The best advantage of homeschooling can also be its Achilles heel. Homeschooling allows you to tailor the academic curriculum to your children, which helps you spend more time where they need it, and fly ahead when they can handle the information. Yet sometimes your children's academic curriculum can become so personalized that you wonder where they stand in relationship to others their age or what areas need more attention.
You can evaluate your child in a wide variety of ways: administer a standardized test, have your children's portfolios evaluated, bring in a licensed educational evaluator, or administer Advanced Placement exams in preparation for college.
Your local governing body (in America, your state) is also greatly interested in evaluating your homeschooled children's progress, so you must always check with them to see what they require. Many states require a standardized test, or a portfolio of your children's work. Homeschooling is labor-intensive, so do not waste valuable time and effort evaluating your children without checking with the state first. Most likely you would have to do it all over again to meet their standards.
After checking to see what your state requires for evaluations, your best resource for evaluation and testing assistance is your local homeschooling group. These groups are full of people who have been homeschooling for years, and can provide sound advice and contacts with the people and organizations you will need to work with to evaluate your child.
Joining a homeschooling group provides support for you as your children's educator, widens your access to material, and in some cases can provide teachers for specialized subjects, such as science or mathematics. By joining these groups and talking to other parents, you can quickly evaluate where your children stand in relation to others academically, and will also have access to a wider curriculum and testing options.
Portfolios are often required by states for homeschoolers, but should be maintained by any homeschooling parent even without external mandate. Not only are they a great way to demonstrate your children's progress, they become excellent keepsakes and memorabilia. Since you are participating with your children on their projects, these portfolios become a walk down family memory lane. Your state will have guidance on what they expect, but try to include pictures of field trips, artwork, papers, tests, reports, and other things of similar nature. If something is too bulky to fit in, take a picture of it and write a caption beneath it on a page in the portfolio. This is also great practice for any of your children looking to pursue an art or musical degree, as they will have to prepare and present portfolios when they apply to college.
Especially at younger ages, educational evaluators are a great option for seeing where your children stand. Your homeschool group is the best place to locate an educational evaluator, as you want to use a licensed professional with solid credentials. Check to see what they require to evaluate your children, either an interview, looking at your children's portfolio, or giving them a test. Have them evaluate your children's sociability, and discuss with them beforehand any areas you think your child may be particularly strong or weak in, so they can probe those concerns for you.
There are many standardized tests you can administer to your elementary and middle school children to see where they stand in relation to their peers, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills. Talk to teachers in the public school near you and see what test they are using. You can administer that test to your child and compare it to their statistics to see how your child is doing.
The SAT and ACT are excellent standardized tests your teenager should take when applying for college, as these scores are the most common baseline that colleges and universities use. Many universities require homeschooled children to take SAT 2's which are tests in specific subjects like English, math, etc, that the school will use to evaluate your teenager's skills in those areas when they do not have a high school diploma. To prepare your children for these tests, make sure you give them timed tests as they move into middle school and especially in high school. Your children need to be prepared for the high-pressure environment of a timed test to score well.
Another option to see how your teenager stands in relationship to his or her peers, while preparing them for college, is the Advanced Placement program. There are tests available for calculus, history, foreign languages, chemistry, biology, history, etc. You simply teach your teen the curriculum, sign them up for the test, and use your teenager's score to see how your child is doing. If they score a 1 or 2, you know they need more work. If they score a 3 or higher, you know they are doing well, and can now congratulate yourself that your teen has just gotten a college credit for whatever subject they just took, and face one less general core curriculum class when they head off to college (which is one less class you have to pay for).
These options can all help you determine where your child stands in their academic development. Use your social networking skills to see what other homeschooling parents are doing, and what your public school is doing so you can set your child up for educational success now and at the collegiate level.