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Homeschool Record Keeping – How To Save Time
At this time of year, many families are beginning to wrap things up and knowing what to keep and how to keep it can be a challenge.
No matter which State or Territory you live in across Australia you will have homeschool record keeping requirements for reporting. Homeschool record keeping doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right tools and a simple plan, you can make this part of your student’s everyday habits, and it will automatically be done for you.
At Euka we knew this was a burden for many homeschoolers. So all our programs include:
A Yearly Plan outlining your curriculum for 12 months. This Scope and Sequence is mapped to the Australian Curriculum and State Syllabus (in the case of NSW) for the grade you are teaching.
Parent Planner – A week-by-week planner that you can print off, with places to make notes (no need to keep a diary)!!
End of Term Certificates of Completion are provided online each Term.
Work samples – written into the lessons.
Parent Assessment Checklists – mapped to the curriculum and matching the work samples.
Assessment Folder – can be used to collect the term Certificates and Academic Transcripts., and add photos of your child’s work.
The single most important part of your record keeping is the portfolio of your child’s work. Parents who homeschool should save a portfolio of their child’s work at the end of each school year. This is simply good record keeping! You may find it useful to start a working portfolio at the beginning of the school year which you can then add to during the school year and finalise at the end of the term. Your portfolio can be made up of pieces of work your child is proud of and work samples you have completed. Keep in mind that you don’t have to have every work sample completed. Euka adds a huge variety of work samples to ensure you can pick and choose which ones you want to complete, thus showing curriculum coverage.
If you are not sure where the work samples are located, simply look for the list in your parent planner.
The Parent Assessment Checklists are also in the Parent planner and will match the work samples you have collected. You can add observations of how your child went doing the activity. Many parents like to keep their portfolio in a ring folder. For others, they prefer to digitise their child’s work by photographing it and storing it on the computer or even better in the cloud.
Over-documentation
It can feel hard to choose pieces to keep and those to let go of, however it is vital not to fall into the trap of feeling like you need to keep everything.
Keep It Simple
When setting up a record keeping system for yourself, do yourself a favour, and keep it simple and easy to maintain.
Make sure you have the following elements in your Record Keeping:
- Record of the progress of work – Portfolio – The work samples your child has done & the matching Parent Assessment checklists
- List of Achievements – Make notes in your Parent Planner about the various Achievements
- Assessment of Progress – Term Certificates – Academic Transcripts
- Assessment of future needs of the child – Your plan for the following year
End of Homeschool Term to Do List
It’s always good to have a mental end of homeschool term to-do list. Here are three simple things you can do that will help you feel ready to relax and prepared to start the next term organised.
1. Tidy up the workspace and art supplies
Putting away the school work, completing folders with work samples, and throwing away old art supplies will give you the feeling of accomplishment. It will also help with being ready for next year. Some families like to have a place to display the completed years’ portfolio for the family to enjoy.
2. Assess progress during the term
If you have paid for the Registration and Reporting service, request your Academic Transcript. Fill in the provided link and enjoy getting your child’s end of year Transcript to add to the portfolio. Take a little time to look over your Parent planner and write a few notes about what you enjoyed as a parent and what you might like to change for next year. This can be valuable as a prompt when you open up your homeschool resources next year.
3. Order extra resources
If you need to order some new resources it’s a good idea to plan your purchases now so that the new year isn’t wasted while you’re waiting for things to arrive. Look at the Scope and Sequence for the next year and order the novels now. What a great time saver it will be later. Allow three weeks for your overseas orders.
Finally, relax and ponder on the amazing opportunity homeschooling has provided. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
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