In most states some level of record keeping and progress documentation is compulsory for homeschooling families. Keeping records of attendance is simple enough. You can use an attendance register and mark the school days on it. However the problem arises when you have to keep record of the lessons done and progress made. The simplest way to do this is to mark off the original lesson plan you made for the academic session. Although that can be a bit sparse on the details of what all you actually covered in class. Let’s look at two good ways to keep records.
Keep the Paperwork in a Bin
Get plastic bins that can accommodate the size sheets that you usually use for your homeschool students. Label the bin with the name of the student and the grade. Now you have storage for each child’s paperwork. From worksheets, artwork that comes off the fridge, printouts from the internet, all of this can go into a bin. In case you have built models or projects which are too large to place in the bin, take a photo, label it with all the details and toss that into the bin. At the end of the year you can go through all the material and see what is superfluous and chuck it. The rest becomes an archive for the student’s grade year. Get a new bin per student for the new session.
Software for Record Keeping
If you want easy access to all the records that you have perhaps you may like to use a software such as Homeschool Tracker, Homeschool Minder or Edu-Track. These are paid software and you will need to purchase your own copy for use. If you do not want to pay for the record keeping software consider using freeware such as Homeschool Skedtrack or Homeschooling Records. These software programs have a number of records that you can maintain, not all of which you need to get familiar with and utilize. Use the features you need and leave the others. Revise at the end of the year and take hard copies as needed for state records.
