you-homeschool-Hangouts-Event-page-BIP

I would love for you to get comfortable with the format because Kelley and I have some live hangouts planned for you too.

Click below to go to the event page to check your time zone so you know the right time to be at the event.  For some of you this will come early.

Should You Homeschool – Live Hangout Page

Then, wait for the live streaming because they try to start pretty close to on-time.

I hope my hair won’t look too big all Texian like, but then again my hair is naturally big.

See you in the event room, be sure to let me know you are there by giving me a shout out hello!

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature Year Round Homeschool Planning Schedule Free Form

Beware of the 3 C’s of Lapbooking

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Would you believe me if I told you after creating more than 30+ lapbooks with my children {I have lost track} that using lapbooks in our homeschool seemed like a turn off to us when we started homeschooling?

Today, using lapbooks as enrichment in our every day unit studies have kept them a delight and not overwhelming our day.  My journey did not start off that way. 

Beware of the 3 C's of Lapbooking

I made three basic mistakes when I initially folded in (corny pun I know) lapbooks into our day.

If you are the non-crafty person and have been avoiding creating a lapbook  with your kids, hopefully steering you clear of my mistakes will nudge you to try one or two.

I had to have an attitude adjustment first and I have to confess about it now.

  I knew that my kids were not the crafty loving (or so I thought) type of kids and I knew lapbooks were for those “other” homeschoolers.  You know the ones who pine to do crafts all day.

Interactive Tool or Time Waster Tool?

I just knew that lapbooks were more about crafts than conscientious and diligent learning. 

Because crafts are at the opposite end of my personality style or I should say as I understood crafts to be at the time, I missed out on several years of creating lapbooks with my older son.

Fast forward about five years after that thinking, my teaching methods were boring and blah. 

I knew worksheets didn’t take long for my children to do (I admit it, I was bad because that is all we did) and they took even less time for my children to forget about them.

Moving out of my comfort zone and wanting our homeschool journey to be a memorable one, I knew the hands-on element was missing in our every day learning. 

I wanted to capture that element of learning for my sons and gradually did more research on lapbooks.

Slowly, I started to see that the greatest benefit to my children about lapbooks is that they are a fantastic interactive learning tool. 

The interactive part to opening/closing the minibooks, turning the circle minibook and folding/unfolding to read information is much like— well— the learning that is done in museums.

Why did we prefer a day at the museum over doing a worksheet? 

Museums are a fun place to visit not because you look forward to doing a worksheet when you get there. 

Learning can be done informally and at your child’s pace while he presses buttons for information to light up, turns a wheel for more information, listens to the information and otherwise follows along to see the exhibits and read the information. 

Even adults still like this part of a museum. 

We never out grow a museum.

Beware of over Crafting!

Lapbooks are like a mini museum in a file folder.  Redefining my meaning of crafts, I first tried several months of crafts or I should say over crafting. 

I almost gave up because I tried to be something I was not and my boys weren’t having fun either.

When we would rather read something from a book than glue a bean on a paper, I knew I went too far the other way in trying to incorporate crafts.

Beware of Coloring!

That wasn’t the only mistake I made.  I remember when my sister who has all girls would meet up with us to school together when our kids were preschool.

Lapbooking Can Be for the Non Crafty Kid and Mom too!

Her girls would sit so patiently and sweetly as they couldn’t wait to color, doodle and create.  My boys ran from coloring and were outside using tree branches for swords on each other. 

Both my sister and I had a lot to learn as new teachers because we both thought the other family had something “wrong” with their kids.

Because I know boys learned differently and needed to strengthen their fine motor skills, I realized coloring was just one way to do it, not the only way.

As I created lapbooks, I understood the way my boys learned. 

For my sons the fun is not necessarily in coloring pictures so I added more and more pictures or clip art already colored to my lapbooks.

They could focus on learning the content, folding the books, and if they wanted to, they could do something crafty for the outside file folder flap. 

Still to this day, I add in color pictures and coloring pages so if the mood strikes they can choose either option or a combination of both. 

I didn’t restrain their creativity, but gave them options when they didn’t want to be.

Beware of Cutting!

I had already made two mistakes and this last mistake which was throwing a gazillion pages at my kids to cut actually did make us move away from lapbooking for a few months.  

In doing school, I had to remember I wasn’t teaching scissor skills necessarily.

minibooks - emphasize the writing and not the scissor cutting

There is nothing about cutting out minibooks that inspired my children to want to do another lapbook.  Quite the opposite, they wanted to run from it and I did too.

Realizing that I was not teaching my sons how to cut when we did lapbooks, I did a majority of the cutting for my sons in the early grades. 

