Portfolio Review. The words themselves are enough to make new homeschoolers break out in a cold sweat.
This is our first year of homeschooling, and it's had its ups and downs. We began in July, after careful evaluation and planning. We've been official since September - the State only operates on a traditional school year. We can either have our daughter tested annually (a process she does not manage well) or have her portfolio reviewed by a Maine certified teacher. We've opted for the latter.
I keep careful records and samples of all her work. I have the portfolio in process. We truly want her to learn, to grow, to achieve. We don't fake any records, and I certainly don't give her automatic A's - she has to earn every grade she is given. And yes, she has even failed at times.
She is learning subjects she has never been exposed to previously. Her math is now at an 8th grade level, from the 5th grade level she began at in July. (She's technically a 6th grader). Her reading and comprehension are at a 9th grade level now. Her vocabulary is better than most college students. She is currently studying Latin, Photography, Culinary, Chemistry, Maine History, Music History, Art History and many other subjects. Intellectually, I know she is well above where normal sixth graders are intellectually and socially.
And yet, I fear the portfolio review with an unmatched trepidation.
Locating a certified teacher willing to review her portfolio is a challenge. I've researched local groups, and found that the homeschool groups for the state have a couple of teachers that meet with everyone anually to review portfolios. But do I really want someone who is not familiar with us, our manner of instruction, or our goals, to review and certify our work? Homeschoolers of Maine has a certified teacher (and former homeschooler) who does reviews annually for fifty dollars. Yes, I'm sure being a homeschool veteran she understands the process and the multiple aspects of instruction. But HoME is a Christian-based group - will we not pass if we have not provided religious instruction? There is something to be said for knowing the family, the child(ren), and the methods of learning and instruction. I instruct my daughter upwards of nine or ten hours some days. It may seem like a lot to some, but I follow my daughters lead on these days. If she is enveloped in a chemical process, I don't stop her to begin another lesson. I let her go - allowing her to become invested in her own learning process. She reads each and every day, and her favorite local place to visit (aside from her new nephew's house) is the library. This brings me immense joy - two years ago she hated reading and anything associated with it.
There is a movement within the ranks of homeschoolers to publicize the benefits - the children and fmailies who begin college at fourteen, who discover new methods of generating heat, who enter medical school at seventeen. But I never hear about the families who don't succeed. I don't hear about the family who tried homeschooling and miserably failed when presenting their portfolio. What happens then? In failure we learn, we experience - even if it is not our own.
Another aspect of HoME's evaluation process - it's done without you present. What if they have questions? Shouldn't the teacher be able to converse with you and/or the child? What about the parents who fake the portfolio, making it look like their child has learned 4 languages, three instruments and is now working on solving problems in quantum physics all at the age of nine? Wouldn't it be prudent to simply ask the child to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the xylophone?
I tried to contact one of my daughter's former teachers - one that has since retired. I really liked her, although she was not my daughter's favorite. Why? Because she was a hard ass. While I appreciated it, my daughter felt she was 'mean'. I, on the other hand, understood her attempts to drive the kids, that she was looking for them to find their own 'spark'. Unfortunately, she was so burnt out after thirty years that she wanted nothing whatsoever to do with teaching any more. And who could blame her?!
So I am left back at square one. The State of Maine says I can have ANY Maine certified teacher - you would think it would be easier, or that I would be less particular.
Fortunately, I still have eight months to locate someone.
I'm very interested in home and alternative schooling and, had I not let my certification expire in 1993, would have been happy to have helped. I wish I could offer you the names of intelligent and sympathetic teachers with certification, but, alas, there aren't that many teachers around those adjectives fit.
ReplyDeleteSo, here you set up a problem you have to research and you set it up beautifully--we're clear on the problem, the potential solution, the ins and outs, the backstory, what you've done and need to do, and so on.
It's a very good piece--but is more a description of past and future research than of any research done for week 14. I'm not complaining--I'd rather read a good and interesting piece that doesn't quite jump through the hoops than a dreary, school-assignment piece that dutifully and dully gives me exactly what I asked for--but no more.
Here's a good quotation for a homeschooler, teacher and student:
Quotation from Bum Phillips:
"Two kinds of players ain't worth a damn," Bum said. "The one who never does what he's told, and one who does nothin' but what he's told."
He might as well have been talking about students.... You don't fit either category, thank god.
;)
Nice Blog Thanks for sharing! RMCG
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