Many states allow you to have a certified teacher look over a portfolio of your child's work at the end of the year. The teacher signs that your child is up to grade level and your homeschool year can be considered completed. Putting together homeschool portfolios can be an intimidating thought even to someone that has done it before. Really, it can be quite a simple process if you know what to include.

I collect my children's work into a folder that is on my bookshelf and add to it several times a week. When they have completed a book or written a story or picture I just put it in the folder. I try to make sure I put a date on each paper that I put in the folder. I don't have to organize it or arrange it until the end of the school year. Just before I meet with the teacher at the end of the year, I take out the folder of collected items and make piles by subject. Then I organize each pile by date. Some people like to make a fancy scrapbook for their portfolio. I just prefer to make piles by subject. You could put each subject into a nice notebook, but for the most part, this is not necessary.

Here are some items you might want to include in your homeschool portfolio:

1. Reading lists

2. Daily or weekly logs that your child has filled in.

3. Tickets or programs of events that you have attended.

4. Test results if your child took a standardized test of some sort.

5. Attendance records if your state requires these.

6. Pictures or videos of projects that your child completed during the course of the year.

7. Artwork - If you put dates on your child's papers, it's fun to look at a picture from the beginning of the year and compare that with a picture from the end of the year.

8. Any writing that your child has done. This can include poetry, journals, stories, essays, research papers, or any other writing that they have done. Again, comparing a piece from the beginning of the year with one from the end of the year can be quite rewarding.

9. Workbooks that have been used during the course of the last year.

Preparing a homeschool portfolio doesn't have to be a bothersome chore. If you have a place to collect your child's work during the year, then pulling together a portfolio can actually be fun. You can reminisce over all the activities you have done and marvel over your child's progress for the year.