One of the biggest concerns homeschooling parents have is how to objectively assess their child’s progress. Here are a few simple assessment tools any parent can utilize:

1.  Observation.

If your child is reading this year and last year she wasn’t, you know she’s progressing. If he’s using a workbook for math and is passing the tests, he understands the material.

2.  Take notes.

Make notes about your child’s abilities at the beginning and end of each school year. Ask him to perform some simple tasks — a writing sample, mathematical computations, spelling or reading.

Compare his abilities at the beginning of the year to those at the end and you may be surprised at how much he has progressed.

3.  Narration or explanation.

If a child can tell you about what she’s learned or teach you how to do it, she is demonstrating a mastery of the subject matter.

4.  Reading level.

An easy way to gauge a child’s reading skills is to simply observe the level of books he is able to read comfortably. Many books have reading levels listed on the back cover.

5.  Presentations.

Let your child put together a presentation about what he’s learning for family or friends. In addition to showing what he’s learned, he’ll practice organization and public speaking skills.

What unique, stress-free ways have you found to assess your child’s progress?

Kris is a classically eclectic, slightly Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom who loves to blog about life and learning with her three Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.