Tips For Tracking Progress When Homeschooling

Like most parents joining the homeschooling bandwagon, you might have jumped into the idea with little research about what to expect. How long, for example, do you homeschool? And for how many hours a day do you do so? With the latter question, a more poignant question arises: How do homeschoolers keep track of grades?

It may appear fun as you teach and learn with your child. After all, that’s one of the many reasons some parents elect homeschooling as their choice of educating their children over the traditional way. But how do you tell whether your child or children are making headway or you are chasing the wind? In a normal school setting, the benchmark of test results is used to show that a learner is progressing and this is done throughout the year.

A progress record is essential so that you monitor their academic progress throughout the homeschooling year. For one thing, you’ll recognize whether your teaching strategy is working or you need to switch to something else more meaningful.

What Are the Tips for Tracking Progress?

Having organized your homeschooling environment, which is key to your success, you can employ the following strategies that will help you keep everyone on track.

1. Understanding The Homeschooling Laws

As you are aware, you are not operating on your own. The department of education is there to ensure that your child’s education is at par with peers under the traditional system of education. Visit their website and read to understand these laws. You’ll understand what is required of you, and how you are to track your child’s progress.

2. Face-To-Face Time

If your child hasn’t understood the curriculum, this tip will tell you. Here, you’ll be working on an activity with your child and how well or otherwise they perform will tell you what you need to work on.

3. Tests and Quizzes

In other words, an assessment can be used to gauge whether your child understands a particular subject or not and what concepts, if any, they need extra help to work on. It’s a sure way of testing your child’s knowledge of the curriculum.

4. Using The Portfolio

It can be made by sheets of paper bound together, showing the progress your child has made over the course of a year. However, a digital portfolio can save on storage space. By taking photos of your child’s work be it worksheets; reports, photos of them on school trips, etc. you can create a slideshow that spans a year. This can be saved on a flash disk and submitted to the relevant authorities.

5. Child’s Self-Evaluation

Here your child writes down his or her strengths and weaknesses in as far as the curriculum is concerned. In addition, they may add their own feelings to areas they have improved or otherwise. It would then be much easier helping him or her to work on those areas that he or she needs help.

Tracking the progress of your child is vital as you aren’t accountable only to yourself. You might feel pressured especially if you missed doing any of the above and the year is coming to a close. To avoid such issues, regularly take photos of your child when he or she is working, the list of books they are reading, and the scrapbook on a project they are working on, then save it on a folder in your computer. You may also choose just to do it manually by using physical files. Whatever you choose, don’t forget that you are supposed to have fun while you are at it.