First of all, relax. I know how school administrators can be intimidating and it isn't such a different feeling from when you were called down to the principal's office when you were a kid. Get that vision out of your mind. You are a grown-up now and you do have the law on your side with regard to homeschool. You didn't do anything wrong and the feeling of intimidation will pass. I think it is a good idea for both parents to attend the review if possible. It is good to be there as a unified front.

Second, sit down and go through all of the wonderful things your kid(s) accomplished this year and reflect on how they have blossomed at home. Even if you don't think that they did much this year, you will be surprised when you start writing down an inventory. Jot down on a sheet of paper (or more) what they have read, field trips they have experienced, programs they participated in, workbooks and textbooks they worked in, movies or plays they saw, volunteer work they did, sports they played, music they practiced, projects they did around the house etc. It will amaze you the amount of stuff they did this year, and you may even have gasoline receipts to prove it all! I used to compile a collection of photographs and put them in an album. I brought the photo album along so they could see that the kids weren't really chained to the radiator all year. The photo album was usually the biggest hit with administrators - they loved to see the field trips and events the kids went to.  It was also validation that my kids were in fact quite social. I also used to bring samples of their work - their writing, drawing, pottery, and other stuff that I thought was interesting  (yes, I had a big plastic storage bin that I brought along, but it isn't necessary).

If you can't quite remember what you did all year - you may want to jog your memory by looking through your day planner or calendar to see exactly how you spent your school year. Don't forget to mention the trip to Lake Googookajoo because even family vacations are learning experiences.  That is what it really is about anyway - all the learning experiences that your child benefited from.

There were a couple of standard rules I kept when doing a review. Number one was that I never allowed school officials to make copies of anything I had to show them. Tell them that they can take all the notes they wish, but no photocopies. I never wanted them to keep anything on file that belonged to my child or me. Second, I always made it clear at the beginning of our meeting what the purpose of the meeting was. The purpose of the portfolio review is to fulfill your obligation as set forth in the Notice of Intent. You need to show that certain subjects were covered.  It isn't a meeting to have you or your child graded and it isn't meant to be an opportunity for them to tell you what (or how) you should or should not teach.  It is merely for them to see that instruction was given. Your curriculum is not meant to be a mirror image of what they do in school - that is why you took them out in the first place.  Your curriculum is tailored to your family and your child, and is not meant to be a replication of school. Quite frankly, our school administrators were amazed at the amount of ground we covered in the school year despite the fact that my kids only spent about an hour or two a day on "book work" or "schooly kinds of things". Often they would jot down some of the great things we did as projects to share with their own teachers. They also asked a lot about some of our field trips because they were considering going to those same places.

Who do you meet with? I think that differs from school system to school system. Here in West Hartford, at the Elementary School level we met with the principal of the school my child would have attended had (s)he been enrolled in school. Sometimes a Curriculum Specialist was along for the ride. One time, the Curriculum Specialist asked why my third grader wasn't doing expository writing (as that was what they were doing in school). I merely responded that my child was spending time learning grammar and sentence/paragraph construction, and that I felt he wasn't ready nor had the experiences in life to write an expository piece at the time. She replied, "Oh, ok". So don't always expect that their questioning will bring up an argument and disagreement. They may offer some suggestions, and may want to help in some way. It is up to you to decide whether their suggestions have any validity.  You still know your child better than they do. Also, don't let them get you feeling like your child is behind everyone else because the truth of the matter is that all kids catch up with each other in the end. Did all of your kids learn to walk and talk at the same age? In most cases though, your kids will be well ahead of the game.

Portfolio reviews at the Junior High level were different. We initially were supposed to meet with the principal, but every time we showed up for the review (this happened 3 times) we were shuffled off to some assistant principal at the last minute, so I found them all to be very unprepared. At these reviews I found that they were more interested in socialization than academics because "this stage of life can be so tumultuous". What impressed them most was the quality of field trips and kinds of out of the home experiences that my son had. They were also taken by the fact that homeschoolers look for people who have passion about their work or field of study to teach classes or programs outside of the home.

At the High School Level, we were met with a totally different review. The principal of the High School insisted that we set up the review well ahead of time because her desire was to have us meet with the Head Guidance Counselor, and all of the department heads! Quite an undertaking because all these people have very busy schedules. Yes it was silly, but they managed it, and we were gracious enough to be flexible here. So here we are sitting at the review with a room full of people, and the basic feeling that I got from all of them was, why are we all here and why should we care about your child since he isn't even a student here? My impression was that they all had more pressing things to take care of - they perused the material I brought, praised us for what we had been doing and promptly left. The Guidance Counselor was the only one who was really important to us at that point because he helped us with lots of information about college preparation.

Should you bring your child to the review? That is entirely up to you and your child.  If you feel comfortable doing so then it is ok. Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't bring them along. If they request your child be present and you feel uncomfortable with that, then politely decline and say that you feel it is inappropriate to bring them along. It is not mandatory that you have them present. Mostly I would ask my child if they were interested in coming. My son did not come along for the Middle School review, but my older son wanted to be present at his High School review. If your child does come along you do run the risk of having them be quizzed by whoever is doing the review and I never approved of putting my child through that kind of situation.  You may want to make it very clear beforehand that if they quiz your child that you will halt the meeting. I remember though, when my daughter came along for her review for 2nd grade she volunteered to read because she was so proud of her ability to do so. I found that to be just fine.

There is one other thing that I did regarding the review process that I think you should consider. When the review is complete I asked the school administrator present at the review to please send a letter to the superintendent, with a copy to me, stating that the meeting took place and who attended. Then you will have written proof that the review took place.

So you may wonder is all of this worth it? Well from my prospective, the only thing I gained out of these reviews was that preparing for the review forced me to take stock of what my child accomplished in the school year, and it was rewarding for my kids to see that as well. In fact even though I opt not to file the Notice of Intent or do a review every year, I still document what they did at the end of the year.  I find it a very helpful exercise. Please remember that filing a Notice of Intent is NOT mandatory and there is no statute that requires you do this. This is only a recommended procedure as outlined by the State Board of Education (called the C-14 Guidelines).