A Homeschool Portfolio

The idea of a portfolio to access your student’s work came from our use of a wonderful (highly recommended) Christian based curriculum called Dave Raymond’s American History Part 1 & 2. {aff link}

In His instructions he says:
“The American History Portfolio is essentially a scrapbook or a
visual textbook for the semester’s lessons which shows the lessons that
have been verbally discussed. Students should complete this with a great
attention to craftsmanship and ownership of the material. !
Portfolio entries should be completed for each lesson. Portfolios
should be completed in a scrapbook, photo album, 3-ring binder, or a fine
sketch book. Portfolios must have a title page with the name of the class,
the student’s name, and the year or period of time they were completed
during. The paper used for each entry should be of durable quality such
as cardstock or a heavy drawing paper. Notebook and copier/printer
paper should not be used. 
Portfolio entries should be both visual and textual. Titles and
captions should be used for all entries as well as pictures, photographs,
maps, famous paintings, original artwork, articles, advertisements,
poems, lyrics, quotes, etc. Each item of content should relate to the
lesson discussed. Entries should have a minimum of three items or one
item of original artwork. 
Portfolios are graded upon completion, presentation,
craftsmanship, and the following of directions.”

We took this idea and use it in many of our subjects!

It is a fun hands-on way to see if the kiddos can take what they learn and retell it in a creative way! Why not try making portfolios this homeschooling year!