Here is the final post in my homeschool planning series. After you decide on your yearly schedule and daily schedule, it’s time to start planning how you will keep records of your school year. I find planning ahead to be a good idea, otherwise you may find yourself halfway through the semester scrambling to remember what you did so far in the school year so you can write it down. Been there, done that. Plan how you want to record keep before you start, and gather the materials you need in order to make this tedious, but necessary, task a breeze. I will share some important steps and easy methods to help you keep track of your child’s learning throughout the year.
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Minimal Records
Even if you are in one of those super-easy, homeschool friendly states, I suggest keeping at least a few records. At a minimum, you should always keep an attendance record. All states, even the friendly ones, have an expectation that your child is receiving an education that is comparable to a public school education. Keeping a record of attendance is pretty basic, and it can come in handy if your homeschooling is ever called into question legally, or just by nosy relatives. There are apps you can use to track attendance, you can make an excel spreadsheet, or you can simply use a calendar. I use a calendar like this one and keep an ongoing count of days, so I don’t have to go back through and count our school days later. I also record field trips and outside classes on this calendar so they are easy to find later.
Along with keeping an attendance record, I encourage you to keep a simple list of curriculum and resources each child is using for the year. This is just a good idea to show that there is actual learning happening. If you are an unschooling family, you can keep a list of things they learned with maybe an example of activities you participated in to learn that subject. This doesn’t need to be very complicated. Below is an example of the end of year transcripts I have done.
Bullet Journaling
A really fun way to keep records is bullet journaling. You can get a blank journal and write a few bullet points on a daily or weekly basis, recording what you did for the week. It’s also fun to have your kids right down something they learned. If you are more artistic, you can draw pictures and dress it up with pretty artwork. This is also an easy way to keep an attendance record. You can simply write down the date and hours any day your kids are doing school. Don’t forget to add your field trips and co-op classes too. Anytime your kids are learning, they’re schooling.
Portfolio
I know there are several states that require a portfolio review. How much detail and what you will actually put in the portfolio will greatly depend on what is required of you. Since the heart of this post is about planning , here are some tools you can use to plan ahead. This way you won’t be scrambling at the end of the year to gather the materials for your portfolio.
Gather your supplies. Get a large three ring binder, dividers, and page protectors. Set up your binder before you begin your school year. This way you can just add the assignments or worksheets you want to include as they are completed. You can also do this with a file folder in a cabinet. Whatever you do, keep all of your materials in one place so they are easy to find later.
If you will be submitting your portfolio electronically, set up some folders on your computer desktop. Do this ahead of time; it will save you a step later on. You can scan your written work as it is completed, or keep the pages you will need in a file folder. I recommend scheduling a day at least once a month to scan your portfolio pages. A little bit of planning ahead will prevent papers from piling up.
How I Keep Records
My state requires that I keep attendance records, vaccine records, and test/evaluation results. When I homeschooled under a Notice of Intent (we have a couple different options in Colorado), I also kept a copy of that. I have a binder full of page protectors. Each year gets its own page protector on which I write the school year with a sharpie. I put all of the required records, along with my end of year transcript , inside the page protector. This is really simple and has worked for me for the past six years. Now that I homeschool under an umbrella school, I print all of the materials I submit every semester and put it in the binder. I love easy and simple and this system fits the bill.