What a breath of fresh air as we sat down to start the next lapbook because most of the pages were cut.

This is perfectly okay to do.  Just like any teacher would prepare flashcards or some other hands-on manipulative for her classroom, this was the part I did as a teacher for them.

 Even as they got older, I still help with cutting out the minibooks.

Focusing on my family, I redefined the meaning of crafts in our home.  Crafting now in my mind equates with hands-on and it can be virtually anything that your children enjoy doing. 

  It really is that easy and I had to understand that sometimes the house doesn’t always have to be a mess to enjoy them.

Today, my mind races with hands-on ideas, but I always weigh them against what my sons will really find delight doing and weigh the value of it against the concept I want them to learn.

Whether you have kids who desire to do crafts all day or run from them, you can still lapbook.  Adjusting lapbooking to work for your family is key to savoring them.

I certainly don’t consider myself a true lapbooker if there is such a thing.  Why?  Because the crafts, cutting and coloring are not reasons we weave them in our day.  While maintaining a hint of my classical roots while we do a fun hands-on easy lapbook, I have found a way to not miss out on something that brings learning alive for us.

It doesn’t have to be either or when you choose an approach to homeschooling, it just has to be good for your family.

Do you want to give lapbooks a try? Try one or two easy ones.

I have made it easy for you, I have divided  up my lapbooks by history time period or science topic.

Pssst..They are ALL free too!

Hugs and love ya,

Homeschool High School Readiness?

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Homeschool high school readiness?  What is that?  Many years ago I read an article that said children are going to school longer and are learning less each year. That thought has resonated with me during my year of homeschooling.

So from the time my sons were young, I have used both online informal testing and formal testing to determine not only what I think they should know, but to determine their state of readiness for ALL grades.

Homeschool High School Readiness

We hear the term readiness associated with preschoolers entering formal schooling. Rightly so researchers put so much emphasis on a baby’s development, preparation or readiness, and a parent’s influence on their toddler.

However, readiness is more critical at the high school age when our children are getting ready to take on more responsibility beyond just academics.

So just what is readiness? How concerned with it should we be as we homeschool during the high school years?

Readiness is defined as preparation for what comes next.  Breaking this down further, it is not just about how  academically prepared they are to take on high school level work, but it is also about the level of maturity in their social and emotional development.

What I have learned from homeschooling one son through high school and having my second son in high school now is that readiness means that signs are present that they are ready to take on a high school course load. 

And homeschooling has advantages because sometimes it means they are ready earlier than high school for a high school load and may even show readiness for college courses too. 

You certainly do not have to wait until high school to start high school courses and you can also delay formal high school work for another year.

What it does not mean is that the year they become a freshman something short of a miracle happens and they have suddenly gained some maturity or advanced insight. It also doesn’t mean they have instant mature decision making ability, but can still be unsure about their goals including career choices and college.

I have one son who was ready for high school level courses or the academics earlier in junior high and another one who is not ready for a larger academic load until his Junior year in high school. 

Start looking for high school readiness signs early so you can determine when you begin. You do not have to wait until the formal high school years to begin with high school.

Also, there are advantages to waiting for a heavy course load until later in high school when they are ready and will move along quicker making up for a slower start to high school. 

Looking back, it is just as important to look for those tell-tale signs to begin high school as it was when I started formal kindergarten with them.

High School – Ready or Not?

Homeschool High School Readiness - 5 signs to look for in your teen's development. Check it out at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Below are 5 signs that helped me to determine when both of my sons were ready for high school level work regardless of when they actually started.

  • One son demonstrated not only an interest in academics, but a desire to move ahead in more rigorous subjects.  The other demonstrated a need to have them done or a goal to completing academics.  I have sons with two different personalities, but both sons realized this is their future and wanted to complete their goals. They now have intrinsic motivation to complete their goals.
  • Both sons were motivated on their own to begin their school day {this actually can happen quite young}, but the difference now was that they study at times of their own choosing that were not our regular school hours.  This comes from knowing that a goal is in sight and it now becomes their goal too.  It’s like having a true partnership with them in their education.  Teens can be a bit obsessive or is that motivated about everything they do from visiting with their friends, to working out to studying.  That same inspiration is now channeled to their future.  So yes they may be ready younger academically or ahead of their peers academically, but there is a certain maturity in reasoning that starts to appear too.
  • One of my sons started researching opportunities to be more involved in the community. This goes straight to the issue of wanting to interact with people and it demonstrates a maturity of understanding social issues.  My other son is more shy, but our private conversations demonstrated not only an awareness of social issues, but a maturity realizing that people make choices we can’t control.
  • Both sons argued with me {yep comes with the territory and you have to be padded with kindness and gentleness} over the curriculum I had selected.  Again, the I-am-not-sitting-back-and-letting-mom choose my curriculum marked another significant trait.  Like starting their day on their own, some children can reach this milestone early too.  The big difference demonstrating high school readiness is that it’s almost like your discussing with another adult why something would be beneficial for them.  It’s very different than explaining to a young child the benefits of why you chose a certain curriculum.
  • One son began to use an organizational system that suited him and sometimes that included using my curriculum planner after his student planner.  His system grew more advanced as he was cognizant of deadlines and I had to help him with a hanging file folder system that he much more preferred over my system.  My other son struggles in organizational areas, but has his own reasons for meeting deadlines like wanting to be completed with school.  He uses his phone as part of his organizational system.  Both of them have good systems, they are just different.

