"I suppose it is because nearly all children go to school nowadays, and have things arranged for them, that they seem so forlornly unable to produce their own ideas." ~ Agatha Christie.

If your kids are anything like mine, this time of year it's hard to think about schoolwork when the sun is shinning outside. Though we don't actually stop homeschooling during the summer, we don't go to the resource center and it feels like a grand vacation. Another two weeks and we can stay home.

If you are going to homeschool next year, you've probably been busy checking out the links I have been providing, and getting your information organized.

Organization is the key to success, I think, because if you know that all the legal bases are covered, you can relax and have a good time teaching your children. So this week, I'd like to talk about another very important part of homeschooling life--documentation.

Although all states differ in their homeschooling laws, the one thing you will probably find that they all have in common is requiring you to keep records about your homeschooling.

The different states will have different documentation that you must keep, but even in the schools which allow "un-schooling" documentation of some sort must be kept.

I'd like to go over some of the different forms you might consider-ones that I've tried, or ones that I've heard about from other homeschooling parents.

Keep in mind that some, but not all, school districts review homeschoolers files to verify that the curriculum is on hand and is being followed.

Keeping good records about your homeschooling will give you peace of mind.

Some forms of documentation you might want to use are:

• A lesson plan book.
• A teacher's daily log.
• A file for tests and other assessments (Especially if they are required by your state. Some states, including mine, will accept an oral narrative in lieu of a test.)
• A grade book (if you decide to do grades).
• A written narrative.
• A cumulative permanent record.
• A portfolio.

Let's go over each of these in a little more detail.

First, the lesson plan book.

This is a book for the teacher (you) to jot down planned activities, textbook pages to be covered, and projects to be completed in the coming week. You could also makes notes about what materials you plan to use or people you know whom might act as a resource for the subject being studied. In other words, everything you can think of about the upcoming lesson. You can either make up your own lesson plan book using the ever-useful 3 ring binder, or you can buy one ready to use at a school supply store. This site-A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/weblinks/lessons.htm has a wealth of free lesson plans you can download and print. The lesson book should contain enough pages to have one for each week of the school year, and you might want to consider a separate book for each child you are teaching.

This is a good way to remain organized, but it takes a chunk of time to plan for the following weeks activities. One of the ways I simplified our 7homeschooling, especially in the early years, was to have all my kids study the same subjects. I varied the intensity of study for each child, according to their age. This made the record keeping much easier and it was much more of a family learning experience.

Teacher's Daily Record:

This book is like a daily journal of your homeschooling activities. At the end of each day, sit down and record everything that your student did during the day. List these activities subject by subject. I always liked to use the daily journal to make notes about the kids progress or special interests. Though we did not keep daily journals after the first year or two, they are fun to look at now.

Check this link for an interesting article about daily record keeping from Natural Life Magazine: http://www.life.ca/nl/43/records.html. For those of you who like to have examples of forms you can alter, this About.com site has a lot of good sites for free homeschooling record keeping forms:

http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/recforms/index.htm

Tests and other assessments:

My state requires that a certified teacher test each homeschooling child each year. This test can be in the form of an actual written test, or an oral assessment performed by a certified person. Make sure you find out what testing or assessment is required by your state, and then keep the test results in a safe place. These tests and or assessments need to be kept throughout your homeschooling years.

Grade book:

Some people like to give grades for their children's work, so that it is more like real school. If this is something you want to do, a grade book will make the task easier. With a grade book, you will record your child's progress daily, for each subject.

You can design your own grade book, custom made for your children and their subjects, or purchase and use a grade book made for public school teachers.

Though we have never kept grades, I always liked to record little progress notes and observations along the way for future reference.

Narrative:

This is simply a written "report" of your child's learning activities, written by you or another certified person. This narrative would list the child's progress, subject by subject. These reports should be written every 6 to 9 weeks, with a final one written at the end of the school year.

Cumulative permanent record:

For each year that your child homeschools, a written record showing the subjects studied and the grade achieved is put into this file. (If you decide not to keep grades, note that also.) Attendance (number of school days) should also be noted, as well as yearly assessment testing scores.

These records are kept in a file and you should have one report per school year for each child. If you choose to use this method, you should also have some other form of record keeping-such as a portfolio-to back it up.

In fact, I think it is a good idea to always try to use more than one record keeping method, perhaps a combination of the above. Remember that these records are the only real way you have to show someone what you have been doing, and they show that you are using your curriculum.

Once you have figured out which method you like and which one works best for you, try to maintain the records consistently. If you fall behind in your record keeping, it will be hard to get the files caught up-especially if you have more than one child. Trust me on this. You want something that is quick and accurate so you can spend as little time as possible in record keeping, and as much time as possible helping your children learn.

Portfolio:

This is simply a file containing samples of your child's work. Don't just include the final product-include all rough drafts and notes too. If someone was looking through this portfolio, they would be looking for a demonstration of progress in learning-something that showed the student was learning and growing. For instance-- include the rough draft and research notes along with the final written report. Include best samples of your child's artwork. Take pictures of projects and your homeschooling activities and include them in the portfolio. Again, A to Z Homes Cool Homeschooling site has an abundance of links for information about creating portfolios for your homeschoolers:

http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/olderkids/Portfolios.htm

As usual, in our homeschooling, we tried several methods before finding one that worked. I was very concerned about record keeping when we first started out. I created my own forms, had a notebook for each child, and kept a clipboard nearby to record whatever we were doing. Because I was teaching three children, I felt I had to record something for each child, every hour.

If I didn't, I couldn't remember who had done what at the end of the day. Eventually, I felt I was using more time and energy in the record keeping than in the homeschooling, so something had to change. I kept less and less records until finally, no records at all. We switched to the portfolio method, which we continue to use to this day. What could be easier than simply putting the completed work into a file? You don't have to keep everything single piece of paper--just those that you think are good examples of what your children were interested in studying. Now the portfolios are a wonderful treasure trove-a kind of memory book. We have a great time looking back and reading some of the kid's early work.

Whatever method you choose, use it routinely and keep it safe. These records are irreplaceable. If you are ever required to submit these records, or to show what curriculum you are using, never give out the originals.

Make two copies--give out one and keep the other in a safe place as a back up copy.

Until next week-happy planning.

Resources:

Lesson plans: A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling

http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/weblinks/lessons.htm

Daily records: A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling

http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/weblinks/lessons.htm

Portfolios: A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling

http://www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/olderkids/Portfolios.htm

Questions? Something you would like to see?