Our evaluations are meant to be easy and low-stress for homeschooling parents. Show us some of your records of the child’s learning—ideally a few from the beginning of your year and some more recent—enough to see that the child has been learning. If we need to see more, we'll let you know.

Step One: Decide how you want to do the evaluation. Our most popular option is the online form/email option.

We have more information available on each option as well as online forms that streamline the process. Payment can be made online or sent separately.

Message us if you have questions.

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We provide
portfolio review evaluations

for
home educated students
across Florida

We offer several options including:

1. online form AND/OR email with brief phone call
   $38 for one student; $20 more each additional evaluated together.
   

Info: online/email option

Form: Online/Email

      2. live video call
        $50 for one student; $20 more each additional

Info: Video Call Option

Form: Video Call

     3. with extra support for those who want a headstart on an evaluation due 2-12 months from now (not available May through September--returns in October)

Info: With Extra Support

Form: With Extra Support

     4. RUSH options for those who want faster service.
For an extra $20: a RUSH option for either our online/email and live video options.
For an extra $30: a SPEEDY RUSH RUSH option for the online/email option.

RUSH Online/Email

SPEEDY RUSH RUSH

RUSH Video Call

Some quick references...

What are the portfolio requirements?

See our page on portfolios complete with examples of portfolios of others.

What curriculum or materials should be used?

Florida homeschoolers can use any curriculum that works for them. They can use textbooks, workbooks, websites, ordinary books, magazines, etc. even if they weren't designed as curriculum. They can use any grade level that works for the child.
See our page with more information on curriculum options.

What is unschooling?

Florida homeschool parents can use any methods of instruction that works for them. Unschooling is a method of homeschooling that educates using the child's interests and learning styles and may avoid textbooks and other typical classroom materials while using a lot of hands-on materials or activities. Finding materials that interest the child can help greatly with helping the child want to learn.
See our page on curriculum for more information about unschooling.

What will I need to show for an evaluation?

You'll show some of the records you are supposed to keep: some of the log of educational activities, some titles of reading materials, and some samples of work. Realistically, we want to see some from the beginning of your year and some from the end in order to see that the child has been progressing, i.e., learning.
For more details, check our FAQ page or our pages on the various options: email, video, or evaluation with extra support.

During the Spring we also have an Early Bird option for those whose evaluations are due during the busy summer months--get a head start at a slight discount.

What if I don't send enough information?

We are here to help. We will let you know if any more information is required before completing the evaluation.

We also have forms meant to help walk you through the process. There are forms specifically for each of our evaluation options: email, live video call, and preregistration. These should make it less likely that you'll miss a vital piece of information.

I missed my evaluation deadline. What should I do?

You can start the evaluation process now. Our email option is usually the fastest. You can start with our email form. Sending an email message that you are in a rush and will pay the rush fee can help.

What is the evaluation deadline?

Each home education student has their own deadline based on the date when the letter of intent (also called a notice of intent) was sent in. The evaluation is due once a calendar year, by the anniversary of the date of the letter of intent.
An evaluation is also due within 30 days of sending in a letter of termination telling the school district that your child is no longer being homeschooled.
So if you officially started homeschooling on October 14, 2020, the first evaluation is due no later than October 14, 2021 and by every October 14 after that until you finish homeschooling. An evaluation might be due sooner if you stop homeschooling.

What if my child fails the evaluation?

1. A child who fails the official evaluation will be placed on probation and will have to pass an evaluation within one calendar year. Otherwise the student will be required to stop homeschooling and register in a school for at least 180 days.

2. A parent is required* to send in the evaluation. If the child failed an evaluation, the parent could choose not to send it in and try again with a different evaluation.
*The only exception is if the parent uses state testing for the evaluation. Then the results are automatically submitted and there is no do-over option.

3. A portfolio review evaluation is a low-stress type of evaluation. If your child has been regularly learning and you've kept records of that learning as required, then passing a portfolio review evaluation should NOT be a concern.

What if we use FLVS? Is an evaluation required?

If you sent in a letter of intent, yes, an evaluation is due once a calendar year.
If you used FLVS Flex for your curriculum after sending in a letter of intent, an evaluation is due. Some Florida school districts will accept a copy of the student's grade report from FLVS showing passing grades in completed classes as the evaluation under the 5th option in Florida law which allows for any other evaluation method that the district and parent agree on. So you can try sending a copy of the student's grade report directly to the home education office as the evaluation, but the district may ask for another type of evaluation.

(A list of contacts for home education offices around the state may be found online.)

What if my child is shy and won't talk during the evaluation?

The discussion with the child can be mostly us letting the child know about the progress we've seen. The records are the main point of a portfolio review; if they show educational progress, the only way the discussion could cause the child to fail the evaluation would be if the student told us that the samples we'd been shown had not been used by nor created by the student. The discussion is required so the child knows what's being officially said about his or her education.