Transitioning from Teen to Young Adult

I know I mentioned it earlier, but it really bears repeating when understanding this age and that is regardless of how they look {it’s almost like two grown men have moved in with me and my husband} and act mature at lot of the times, they are still changing from childhood to adulthood.

Noticing a few of these readiness skills for high school and adulthood has helped me to avoid some of the arguments in my house. 

Completely avoiding arguments is not even realistic and we have had our fair share of them.

Remember that your teen is in transition to adulthood and he will alternate back to childish behavior. 

Keeping that in mind every day has helped me to keep those ugly blow ups to minimal.  In the best calm voice I can have when I feel my worse, I tell them we can discuss this at a later time.  I try not to resort back to treating them childish, but try to use adult to adult tactics with them.

Looking at the positive, if your teen never questioned you about decisions, then will he accept what anybody that comes along in his life tells him without question? 

Teens are honing their decision making ability and trying it out on you first.  I am glad my teens question my decisions because they will not be so easily convicted when something goes against the values they have learned in our family.

I wish I could completely conquer the desire to want to lash out at both of them, but realizing that I don’t want to get caught up in any childish arguments does help.

As you can see, high school readiness is not just about academics, but it is about the exciting time when your teen stands on the threshold of adulthood.

Homeschool High School Readiness - 5 signs to look for in your teen's development. Check it out at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Embrace that thrilling time while you look for signs of high school readiness. 

And remember though your teen may not say it or act like it, your guidance is more essential than ever as they seek to find their way through the challenges of entering adulthood.

Also, you’l love these other tips:

Should A Child Have a Choice to Return To Public School?

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Starting to homeschool seems easy by comparison when you have to confront an issue like should you give your child a choice to return to public school.

Return to Public School. Homeschool - Should My Child Have A Choice to Retun to Public School

{For the sake of clarity when I mean return to public school, I am talking about leaving your home to go to a public school setting to be guided by somebody else and their standards.  I am not talking about using textbooks at home.  Too, I am not speaking about circumstances out of our control that do not allow us to homeschool at the present moment.  Big difference.}

Return to Public School?

The subject can send as many sparks flying as the topic of disciplining children can.

Never shying away from topics that could be unpleasant, I hope after reading this you can walk away with conviction about your choice to not give your child that option.

My son never got an option to return to public school.  It was never allowed as a choice for our children to make in our home.  Does this make me more or less of an unpleasant teacher?  Judge that for yourself as I want to share with you why my husband and I made that decision in the beginning of our homeschool journey.

Returning to public school normally means your child has had some length of exposure to it.  My sons have not had that experience.  Did that lack of experience make the curiosity for public school not come up in our home?  No, it came up.  Taking Mr. Senior 2013 out in Kindergarten, he never really had any bad experiences so his curiosity was piqued.

I do think the key to understanding your child is to determine if it’s just curiosity or if your child perceives they are lacking something in their journey.

So if that topic came up, I wasn’t going to wait for it to happen before I had a plan in place.  Determined on creating many learning opportunities and experiences, I focused my time and energy on that.

Learn Through Experience or Example?

As home educators, we are not afraid of work.  Most of us go above and beyond the call of duty so to speak to find what works for our children.  And then sometimes that is not enough.  It can be flat out discouraging, but I will share some tips in just a minute to breathe some life into your efforts.

First though I want to give you some tips on analyzing which set of values or mind-set you will adopt as you homeschool because it affects the merit or value of your decision.  Is it best to learn through experience or by examples?  I am often told that some children just need to experience it.  I don’t hail to that way of thinking because experience is not always the best teacher.  Learning from examples or by example is a much better teacher.  In other words, you don’t have to experience pain to appreciate the lack of it.

