Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Record Keeping for the Relaxed Homeschool

UPDATE AS OF 7-14:  I used this system briefly, then switched The Ultimate Homeschool Planner by Debra Bell for the school year.  It's working for me! 


I go off and on about record keeping.  Mostly off.  I am consistent about keeping the children's yearly standardized test scores (required only every 3 years), copy of our yearly declaration of intent to homeschool, and progress reports.  We are required to keep yearly progress reports on file--I find it much easier to keep these by semester.  Semester 1 is Jul 1 - Dec 31 and Semester 2 is Jan 1 - Jun 30.

But I have found it difficult to consistently keep records on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis.  I have also found that many homeschoolers seem to take pride in only keeping the absolute minimum of records required by the state.  This I do not understand.  As I see it, a family tragedy (such as an illness or my death) could send our children back to school.  Records could only be helpful in this transition.  Additionally, colleges and universities vary greatly in their requirements.  Bee has only one more year until he is in high school (!), and I want to make it easy on myself in creating a high school transcript.  And there is always the possibility of being investigated for education neglect.  What incredibly unlikely, I have always felt that decent records (particularly a standardized test) would shut that sort of thing down very quickly.

It's often recommended that homeschoolers keep some kind of attendance record.  It's always hard for me to know--do I count a day as a quarter day, a half day, a full day?  Should I count weekends?  So much of my children's education comes naturally through life that it's really hard to say what is school and what is not.  But I think having some kind of written record of what was done is a great idea. 

At times, I have kept daily records on paper or in an app on my phone.  The app I have used (Lesson Tracker) was the most successful, and the best thing about it was that it showed me how much my children actually do, both as part of their "school" and on their own.  However, it requires you to enter the amount of time your child spends on the subject each day, and sometimes I just felt a little bogged down by it.

Lately, I've been using a new system (for attendance and daily records).  I made a table on Google docs (not the best application for making a table, but I managed).  It has each of the kids names and a place to check off all the subjects they do each day.  And a small area for notes to me jot down things.  Below, I have included a picture both of the blank table and of a sample for a very laid back few days like we've been having lately.




I had to use abbreviations for the subjects.  They are pretty obvious, but they stand for Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, Spanish, Arts (Music, Art, & Theater), Physical Education, and Home Economics.  I have the Home Economics on there because occasionally, we have to take a day off and do nothing but clean house (like if company is coming), and so checking that box off is a way of reminding myself that those skills are extremely valuable.  I don't use it for the kids' daily/weekly chores though.

Next year, I will probably need to make a separate table for Bee and Bug, because Bee's subjects will need to be more specific and correspond to what will go on his transcript.

For now, I am really feeling good about checking off the subjects every day and having a visual reminder that my children are learning and developing in all sorts of ways, often without my promptings. 

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