By Missouri state law, “Homeschools must maintain (but do not need to submit) the following records:
a. A plan book, diary, or other record indicating subjects taught and activities engaged in
b. AND “samples of a child’s academic progress or other written credible evidence”,
c. AND “a record of evaluations of the child’s academic progress”
d. OR “other written, credible evidence equivalent to subparagraphs a) b) c)” Parents have the option to follow a, b, c, or they can choose to follow only d) which permits more flexibility.
I planned on my reports from the Organizer being my records for option D. It is a written record showing progress in each area with the occasional note of additional field trips or learning experiences. We cover 15 subjects every year, so this seems quite comprehensive about our progress. (For my dd with APD, a lot of stuff is oral, so this really does show her progress from beginning to end.) I also have my yearly goals and my evaluations of our year after the end of the year.
Just a couple of quick questions:
1. In your opinion, are the Organizer reports, my goals, and yearly evaluations enough to cover option D?(Disclaimer: I know that we are not legal experts!)
2. For those who have to organize a homeschool portfolio, how do you divide it up? By year within subjects, a cumulative one by subject, or some other way? What do you choose to include? Anything besides your written work and your planners like pictures of field trips, certificates, artwork, video or audio recordings of your child’s music or drama?
If I have to create a portfolio, I am leaning towards my Organizer reports and a term paper in each subject (so three for each subject per year), whether that be a history exam, a map drill, a science paper, a math test, a handwriting sample, etc. (By the way, I am not covering high school work in this portfolio.)
I don’t want big and complicated. If I have to do a portfolio, I just want a nicely organized (easily maintained) basic portfolio. =)