One of the things that will help you feel like you are truly closing out your year and ready to move onto the next year is to do a year end assessment. Even if you use a curriculum or workbook system that gives you a final point to end your year, you are sure to find an end of the year assessment helpful.
An end of the year assessment can be as elaborate or as simple as you want it to be. You really should start thinking about it at the beginning of the year so you can set goals and parameters but, even if you did not, you can still do an assessment of your year and see what you accomplished and evaluate the success of your year.
A good way to start is at the beginning of the year, set some goals and jot them down. Give yourself a starting point from which to evaluate at the end of the year. You might want to complete “x” number of workbooks, read a specific set of books, master a specific set of facts in math, complete a curriculum, or just cover a certain time in history. You write these down and then you can see where you are mid-year and at the years end.
Don’t forget about personal habit training and life-skills that you want to accomplish. You may wish to learn to sew, teach your child to do a budget, balance a checkbook, or even begin learning an instrument. These can be included on your assessment sheet. You may wish to include household chores and responsibilities as well. Whatever your goals, set them and include them on the assessment.
Your state homeschool laws may require that you submit a year-end assessment. In this case, you will want to find your homeschool law parameters and make sure you are following them. You can then include extras on your personal assessment. You are sure to find examples on the internet for your particular state or ask your other homeschool friend in your state what they use.
If you don’t have a state requirement to evaluate, like we don’t here in Indiana, you can simply make it as simple as you want. Type it out, write it down, whatever works for you. This might be a good thing to hold onto in your keepsake box or put in your yearbook.
It is important to note that sometimes it’s just as important to evaluate your year as the teacher as it is for the student. Evaluate how you did at the schedule, the subjects, the extras, and your time. See if there are places where you need to improve for next year and jot these down to add to your personal goal list for next year. This can really help you see at the end of the year how far you have come, what you have accomplished, and how successful your homeschool really is.
Do you do year-end assessments? What works best for your family?
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