After our successful first Moderator meeting last week, which turned out to be much less intimidating than I had anticipated, despite the frazzled afternoon of getting ready.
I wanted to share some insights into what a Moderator does.
In Western Australia, a homeschool moderator is tasked with overseeing and assessing the progress of homeschooled students. Essentially, their role is to ensure that children are safe, well, provided with learning opportunities, and progressing academically from year to year.
You have the option to host the meeting at your home or another chosen location, with or without your child present.
In preparation for our meeting, my moderator emailed a form a couple of weeks prior. This form was a similar to an end-of-year report, outlining the resources we had been using and what our child had been learning. While it seemed formal, our discussion during the meeting made it clear that it was mainly a box that the Education Department wanted ticked.
During our meeting, which took place at our home, our moderator arrived punctually. After exchanging pleasantries, my husband kindly prepared coffee for all of us. We gathered around our dining table, where I had laid out scrapbooks, work samples, and resources from the past year. While some materials were looked over, the focus was more on suggesting additional resources that we may find helpful and ensuring that we were homeschooling in our child's best interest. The visit lasted around 45 to 60 minutes.
As for the "work samples" I provided, they included scrapbooks for English, Mathematics, STEM, HASS, and Art, along with worksheets our child completed over the year. Although not everything was reviewed, I aim to keep these scrapbooks up to date this year. Additionally, I store extra sheets, artworks, and projects in a plastic tub to sort through later.
Here are some alternative methods for recording progress:
- Photos
- Videos
- Journal entries detailing what you're learning
- Diary entries noting resources and learning by activities
- Filled-out curriculum workbooks
I've also created a Term planner for myself as a reference and organizational tool, which you can find HERE