From the time children are very young, they need a standard by which to measure their decisions.  Core values for a family usually enters at this point.  It did for us.  I want my sons to know that they can make a good decision regarding their life choices way beyond what a person thinks my sons should make at their age if they have a reliable standard to measure by.

The Bible has always been our standard and we shared with our sons that it is our responsibility, no cherished privilege to guide them.  That mind-set has been engrained since they were young.  So returning to public school was not seen as a topic that was open for discussion, it was seen as a loving decision anchored in our values.

Hard or Hardly Working Mom?

What always was and still is open for discussion anytime day or night is what they feel that they need at the present moment.  If they feel at anytime like they were missing out on something, it is my responsibility to care for that need.  A child will grow, but not necessarily grow up loving to be self-educated unless we show them the positive aspects of our decision.

Make yourself available and open to discussions.  Having candid talks and 1:1 heartfelt conversations with each child gathers more momentum as your child grows.  At certain ages, normally preteen to young adulthood, I have spent more times during the school day keeping the communication lines open with my sons than they have completing school assignments.  This is not easy as they become young adults establishing their core values.

Sometimes that is just not enough either because you have to meet their needs and it starts with YOU, not with a support group.  I want you to hear my heart on this.  When your children are young, you are their everything in the world.

But when they are older and decision making ability is being nurtured and everything in the world matters to them, that time is more uncertain as they enter adulthood and your guidance is absolutely essential.  It simply can’t be left up to somebody else to make your children happy or fulfilled.  They have to learn to look within too as to why they may feel that they are missing out.  For sure it is easier and more of an adventure to fill our children’s needs by joining with others or joining a support group.  I encourage you to embrace those groups.  But at some points in my journey, I did not have an active homeschooling community near me.

Hardworking Homeschool Mom

{Look to your church for finding friends and don’t forget to include extended family as you build a network for a support group.  The homeschoolers will come as you set out to host functions for your children. When they do, connect with them.}

So focus on what you can do.  I have shared before how my New Bee Homeschooler Program, Free Lapbook site and my co-op were created out of my desire to push, no impel myself into another level of teaching and to provide my sons with the best teacher they can have.  I will not be content until my sons’ needs are satisfied and overflowing.

So I don’t “dictate” {or is that guide lovingly} that public school is not an option unless I have provided many other opportunities for them to choose from that meets their needs.

Also, I never used returning to public school as a means of discipline or allowed it as an option from an early age.  What I do know is that though the topic came up and we talked openly and lovingly about why they may want to experience it, the decision to not return to public school has saved my sons much grief through the years by not starting/stopping public school again and again.

I recently helped a friend who allowed her 13 year old daughter to make that decision to return to public school.  After a few months, she returned back home again.  I helped her to remember that sometimes as a parent we have to parent instead of being their friend.   It’s our job to protect, shield, guide and give them sound reasons for our values and not be the because-I-told- you-so parent.

Important: You can’t wait until your children are preteen or teen for them to know your feelings on this.  When their hearts are malleable is the time to share why you feel that there is nothing that the public school offers that you can’t give to them abundantly.  Do YOU truly believe that?

Conviction is not just expressed, but lived day by day.  Conviction is not just your opinion, but it is based on evidence.

As a whole, (because I don’t pick on public schools or caring, loving public school teachers) the public school system is not a superior academic or moral system.

When you are convicted knowing that you are giving your children the best in education, then you never feel that you are keeping them away from something that is better or that they are missing out on something.

What Your Past Can Teach You About Homeschooling

Understanding another person’s past experiences too is key to understanding this sensitive topic and why homeschoolers are so passionate about the decisions they make.

Our upbringing and the job our parents did with us can’t be overlooked.  Many parents today had parents who were dictator-like.  This is not what I am talking about in our home or any home.  Perhaps too as a child a homeschool parent needed friends and their needs were not met.  As parents now, they want to be sure they don’t make those same mistakes with their children.  Some feel that the public school is a way to have those friends, I do not feel that way.

Again, those needs can be met abundantly in homeschool though it may require a bit more hard work, ingenuity and inspiration.

Not giving my sons a choice about returning to public school, but always having a choice in their education has not been easy.  But is homeschooling really about choosing an easier path?

It’s easier to make the decision that your children have no say in the choice to return to public school, but it’s quite another thing to live with that decision.  Avoiding some of that stress that can happen in a homeschool journey by including our sons in on the conviction of why we chose this path has allowed us to have no regrets because our time has been spent on the value of our precious journey and not on the what if we return to public school.

Are you one of the ones living your homeschool decision with conviction?

Hugs and love ya,

2012Tinasignature French Revolution Unit Study – Pain Au Chocolat Easy Recipe