Ecclectic Mix...how do you keep records?

[terramade]

I am about at the point of giving up on any "all in the box" type curriculum...and just doing my own because we are far ahead in some areas, and behind in the rest. I am worried about record keeping. I saw a Sonlight teacher's manual, and love how they have the chart laid out, so I am thinking about doing something like that, but does anyone else have any ideas? I also want to keep track of our speech and sensory activities that we do at home, and I don't know how those would fit on the chart.

 

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

[TippyCanoe]

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[Heathermomster]

I use The Teacher's Big Plan Book (hokey cover) to record what we've done across various categories each day. It has an oversized, double-paged spread for each week. I divide it into columns as I see fit; currently we have basic academic subject areas plus fine arts, exercise/PE/health, and "self-initiated activities." This last column allows me to watch over time whether dd is in a phase of endless repetition of a few favorite things which perhaps need mixing up or enlarging, what new interests she pursues and how, how her independent research is going, etc. When she had OT and VT, I put those under "exercise/PE," as the idea for me was to have a place where I saw what she was doing physically in all forms. You could divide up something similar however fit your days.

 

I also keep narrative records in a computer file. I used to write daily when she was very young or when I was teaching a group of kids at the co-op. Now I try to write a couple of times a week. This is the place I note really new endeavors, outside classes and how they're going, field trips, museums notes, things covered in discussions or conversations, things that were a struggle, wonderful discoveries, etc.

 

I'm doing this with DS. I use a teacher planner and make daily dated notes in a basic, memo book.