Creating a home school portfolio is not only required by law in Florida, it is also a great way to show your child's progress and organize what he has learned for the year. A portfolio is a great way to showcase what your child has learned and the material that has been completed for the school year. Also, if you decide to put your child in school or receive a diploma, it is an important record to have. Likewise, many colleges are now requiring a portfolio from homeschoolers.

The two things that the state of Florida require from a portfolio are a log of educational activities and samples of your child's work. The way you compile these is up to you. You should keep the portfolio in one location and add to it as the year progresses. One option for storing it would be a filing cabinet or file box. Another option is to keep the materials in a large 3-ring binder. Remember that the state of Florida requires you to keep the portfolio for two years.

In preparing the log, there are a couple of options. It may be made ahead of time, complied as you go or a combination of the two. If you do choose to compose the log at the beginning of the school year, you will need to make sure that you follow it or make corrections and additions as you go. There are some great tools out there to aid you in creating a log. A couple are listed below.

• Donna Young offers free homeschooling printables including a whole section on Homeschool Planning.
• TGHomeSoft offers a free computer software program called Homeschool Tracker that allows you to do planning ahead of time or as you go.

The second part of your portfolio should include samples of any writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed by the student. There is no wrong way to create this part of your portfolio. The materials included should reflect what your child has learned, experienced and accomplished during the school year. You will not want to include all the work that your child has done during the year, just samples from each subject that show how he is progressing. Below are some examples of the things that could be included, but don't box yourself into the list. Use your imagination and showcase your child in the way that best shows his interests and progress.

• Goals for the year
• Tests with a grade of 100%
• Book reports, poems, and research papers
• Photocopies of letters written to family or friends
• Art work
• Photos of your child at field trips, doing school work, participating in sports, church or volunteering in the community
• Certificates of Achievement, prepared by you or other organizations your child has participated in
• List of books read
• List of resources used such as textbooks, computer software, games, field trips...
• Audio recordings of your child playing a musical instrument, singing or reading aloud
• Worksheets
• Brochures or booklets from field trips or activities
• Lapbooks or notebooks
• Medical records such as a list of immunizations and trips to the Doctor, Ophthalmologist and Dentist
• Report cards and standardized test results (Remember, it is not required in Florida to submit grades or test results, but you can be include them if you choose.)

Finally, you will want to organize the portfolio. This will be considerably easier if you start composing it at the beginning of the school year and update it regularly. You will want to have it separated into subjects like math, language arts, history, science, art, music, PE, extracurricular activities, and so on. It can be compiled like a scrapbook , notebook or just kept in file folders. It will take some effort, but a portfolio will be a great record of your child's school year and could be a wonderful treasure for many years to come.