Let’s chat about assessments and evaluations in our homeschool. When I first began homeschooling almost ten years ago, evaluating was not on my radar. But today, it is key to keeping our homeschool functioning from semester to semester. Not only do I use this process I am going to share with you today, but I also teach this exact method to my clients.

How to Perform Homeschool Assessments and Evaluations

I consult homeschool families with differing lifestyles, each one using a different homeschool philosophy, but what is consistent across the board for every family, including mine; is that we need to set up checkpoints to know when we need to make a change. It hurts me to see a mom or child suffer through a curriculum choice that isn’t working. Some families feel they have to, and I know it is even more difficult if you have tied up a decent amount of money in it.

We need to know when a shift should be made, or when to remind ourselves as moms and teachers, to stop and give proper kudos to our students.

We can and should evaluate not only our curricula, but behavior, character traits, and give our children an opportunity to be heard. That doesn’t necessarily mean we will be changing things based solely on our children’s opinion, but it can be beneficial to see things through the eyes of your student.

We won’t know what needs tweaking without evaluations or assessments of some sort.

Depending on if you school year round, or keep to a traditional schedule; an assessment could be done at least once per semester. Some families choose to evaluate once per quarter. It helps to line up your evaluations with your planning. So changes or tweaks can be made at the point at which you can rearrange schedules, lessons, or choices of curriculum.

I have created a workbook that can be used as a guide to help you align your homeschool mid-year.

Packed with 15 pages of Information & Ready to Use Worksheets, this is a fantastic tool to use quarterly, annually, or each semester to keep your homeschool running smoothly.

This Workbook Contains:

• Creating Your Homeschool Mission Statement
• How to Determine Your Child’s Learning Style
• Choosing Homeschool Philosophies
• Ask The Principal AKA Dad
• Student Evaluations
• Curriculum Planning
• Daily Homeschool Planner
• Annual Thematic Calendar

By design, these particular sheets have been chosen to streamline your homeschool at whatever point you are ready.

As a PDF Printable Download, each worksheet is created to be used each semester, or annually to keep your homeschool organized and streamlined.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE WORKBOOK

Or maybe you just need a homeschool coach? Someone to walk you through whatever area you are struggling, we do that too. Customized strategy sessions tailored to you and your homeschool.

How to Perform Homeschool Assessments and Evaluations – Tips

• Evaluate what may need tweaking in the homeschool. You may need to change curricula, adjust scheduling, be more diligent with lesson planning or consistency.
• When in doubt ask your students. Believe it or not, even at a young age; children can give you some eye-opening insight into what may or may not be working optimally in your homeschool.
• Create an annual or mid-year planning session with your principal. You and your husband should be on the same page when planning and creating your ideal homeschool. His input can be invaluable to seeing from a somewhat outside perspective what may need tweaking in your schedule, routines, or day to day operations in your homeschool and household.
• Don’t be married to your curricula. You may need to break up with curricula that isn’t serving your family well.
• Always be open to adjusting things for the better. Sometimes change is hard, but usually, after the initial switch, you can ease into your new normal nicely.
• Use templates, checkpoints, or some type of system you can put in place and use every year. Your time is valuable; you don’t want to be searching for a new system to use every time you want to evaluate your homeschool.
• Create a day each semester to assess what needs adjusting. Once you create a simple system tailored to your family and your homeschool, evaluating will be a breeze!