by Shari McMinn
Bring on summer!
While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease (Genesis 8:22 ESV).
Summer Refresh, Reset, and Rest for Homeschool Students
Although I enjoy the changing of seasons, I am a hot-weather girl who loves summer the most! Growing up in Kansas, I played outside every chance I had, especially when school was out from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I climbed trees, caught crawdads in the creek, played kickball and kick-the-can with the neighbor kids, and lived free and unencumbered to reset myself from my 9-months-of-the-year public school schedule. Lazy afternoons indoors, crafting or reading, helped me refresh from the pressure of achievement. I worked for my Dad’s law office over the summers during my teen years; we found time to play golf and go fishing together. This established the foundation of my strong relationship with him. Late nights spent talking with family members led to sleeping in without an alarm clock, providing me with needed rest.
I repeated this celebration of all things summer with my own children while homeschooling for 28 years! We spent time every morning outside caring for critters, gardening, and walking or biking, then spent evenings outside eating dinner and stargazing. During the hot afternoons while the younger ones napped, the older ones spent time cooling off inside with audiobooks and crafting their 4H projects.
Teaching Parent’s Wrap-up Season
While my children enjoyed their summer afternoons indoors, I would begin to consider the results of our just-completed home education year, what needed to be focused on to begin again in September, and what each child needed more or less of — to grow and develop as individuals who were created by God in His image. This included budgeting for private music lessons; choosing curriculum for the fall; considering homeschool co-op, church, and community participation activities; scheduling dental, eye, or other medical appointments; and completing records to document each student’s just concluded school year.
For our high school students, I would produce a transcript for my husband to review and sign on my computer. For our elementary and middle school-aged students, I typed out a simple narrative as their teacher, then had my husband add his own observation notes to it. Because he was a licensed teacher (a college professor), we were exempt from the Colorado home education statutes. However, we still obeyed “the letter and spirit of the law” — as my lawyer father taught me to do during my childhood.
Options for Yearly Assessments of Unique Learners
As many families do, you may have a measuring tape or marks on a wall in your home with your child’s name and birthdate, indicating their height change over time. We did that with our kids. Some years showed slow growth, then in other years several inches were attained. Pediatricians take height and weight measurements to keep track of growth, noting concerns if there are any major decreases or increases, even if there are no changes. Our children’s overall development, including academics, also sometimes stagnates or spurts. It is important for us to have a baseline and go up from there, revisiting their progress each year across all aspects of their ability, growth, and maturity.
With that in mind, there are several options for annual or bi-annual assessments for your homeschooled unique learners. Colorado has reasonable laws regarding compulsory education with bi-annual assessments for homeschooled students. We encourage you to follow the Colorado Homeschool Law if you filed a Notice of Intent (NOI). Or, you may find my approach of belonging to the CHEC Independent School and filing a Parent Evaluation works for you, or you can review and select another option detailed on this CHEC.org Homeschool Testing webpage:
- Nationally normed standardized testing (not always the best fit for unique learners)
- Professional evaluators, testers, and tutors (these are ‘homeschool friendly,’ vetted by CHEC)
Parent Evaluations for Unique Learners
When my late husband passed away, our family joined the CHEC Independent School since we could no longer homeschool under his teaching license — the third option of three allowed by Colorado statutes for home-based education. My annual homeschool recordkeeping each summer became even more essential and was easily translated onto the CHEC IS Parent Evaluation form for the “odd calendar” years that were required for my students — the second option allowed by Colorado law.
The CHEC IS Parent Evaluation option was a blessing to our family because all of my children, who were still being homeschooled at that time, were unique learners. Their intelligence and achievements could not be properly documented by a standardized test, due to each of them being a delayed reader. They were very bright and accomplished in ways a standardized test could not effectively measure. All five of these children were enrolled at a grade lower than was expected for their age (due to their pre-adoption trauma-induced cognitive delays) during elementary and middle school. Thankfully, by the time high school graduation arrived, they all were performing at grade level and even higher in some subjects. Our “slow and steady” approach for their individualized homeschool learning had worked!
One essential benefit for me, when I completed the CHEC IS Parent Evaluation form each year, was that it made me think deeply about what I needed to focus on during the coming year for each child. One year, it helped me realize my delayed reader daughter needed a more thorough eye exam because her vision was not tracking properly to read well. The vision therapy she was prescribed helped greatly!
As you close out your homeschool year this summer, rest assured that there are multiple types of tests and assessments that assist you in legal compliance with the Colorado homeschool law. Research to decide what might be the best fit for your student’s needs. Don’t be afraid to reach out to the CHEC office or obtain professional advice from our many recommended “tutors, evaluators, and testers,” found near the bottom of this CHEC.org Unique Learners webpage. Try to maintain a positive attitude regarding these types of evaluations, which will help you establish a baseline as you help your child progress forward in holistic development for lifelong learning.
Dive Deeper: Resources for Evaluating, Homeschooling, and Parenting Unique Learners
Check out these articles and podcasts from trusted Christian homeschooling sources:
- CHEC Blog: “Testing is a Tool, Not a Toil,” posted 5.6.26
- CHEC Independent School: “Parent Evaluation Sample Copy” for current and future enrollees
- The Colorado Homeschool Podcast: “Are You Missing Out? Why Conferences Matter”
- Generations’ Discipleship for Dads podcast: “Discipling Your Kids Through Life-Dominating Sins”
- LearningRx FREE webinar: “My Child Struggled This Year; What Do I Do Now?”
- Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference FREE BONUS DAY: Learning Assessments; Introduction to Homeschooling, Unique Learner, and “You Can Do It!” seminars; Unique Learner Meet-up.
- Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference: Register for Full Conference Pass to attend Unique Learner Track Workshops while your children participate in activities (June 11-13, 2026)
Find more support for you and your unique learner at CHEC’s Unique Learners webpage. Our CHEC.org website and all Recommended Resource pages were fully updated this spring. Please take time to thoroughly review and study all the recommendations available to Unique Learner families through CHEC!
My next Unique Learner blog, “Summer School at Home for Retaining and Boosting Learning,” will be posted on June 10, 2026 (the 2nd Wednesday).
Shari McMinn, your trusted homeschooling friend
P.S. If you have a topic I should write about, please email me with your suggestion(s). This blog is for you!
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