Homeschooling in Maine is pretty easy. The stressful part is the portfolio review. I am at an advantage because my BFF is a Maine certified teacher so she can do the portfolio review for me. She knows we are at the library daily, we help with and go to co-op, are in scouts, and are volunteering all the time. I still have to make a portfolio though.
In Maine, after your homeschool child turns 7, you have to have a portfolio review by a Maine certified teacher or have your child take a standardized test. When you mail in your letter of intent you need to send in the review or the test results to the department on education and your local superintendent.
How can you make a portfolio that is low stress and not time-consuming? I have four kiddos. I’m sure I have the time to sit at the end of June/July and dig through what work has managed to last all year and not get destroyed by life, but I don’t want to spend that time. While we are relaxed homeschoolers (unschoolers most of the time) I still need easy. So I spend a few days and create a huge binder of all the subjects my kids need to learn something about: Writing, English, Science, Math, History/Social Studies/Geography, and Art. Tailor everything to the specific things I know they are interested in, and create a binder that everything stays in. So when it is portfolio review time all I need to do is hand the binder over.
My oldest is 8 and will be turning 9 this year. So here is day one of researching and creating her school binder that she will be working on all year. It may look like a lot (or a little pending on who you are) but this is everything for schooling year round that I anticipate she will be able to do between now-July and our next review- July 2019.
Also, if you struggle to know what a teacher needs to write in the review letter, we use a template from New Hampshire Homeschooling, because after hours of research they were the only one helpful. Here is the link to that printout template: http://nhhomeschooling.org/documents/portevalform.htm
I hope this helps you in your homeschooling. Here is my 8/9 year old’s homeschool portfolio:
Science:
My daughter loves science. Space, animals, how things are made, everything is exciting to her. We spend a lot of time studying science, reading books, and watching Hulu and Netflix documentaries.
Komodo Dragon Coloring Page: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/komodo-dragon-coloring-page/
Narwhals Coloring Page: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/narwhal-coloring-page/
Penguins Reading Comprehension: http://www.tlsbooks.com/penguins.pdf
Desert Plants worksheet: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/desertplants.pdf
Separating Animals into Categories: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/classifying6.pdf
Sonoran Desert Activity: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/sonoran-desert-activity-page.pdf
Manatee Fact Sheet: http://www.tlsbooks.com/educolormanatee.pdf
Loggerhead Turtle Fact Sheet : http://www.tlsbooks.com/educolorloggerheadturtle.pdf
Lizard and Bullfrog Fun Sheet: http://www.tlsbooks.com/educolorlizardandbullfrog.pdf
Dino Reading: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/dinocomp2.pdf
More Dino Reading: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/dinocomp.pdf
Ocean Fun: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/oceanfun.pdf
Space fun: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/usingisorarespace.pdf
Objects that provide light: http://www.tlsbooks.com/light.pdf
Parts of a Bike: http://www.tlsbooks.com/partsofabicyclek1.pdf
About Jupiter: http://www.tlsbooks.com/jupitergr4.pdf
About Mars: http://www.tlsbooks.com/marsreadingcomp.pdf
More About Jupiter: http://www.tlsbooks.com/jupiterreadingcomp.pdf
About Mercury: http://www.tlsbooks.com/mercuryreadingcomp.pdf
About Neptune: http://www.tlsbooks.com/neptunereadingcomp.pdf
About Venus: http://www.tlsbooks.com/venusreadingcomp.pdf
About Earth: http://www.tlsbooks.com/earthreadingcomp.pdf
About Uranus: http://www.tlsbooks.com/uranusreadingcomp.pdf
About Saturn: http://www.tlsbooks.com/saturnreadingcomp.pdf
M Animals Workbook: https://happyhomeschoolmum.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/m-animals.pdf
Dolphin Coloring Page: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/dolphins-coloring-page/
Earths Rotation: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/earths-rotation-coloring-page/
Cicada: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/cicada-coloring-page/
Hammerhead Shark: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/hammerhead-shark-coloring-page
LA
LA and how to write is really important to us. First off, it seems to be a lost art. Second, my daughter is constantly writing stories and drawing. Her knowing the parts of speech, types of words, punctuation, etc. is only going to strength her story writing skills and benefit her creativity in the long run. When I print off these worksheets I also print off lined paper on the back of every sheet so she has a chance to have creative writing time after she works hard on the worksheets.
Adjectives: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/adjectives-2.pdf
Vowel or Consonant Mail: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/vowelconsonantmail.pdf
Helping verbs: http://www.tlsbooks.com/helpingverbs.pdf
Select The Tense: http://www.tlsbooks.com/selectthetense.pdf
Possessive Pronouns: http://www.tlsbooks.com/possessivepronouns.pdf
Synonyms: http://www.tlsbooks.com/synonyms.pdf
Synonym Worksheet: http://www.tlsbooks.com/syn.pdf
Antonym Worksheet: http://www.tlsbooks.com/antonyms.pdf
Question or Statement: http://www.tlsbooks.com/questionstatement.pdf
Adjectives Worksheet: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/adjectives-1.pdf
Verbs: http://www.tlsbooks.com/verbs1.pdf
CH and SH worksheet: http://www.tlsbooks.com/chaunceychicken.pdf
Parts of a letter: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/writingafriendlyletter.pdf
Compound Words: http://www.tlsbooks.com/wordworld.pdf
Compound Words: http://www.tlsbooks.com/compoundwords2.pdf
Contractions: http://www.tlsbooks.com/contractions.pdf
Parts of Speech: http://www.tlsbooks.com/partsofspeech.pdf
NASA Cursive Practice: http://www.tlsbooks.com/cursivespacehandwriting.pdf
Print and Cursive Tracing: https://happyhomeschoolmum.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/learn-your-letters.pdf
History
History is so important! But, I don’t think you can force history or learn it from a textbook or a bunch of worksheets. This section is a little shot right now. We learn all our history through books. I believe it is better to follow their interests than to force anything and that really includes history. Geography we learn through our many geography books, atlases, and encyclopedias.
Churning Butter: http://www.tlsbooks.com/educolorchurningbutter.pdf
What is Congress: http://www.tlsbooks.com/whatiscongressyoung.pdf
History of the US Flag: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/usflag.pdf
All about the USA: https://happyhomeschoolmum.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/all-about-the-united-states-of-america.pdf
Deleware Information: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/delaware-coloring-page/
US States Map: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/mapstudy1.pdf
Eiffel Tower Coloring Page: http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/eiffel-tower-coloring-page/
Math
I have a weird kid, she loves math. We use Moby Max, Khan Academy, and a borrowed copy of Teaching Textbooks to move up in math at her level and learn new math skills. The sheets in our binder are a review so nothing gets 100% lost, which happens in a normal school system. I like to pick worksheets she will have fun doing.
Alien Addition: http://www.tlsbooks.com/alienadditionmazegr2.pdf
Christmas Addition: http://www.tlsbooks.com/christmasadditionnoregroupa.pdf
Valentines Day Addition: http://www.tlsbooks.com/valentinesdayadditiongr2a.pdf
Pot of Gold Money Addition: http://www.tlsbooks.com/pdf/potofgoldaddition.pdf
Addition Practice: http://www.tlsbooks.com/addition6.pdf
The Happy Homeschooling Mum 
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