The One Notebook That Saved Our Homeschool (And My Sanity!)

Every homeschool mom I know has asked herself this at least once. Am I doing enough? I used to spiral over that question constantly until one simple notebook completely changed how I see our progress. It's given me confidence back and it shows me exactly where we need to improve. If you've ever felt unsure about your homeschool, this might be the thing that finally clicks. We're getting close to the end of our school year, so we're wrapping a few things up. I like to fold laundry when my daughter is reading her Bob books to me. It's a way that I can get something done, but I'm also just listening in to what she's saying. Our co-ops have finished. Our family co-op finished. We had our spring program. Each of our four teenagers played parts in the Shakespeare plays. We did a few short scenes from a couple different plays. They took a Shakespeare class this whole year as one of their classes. And then there were different awards for different classes. Our seven-year-old played his recorder. Our five-year-old got up there and they performed a couple of the songs they learned in their music class. Our nine-year-old and 11-year-old both were in art classes and our 11-year-old was in a literature class that I taught. So we had a display that was really fun to set up and all the grandparents got to come and see. So this was just a great culmination to our year. Our high school kids have finished the classes at their drop-off co-op. So that's also finished. So here at home, we're just wrapping up the last few things. And one of the big things that we do at the end of the school year is to make our homeschool portfolios. Now here in Pennsylvania, we're required to turn in a portfolio. But what started as a requirement for me has turned into one thing that's completely changed how I view our homeschool. If this is your first time on my channel, hi, my name is Sheri. I'm a Christian homeschooling mom married to my high school sweetheart, Nelson. We've been married for 25 years. We have 10 kids, ages 21 down to three, one graduate, another graduating this year. And I love encouraging other moms here on my YouTube channel and on the blog, ourlifehomeschooling.com. You can also find me in the Made to Homeschool community. Made to Homeschool has weekly live workshops, Christ-centered resources, and real community for homeschool families, churches, and co-ops. The link is in the description box below. I think even the most experienced homeschool mom will ask this question from time to time. Am I doing enough? I can remember many days, especially in the early years, sitting at my kitchen table after what felt like a very average school day. Nothing went wrong, but nothing felt amazing either. We had done our math lessons. We read a little. We had gotten through the kids' checklists. We did our afternoon read aloud. We had done our routine for the day. There were the normal distractions and attitudes, you know, different problems to solve. We had a few things that were unfinished. It was just a normal day. And I remember thinking, is this enough? Are we actually making progress? Because one of the hard parts about homeschooling is you are your own accountability. When things go wrong, there's no teacher or school system to blame. It's just you. And honestly, that can be even harder than answering to someone else. We're often harder on ourselves than anyone else is. There are no report cards coming home. There's no teacher conference telling you, oh, your child is doing fine. You're on track. It's just you. And making the decisions each day, you're doing your best. You're hoping that it's working. And this is one area where creating a yearly homeschool portfolio has helped me so much. So we got out our portfolios to get started on the cover page this week. While I was reading to them, they were doing this. Ben got out his sticker book and was putting stickers all over his leg, which you know is totally fine as long as he's quiet and happy. And he wants to be just like his daddy right now, which is so cute. He wants to wear a tie every morning. He does not care if it matches. Sometimes when he wakes up first thing in the morning, we'll FaceTime my husband at work. He absolutely loves this. And of course, daddy's always wearing a tie. And so he wants to get dressed just like daddy. It's very sweet. Our four-year-old daughter wanted to do a portfolio too. So I don't typically do a preschool portfolio, but I gave her her own little notebook and cover page so she could do her own little portfolio. And we'll probably find a couple of things to put in for her. This is what happens when you have older siblings and you just want to do everything they're doing. So like I mentioned before, we're required to do a homeschool portfolio in our state, but I have begun to just really appreciate it more and more over the years. I would still do one even if it wasn't required. And I think the biggest reason is that it gave me confidence as a homeschool mom. Because instead of wondering if we were doing enough, I could actually see it all right in front of me in one place. As moms, we really are short-sighted. I just think about what the kids are all learning right now. And I tend to forget things that we've done in the past. And when you have your portfolio in front of you, it helps you to see those things. And one thing that we did the next day, which you'll see at the end of this video, is I got out all the kids' old portfolios. They absolutely love doing this, and I do too, because they open them up and you should see the looks on their faces when they remember all the things we'd studied that they kind of had forgotten about, or all the places we went in field trips, activities they were involved in, special classes they took. We tend to forget about these things. I remember specifically one time I was sitting at one of our kids' basketball practices, and there was a child next to me that went to school and was talking about what they were learning in science. They were learning about the digestive system. And I remember in this moment thinking, oh man, have we done that? I don't know if we've done that. And just having that typical fear and questioning, am I doing enough? Am I missing things? And the truth was the science that we do does a deep dive into different subjects, and that subject was next in the rotation. But you know, I spent time worrying about things like this needlessly, when a lot of times if