Either because you are compulsive, or because your state requires it, you just want to keep some records. Anne Elliot has devised such a simple way to do it, she nearly talked me into keeping records again. Nearly.
So starting very early in our homeschooling “career,” I started customizing my own planning book, just using Word and Excel on my computer. (Open Office has a free version.) It fits my style, plus I’m able to save all the planning sheets to use with younger children coming up. At the end of the school year, my planning notebook goes into the attic, in a “portfolio” box for that school year. One of the most fun parts of the summer for me is making a fresh, new notebook for a fresh, new school year.
So let’s take a peek inside my planning notebook for the 2010-2011 school year.
Inside the Front Cover
As soon as you open my notebook, you’ll see a lot of odds and ends and daily junk in the inside pocket.
- Scrap paper.
- A public school calendar clipped from the newspaper.
- Pieces of paper where I’ve scribbled ideas and things to do for each child.
- Sample schedules of my own and of families online, all scribbled on, of course.
- Sticky notes stuck here and there — “Get a new chapter book for Arik from the library,” “Look up spelling of existance, or is it existence?” “What would it cost to take a field trip to the Indian ruins by the South Dakota border?” etc.
You can read all about Anne’s notebook and how to create your own here.
I’m with you. After 30 years of home educating, and 9 graduates, record keeping is NOT something I want to spend much of my time on. But I do like the looks of Anne’s suggestions for those who need to or want to! Thanks for sharing her ideas.
I have something similar to Anne’s folder. I am not required to keep anything but attendance records in my state, but I keep the rest of my records for my own personal sanity. It’s my brain on paper! 🙂
Lea Ann, you make me laugh! Last night, my husband and I read your previous post on keeping track of homeschooling records, and it was great! You nearly talked me into pitching all the lesson plans. Nearly.
LOL!
Seriously, I’ve been thinking about this all day. I think part of the reason I make such extensive plans is because we make up so much of our own curriculum. I don’t do this planning for subjects for which I purchase curriculum (ie. math). Also, once we get a set of lesson plans done for one of our older children, we never have to do it again for our younger children. So I can see a day coming that my life will be a lot simpler! Ahhh…
Thanks so much for linking to my post!
Hugs,
~Anne