NOTE: Missed an evaluation? Or about to?
We recommend emailing the district home education contact to apologize and state that you are in contact with an evaluator and will get the evaluation to them as soon as you are available. There's nothing in Florida law that allows the district to reject the evaluation for being late.

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Not sure what counts as a Log of Educational Activities? Or Reading Materials? Or samples of work? Check our portfolio page for more information.

Cost

• Online/email option:
  $38 for first student
  Only $20 more for each sibling evaluated at the same time
• Video call option:
  $50 for first student
  Only $20 more for each sibling evaluated at the same time
• Evaluation with extra support option:
  For evaluations due 2 to 12 months from now
  $65 for first student
  Only $20 more for each sibling evaluated with similar deadlines
    OR $30 more for each sibling with different deadlines
  
• Consultation
  $50 for up to 45 minute phone call or live video call

SUFS EMA Codes

We are passionate about helping Florida families teach their own.
We love to help families. 
We are thoroughly familiar with Florida home education laws and policies and have helped families with evaluations and related questions or issues since 2003.
We can help you just get an evaluation done, if that's all you need.
But we can offer advice, answer questions, etc. if you want more.

Experience you can count on.

After the evaluation, we Provide 2 Types of Forms:

1. Evaluation form (with only the information required by FL law), and
2. Portfolio review form (for parents' records and in the unlikely case that a district asks to audit the portfolio)

We email forms to you, the parent, with directions on how to send the necessary form(s) to the district.


Note: Some districts provide forms for evaluations. These specific forms are not required.

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An informed homeschool parent will know FL laws.
See section 1002.41 at
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes
or click on the link below.

FL Home Education Law

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Form: Online/Email Evaluation

 Get Started

Portfolio Requirements

We do NOT add any requirements of our own to what's in state law. We ask to see enough of your records to show that the child is learning as required by law.

Florida law requires 3 types of records (together called a portfolio) to be kept for home educated students:

1. A log of educational activities. (This could be a lesson plan book with notes, a calendar with brief notes, a blog or diary, table of contents pages with dates or check marks, a spread sheet, the lesson plans that come with a published curriculum, a student score report from an online curriculum, or whatever works for how you homeschool.)
2. Titles of reading materials. (The reading materials could be textbooks or workbooks, but could also be magazines, articles, websites, comic books, or whatever works for how you homeschool. Because the word “titles” is plural, you must supply at least two titles. The titles may be included in the log or kept as a separate record. Titles could be read by the child or to the child or with the child--as fits the particular situation.)
3. Samples of work. (It isn’t necessary to keep everything done over the year. Samples of work could be worksheets or written assignments. They could also be copies, scans or photos of a page or two of materials used. They could be photos of the child working on a project, or anything else that shows the sort of lessons done by the child.) Recommended: Provide a few samples from the beginning of the year and a few from the end so that educational progress is easy to see.

After the Evaluation...

Florida law requires a parent to send the evaluation record(s) to the school district. We will help you in that process.

District Contact info

Passing the Evaluation

Florida law requires the evaluator to check for evidence of educational progress commensurate with ability. This means that the portfolio is not compared with public school requirements for a particular grade level.
Instead, the child's work from the end of the year is compared with that of the beginning of the year. If the work at the end of the year is more advanced, shows work on more complex materials, shows increased skills, and/or shows that learning has been happening on a regular basis, the evaluation will be positive.

For More Information

FB Evaluations

 We have a general public page
FL Homeschool Evaluations
on Facebook with lots of information about evaluations.
We also host a private group page
Homeschooling Florida Style
for those who want to read more general information on Florida homeschooling, want to ask questions in a private group setting, share resources, start discussions, etc. on any homeschool-related topics.

FB Group

Cheryl's Blog

Instagram

Trying to figure out which of our evaluation options is the better option for you?

The online/email evaluation

• needs no prior appointment
• some materials are scanned or photographed and sent at your leisure--if more are needed, we'll let you know
• requires a follow-up call with the student that's extremely brief--less than 5 minutes usually
• is our less expensive option
• is usually the faster option
  
• has lots of availability

Consider our Early Bird online/email option for a slight discount if you can start the process early for evaluations due between May-Oct
(available only from mid-Feb. to mid-Apr.)

The video evaluation

• requires an appointment to be set & confirmed first
• materials are all shown during the video call--none are sent in advance
  
• typically takes about 30 minutes--usually the student sits through the call as if at a parent-teacher conference with the child
• is a bit more expensive
• takes longer to arrange
• has limited availability as we have to set aside a larger chunk of time and they are done exclusively in the afternoons per our schedule

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• Both require the same sort of documentation.
• Both give the same documentation after the evaluation.
• Both meet Florida home education law requirements.
• Both work for students of any level and/or ability.
  

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A homeschooling mom. A writer. A homeschool evaluator. A wife and mother. A former homeschooled student. Not necessarily in that order."