I had just looked in our portfolios, we had already done it, or if I looked ahead in our curriculum, it was coming next. I can't tell you how many times we've come to this part of our school year, and I get back out some of our old portfolios, look through them, and am surprised at how much we've done over the years. So in those days that felt unproductive, we were making progress. It was just that I needed to be reminded of it. One of the first things that we do when putting together our portfolio is having the kids design the cover. But the next part is writing up a cover page. This is the first page that goes in the very front of our portfolios. And this year I started with my daughter who's in 11th grade, and I'm going to work my way down. I've done it different ways, but it just makes sense because she just finished at her co-op, and it's all fresh. So I want to get the descriptions of some of the different classes she took, and just assemble that while it's still fresh in her mind. If you want to learn more specifically about how I put together our kids' end of year portfolios, or more about how to homeschool step-by-step in something that's more like a mom mentorship, my new homeschool course might be a great fit for you. In Beyond School, the Home Education Breakthrough, I take you step-by-step through all the things I've learned in our 16 years of homeschooling. One of the moms who recently bought it said this about the course, I was so impressed with the organization and format of the course immediately when I opened it after making my purchase. I only wish I had something like this when I started out 13 years ago. This is a course for new and current homeschoolers. If you want to learn how ordinary parents are giving their kids a better education at home, you can learn more about the course through my free masterclass in the description box below. As I'm working with our son William, who is doing a review in his math workbook, I let him get out the calculator on my phone to check his answers himself. This is a great way for him to check his work, see where his mistake is, but also to learn how to use a calculator. I also had to help teach him spelling as he answered one of the questions and spelled one of the words wrong. So that's what I love about homeschooling. We can cover a lot of bases at once when we work one-on-one with our kids. Another reason I love creating a yearly homeschool portfolio is that it's something we can share with others. When grandparents want to see what the kids are doing, it's all right there in front of them. If you have any friends or family members that are naysayers, this is just an all-in-one place. It's one thing that you can show them what you've been doing that just gives a little bit of proof of your work. And that also is just a huge boost for you as a mom. When we make our portfolios, I keep them very simple. There's not a lot in them, and I do that for this very reason. If you want to show someone pictures from your vacation, they don't want to see every single site you looked at, every single place you went. They just want a snapshot of the highlights. And so that's what I try to make our portfolio be. And probably my favorite part in creating a notebook like this really is that my kids love it. They love flipping through their old portfolios and remembering the projects that they've done. It also gives them a sense of pride and confidence in how far they've come, in what they've accomplished. And I just can always hear my kids saying like, oh yeah, remember when we did the Envirothon? Remember when we went to this play or we visited President Buchanan's house? It gives them ownership over their learning, which is something you can't really force, but it's really special to witness it. When we make our portfolios, I keep it very simple. I buy a half inch notebook. I usually get these on Amazon, and I let the kids design the cover. I usually type out their name and grade on the front and hand them that paper and they can design it however they want. It's a small thing, but it just makes them feel special. They can draw, decorate, add stickers. I do try to encourage them to draw something that's something they learned that year, which is also kind of inspiring for them. I make the very first page as a cover page where I sit down with my child and talk through what they learned. I describe some of the things that we studied in each subject. Next, I try to show records of their work. So something like a daily checklist, a book list, if it's a high school student, a transcript. And then the last part is just showing a sample of their work. And this is where it's really helpful to keep it really simple. I show two to three samples per subject, something from the beginning, middle, and end. And when you look, especially at their handwriting or copy work, at what they did at the beginning of the year and put it side by side with what they did at the end of the year, this is where you really see the growth. It becomes obvious. So this is the next day and during our read aloud time, I got out all the kids' old portfolios and here they're wrapping up a card game they were playing. And I did our read aloud while they sat and looked through last year's and all the previous year's portfolios. I started a new read aloud. This is Out of Darkness. It's from the Lightseeker series by Daniel Atkins. He sent me this book and we gave it a try and the kids are really loving it. It's a faith-filled fantasy adventure and it's great for families. It's been a perfect fit for my younger kids. If you take anything away from this video, I hope it's this. When you question if you're doing enough, you might just need a better way to see what you're already doing because chances are you're doing more than you think you are. This notebook is not about showcasing a perfect homeschool. It's not about impressing anyone. It's about capturing your year, building confidence in you and in your kids, and creating something that your family will treasure. So if you've been feeling unsure as a homeschool mom, I really encourage you to start a portfolio this year. Just grab a notebook. Keep it simple. You can always build from there. And if this encouraged you, I'd love for you to subscribe for more real life homeschool support. And let me know in the comments, will you be starting a homeschool portfolio this year? Thanks for watching. I do one video a week on homeschooling encouragement for everyday moms. I'll see you next week.