Homeschooling Seminar Series at SPARK Enrichment Center

It's already on my "to do" list to blog about the new homeschool schedules at two fabulous enrichment centers in town - SPARK and Misty Forest. While I promise to get to that soon, I wanted to go ahead and post about a series of homeschooling seminars being offered at SPARK by homeschool consultant Jan Zeiger.

Jan is a homeschooling mom with teaching experience in both public and private schools. If you're considering homeschooling, just getting started or are looking for new ideas, Jan can guide you in finding a fun, balanced, child-oriented approach to homeschooling.

Hands on Homeschooling: The Elementary Years
Saturday, August 21st at 11AM

Hands on Homeschooling: Language Arts

Saturday, September 18th at 11AM

Hands on Homeschooling: Math / Critical Thinking

Saturday, October 16th at 11AM

Hands on Homeschooling: Science / Social Studies

Saturday, November 20th at 11AM

Each seminar in the series will last 60 minutes and will be followed by a Q&A session. The cost is $20 per family. Register by phone by calling SPARK at 407-679-7775.

A Year in Review: Our 1st Homeschool Evaluation

Oh, I am a bad, bad blogger . . . I can't even bring myself to check the date of my last post because I know it's been way too long. This summer has definitely been more about the heels and less about the homeschooling. But, I finally have Noah's first-grade year officially wrapped up and am busy planning for our second-grade adventure. There is no summer break for homeschooling moms, am I right???

So the last item that remained to be checked of my list was our first portfolio review / evaluation. Fortunately, my friend Jan is a homeschooling consultant and, as a licensed teacher, performs evaluations. As much as I like to over-complicate things, I took her advice to keep the portfolio simple and was happy to find that much of the work was already done.

First, I printed reports from Homeschool Tracker, pulling from the information I'd been entering throughout the year. Granted, I printed the wrong reports, but all the right info is in there somewhere - and I know specifically what I do and don't need to include for next year.

Next, I put together a binder with a tab for each subject and added in work samples. Resisting the urge to include everything he'd done all year, I used only one or two samples from the beginning, middle and end of our school year.

Finally, because keeping it that simple just wouldn't be me, I made a Shutterfly album using pictures of our co-ops, events, activities, art projects and science experiments. This turned out to be by far my favorite part, and I plan to do it every year. Looking back at our year in pictures was so fun!

The evaluation itself was very low key. Jan reviewed all the information and spoke briefly with Noah at the end. It was wonderful to have an objective evaluation of our overall program, and she gave me some great ideas for incorporating more authentic experiences into parts of our curriculum.

I'm planning a post on Florida homeschool evaluation requirements in an upcoming Homeschool 101 series, so I'm going to leave this post as only our experience in closing out our first homeschool year. Next up . . . I'm off to finish my planning and will be sharing our plans and some exciting Homeschooling in Orlando field trips soon!

Creating a Homeschool Portfolio

So I'm pretty horrified that it's been over a month since I last posted. Wow, that's pretty terrible! Sure, I could blame it on extra dance rehearsals or new activities for the kids (skating/hockey for Noah and ballet/bellydance for Ava). But, the truth is, I've been really busy finding ways to make our lives (and our schooling) a little bit simpler. And yes, I do see the irony in that.

More on that to come for sure, but I have something specific that's brought me back to post today. Because as always, nothing inspires me like a deadline. And now I have one looming - a big one. Since we recently finished Noah's 1st grade curriculum, I just scheduled our first homeschool evaluation and have less than two weeks to prepare the portfolio.

Of course, I've been reading up on the process and the (State of Florida) requirements. But at least so far, I'm feeling relieved. The required elements are pretty clear and minimal, and the work samples are much less (quantity wise) than I'd imagined. I'm going to resist the urge I always have to overdo things and make simplicity the theme. For those facing first-time evaluations, I thought I'd share this article sent to me by my friend Jan (who also happens to be our evaluator!)

Jan also let me know that after reviewing the portfolio with me, she'll be speaking with Noah for a few minutes. He and I discussed tonight that she'd be asking him about a favorite project or field trip. During our talk, he decided that he'd like to tell her about our trip to Washington DC and how they make the money, and he's planning to bring our lapbook from the trip.

So, between the skating, hockey, ballet and bellydance this week, I'll be starting to pull things together. I'm very grateful for Homeschool Tracker, my Outlook calendar and my obsessive photo habit right about now. And I'm definitely excited to look back and reflect on all we've accomplished this year!