Maryland Homeschool Portfolio Review: A Complete Preparation Checklist

Many Maryland families spend the weeks before a county portfolio review scrambling through binders, wondering whether what they have is enough. The anxiety is understandable — a reviewer has the authority to issue a deficiency notice that triggers a 30-day compliance window or, in unresolved cases, mandatory re-enrollment. But the portfolio review is also far more predictable than most parents realize. Reviewers are evaluating a narrow, clearly defined set of criteria, and meeting those criteria is entirely achievable with the right preparation.

This is a practical, subject-by-subject checklist for Option 1 families preparing for their Maryland biannual review — including how virtual reviews differ from in-person ones and what the semester timeline looks like.

Understanding the Maryland Biannual Review Schedule

Under COMAR 13A.10.01, local school systems may conduct portfolio reviews up to three times per year. In practice, most Maryland counties schedule two reviews per school year — one covering the fall semester and one covering the spring. The typical windows are:

• Fall review: Scheduled roughly in November through January, covering instruction from approximately September through December
• Spring review: Scheduled roughly in April through June, covering instruction from approximately January through May

The county contacts you to schedule the review. You are entitled to a "mutually agreeable time and place" — you are not required to host the reviewer in your home. Libraries, school administrative offices, and virtual meetings are all permissible options.

Knowing the schedule in advance means you should be collecting work samples continuously throughout the semester rather than trying to reconstruct evidence in the final two weeks before the review date.

The Eight Subjects You Must Document

Maryland law requires instruction in exactly eight subjects: English, mathematics, science, social studies, art, music, health, and physical education. These are the only areas a reviewer can evaluate. Your portfolio must show evidence of instruction across all eight — there are no exceptions and no substitutions.

The most common reason portfolios fail review is a missing subject, not poor quality in a covered subject. Art, music, health, and physical education are the most frequently omitted because families focus their documentation effort on academics and assume the reviewer will be lenient about the rest. They will not.

Subject-by-Subject Preparation Checklist

For each of the eight subjects, you need two things: a brief curriculum summary and at least three dated work samples distributed across the semester.

English

• Curriculum summary: list the main texts, workbooks, or programs used (one paragraph or a bulleted list)
• Work samples: writing assignments, narration pages, grammar exercises, spelling tests, reading logs — any dated artifact showing English work occurred at multiple points in the semester

Mathematics

• Curriculum summary: name the program or approach (Saxon, Math Mammoth, Life of Fred, etc.)
• Work samples: completed worksheets, problem sets, tests, or math journal pages with dates

Science

• Curriculum summary: topics covered (e.g., biology unit, earth science, physical science experiments)
• Work samples: lab write-ups, unit tests, research reports, or a simple dated list of topics with brief notes

Social Studies

• Curriculum summary: history, geography, civics, or current events focus
• Work samples: map work, timeline projects, essay responses, or a reading list with dated completion notes

Art

• Curriculum summary: media or projects covered (watercolors, drawing, art history appreciation, craft projects)
• Work samples: photographs of completed artwork with dates, or a dated activity log noting what was created and when

Music

• Curriculum summary: instrument lessons, music theory, choir, or music appreciation activities
• Work samples: lesson receipts or enrollment records, a dated practice log, a list of songs or pieces studied with dates, or a photograph of a performance or recital

Health

• Curriculum summary: topics covered (nutrition, anatomy, personal safety, mental health basics)
• Work samples: completed health workbook pages, a dated topic log, a reading summary, or written responses to health-related discussions

Physical Education

• Curriculum summary: activities and programs (sports team enrollment, martial arts, swimming lessons, structured fitness routine)
• Work samples: team rosters, class enrollment receipts, a dated activity log noting what was done and for how long, or a coach's confirmation letter

The Three-Sample Distribution Rule

For a bi-annual review covering roughly five months of instruction, three dated samples per subject is the practical minimum. But distribution matters as much as quantity. Three samples all dated within the first two weeks of September suggest instruction stopped after that. Three samples spread across early September, mid-November, and late December demonstrate instruction continued throughout the semester.

Aim for roughly one early-semester sample, one mid-semester sample, and one late-semester sample per subject. This pattern satisfies the reviewer's core question — is instruction happening regularly — without requiring you to preserve every piece of work your child produces.

How to Prepare for a Virtual Portfolio Review

Many Maryland counties now offer or require virtual portfolio reviews conducted over video conference — typically Microsoft Teams or Zoom. The preparation is identical to an in-person review, but the logistics differ.

For a virtual review:

• Organize your portfolio as a single PDF file before the meeting. Calvert County's guidelines, for example, explicitly accept email submission in PDF or JPEG format and reject online links or informal screenshots. Build your portfolio as a fillable digital document you can share cleanly.
• Test your screen-sharing capability before the session so you are not troubleshooting technology while the reviewer waits.
• Have a physical backup of your materials in case screen-sharing fails. Print the key sections or keep the PDF open on a second device.
• Request written confirmation of the meeting outcome after the review. A brief email from the coordinator noting that your portfolio was found satisfactory is a useful record.

Some counties — including Prince George's County — require that work from online curricula include skill reports showing the date of work, the skill name, the time spent, and the assignment grade. If you use an online program as your primary curriculum, log into that program before the review and confirm you can generate or export a skills report.

What Reviewers Are Not Allowed to Check

The COMAR anti-overreach provision explicitly prohibits county reviewers from imposing requirements beyond those written into the regulations. Knowing what reviewers cannot demand is as important as knowing what they can evaluate.

A reviewer cannot legally:

• Require daily lesson plans or hourly attendance records
• Demand curriculum alignment with the Maryland College and Career Ready Standards
• Question your credentials or require a teaching certificate
• Demand standardized test scores (testing is voluntary and must be initiated by the parent on the original Notice of Intent)
• Require subjects to be subdivided into hyper-specific sub-categories beyond the eight mandated areas

If a reviewer requests any of these, a calm, written response citing COMAR 13A.10.01 is appropriate. Keep a copy of the regulation text on hand during the review.

Failing a Review: What Happens Next

If your portfolio does not satisfy the reviewer, you receive a written deficiency notice. You then have 30 calendar days to submit additional evidence correcting the identified gaps. Most deficiencies are correctable — missing a subject entirely, or having a thin distribution of samples, is fixable with a short targeted burst of documentation and a supplemental submission.

Failure to resolve the deficiency within 30 days results in a requirement to enroll the child in a public or nonpublic school. You retain the right to appeal to the county board of education and then to the Maryland State Board of Education if you believe the deficiency notice was issued improperly.

Building a Portfolio That Holds Up

The portfolios that pass review consistently share one characteristic: they are organized before the semester ends, not assembled the night before the review. Collecting dated work samples as you go — saving three artifacts per subject per semester into a running digital folder — means there is no scramble when the review letter arrives.

The Maryland Portfolio and Assessment Templates provide fillable PDF logs for all eight subjects, including dedicated tracking pages for the non-core subjects (PE, art, music, and health) that are most often missing from generic planners. The templates are designed specifically around COMAR's requirements, so everything the reviewer expects to see has a designated place — and nothing unnecessary has been included.

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