It’s the end of the school year and you have diligently saved every worksheet, picture, admission stub and co-op project from little Johnny’s school year. Multiply that by the actual number of children you taught this year and you have, a mess! Papers in every room, on the table and floor, in the car, and your inbox is still overflowing! What worse is, you’ve put off doing your end of the year evaluation and now you have got to pull it together and get it done pronto!
What do you do?
As a mom who once homeschooled four children simultaneously, I understand the feeling of drowning in a sea of paper. Here’s the easiest way to tunnel out of the mess and find the light!
You can’t skip this step, even though it’s the end of the year. You have to get organized! For each child, make two file folders for each subject, co-op, church and any other extracurriculars. Why two? Because you don’t want to repeat this chaos next year! I’ll explain how to use the second set of folders in a minute. After you’ve made your folders, put the second set aside.
If you have older children, get them to help you with this next step. Put all the papers on your dining room table and begin to first sort the stack by each child. After this initial sorting, sort each child’s pile by subject. These can either be sorted further by date or just placed inside a file folder. When this step is finished, then begin pulling your papers for the portfolio.
Every evaluator will want to see something different. Make sure you ask ahead of time! As a basic rule of thumb, you will want to pull at a minimum, work from the beginning of the year, work from mid-year, and work from the end of the year to put inside a binder or folder to show the evaluator. Show off your child’s artwork, special projects, fun field trips, and anything else you feel is important to their school year.
Now, what to do with that second stack of folders. These will be utilized for the next school year. Make a specific place to collect all school papers for a given week. Ask your children to make sure all papers make it to this collection point every day. At the end of each week take all the papers from the collection point and separate them by child. Then, separate by subject and place each stack into the appropriate folder to be filed in a file cabinet or cardboard file box. You are in luck if you have older children, as they can help with this process.
Using this method helped me a great deal to maintain control over the mounds of paper we accumulated. It also cut down on the time it would take to pull together a portfolio at the end of the year. As a bonus, when the school year is over, all I do is open the file cabinet, remove the file folders, plop them into a box, seal, and label. Done!
Consider that you are training your children how to be more organized and responsible in where they put their finished work while also showing them how to sort and organize. It’s a win-win all around!
What’s your favorite portfolio organizational tip?
Check out homeschooling resources at Rainbow Resource!
