The end of your school year is an excellent time to tap into the power of homeschool student self-assessments. You can easily create your own and help your student recognize all the growth and learning they’ve accomplished in the past school year. Use it as a positive tool to wrap things up and provide a springboard for the fall semester.

The Self-Assessment Process

Here’s my suggested format:

  • Generate a short list of questions for the student.
  • Review their answers together.
  • Incorporate the self-assessment into your homeschool records and planning.
  • Keep the self-assessment.

Sample Questions

I ask a little different mix of questions each year based on what I think will generate the most helpful and positive responses. I try to keep it to five or six questions. The last thing anyone wants is a ‘bonus’ lengthy assignment at the end of the year. Here are some of the questions I’ve used:

  • List things you remember doing this year. (Projects, field trips, unit studies, etc)
  • What were your favorites from the above list?
  • What was your favorite subject this year and why?
  • What books did you enjoy reading this year?
  • What characteristics do you have that helped you learn and make progress this year?
  • What did you/I/we do that made learning more fun this year?
  • What would you like to do next year? (Preferences for projects, field trips, history, etc.)

There’s no need to make this a lengthy essay assignment. Use questions that will give you the information you want and allow your student to see accomplishment, claim ownership, and help plan for the future. Answers can be lists and phrases. Do have them write their answers down. Or have them dictate it to you if writing/typing is laborious for them. Do not worry about spelling and grammar.

You’ll notice I don’t ask any questions about what they didn’t like or what they had problems with. That’s deliberate. The self-assessment is not a tool to highlight my children’s shortcomings (or the ways I could have taught better). The only avenue to address this is through a question about next year. Whether they suggest a different approach to a subject or hope to drop it entirely next year, you’ll have input from them. It’s up to you to incorporate it in a way that reconciles their views with your goals for them.

Review the Self-Assessment Together

Find a quiet five minutes in your day to go over the self-assessment with your child. I use this time to clarify anything I have questions about or want more info on. I want to make sure I understand their responses. The information they provide helps me write my year-end progress reports. Any acknowledgment of shortcomings goes under the heading of ‘goals for next year’. And all the positive comments? I make sure to quote them and refer to their self-assessment when we go over their year-end progress report together.

Progress Reports and Planning

If you do a year-end progress report, you can incorporate the information they provide. You should also use the self-assessment to plan what and how you’ll teach in the future. It’s important to look at what they included AND also at what they excluded. If something wasn’t mentioned you can ask, “What about ________.” You’ll quickly know if they just forgot or it wasn’t that meaningful or memorable for them. Pay attention to this information. It’s invaluable for planning.

Keep It

There are many homeschool papers that you don’t need to keep over the years – worksheets and assignments you should toss so you can keep semi-organized. But these self-assessments are something you should keep. They’re a fun and positive reminder that your homeschooling is working and you are making progress.

This is a snapshot of the year from your child’s perspective and encourages both of you to focus on all that went well. Most importantly, when you tap into the power of homeschool student self-assessments, you give your child a voice and the knowledge that their opinion matters.