How to Create a Reliable Digital Homeschool Portfolio

For homeschool families, having a record of the work your child has finished, their attendance, and other information that your state may require is essential. Also for a homeschooler, the threat of proving their teaching methods, kids’ attendance, and more may feel overwhelming to keep track of. A quick and easy way to have those items available when requested is to learn how to create a digital homeschool portfolio.

 

Find Out What Homeschooling Documentation You Need To Keep

To begin, you will need to determine what information your state requires you to keep. If you’re from a state with strict homeschooling laws, you will likely have to keep more records than those that school in a more lenient state. You can research more about your state’s local homeschooling regulations by checking a website such as HSLDA.

Once you’re aware of what you need to keep, you can move on to creating a digital homeschool portfolio.

Create and Organize Your Digital Homeschool Portfolio

• Decide and Create Your Storage – You will need a place to keep your digital documents. There are a lot of places you could choose to store them. But the two most prominent would be Google Drive or Dropbox. Both have free options; however, you will need to pay if you exceed the free storage limits. For example, if you need to keep track of worksheets, quizzes, and projects, you can scan them and upload them to these suggested online storages. If you have multiple children, this is a simpler way than hanging onto all those papers.
• Organize Your Digital Storage – Once you’ve decided on a storage option, you will need to create a file system within it. How you choose to organize it will be up to you, but you will want things quickly found. Create a folder for relevant legal documents, for each grade level, for each class and add the scanned copies of your child’s work. You could create a file for each student and then create multiple folders within each child’s name to organize various subjects as well. You can arrange the data in whatever way works for your homeschool family and meets your required homeschool laws.
• Upload Your Homeschool Content – You will need a scanner to scan in the different paperwork that your digital homeschool portfolio will require. Once you have your storage option set up, begin scanning and filing things in the correct folder. You won’t need to keep all of your child’s work. Keep only those things that can show that your child is indeed completing schoolwork each day and that they are progressing. You can even take photos of field trips, crafts, and projects and add them to your digital files if you choose.

After you have your digital homeschool portfolio created, you will spend considerably less time on it each week than on the initial set up. Take the time once a week to update attendance and your coursework folders, and you will have built a system that takes very little to maintain. Not to mention, it will be effortless to share and prove if you need to check in with your local homeschool representative or evaluator.

If you feel like a paper homeschool portfolio might work better for you, here are some tips for putting yours together. 

Share with us in the comments any tips that have helped you put together a stellar digital homeschool portfolio.