Daily Homeschooling Journal - Long - help me organised people!

[abba12]

Sorry this turned out so long. I suppose in part I am upset about the reality of the situation leading to this so this post is part vent and part whine-about-the-extra-work-any-possible-solution-adds, as well as part plea for help. But, it got long, because I suck at writing short concise posts, and because the obvious suggestions wont work for reasons I had to explain. Also, I suck at writing short concise posts. Let me preface this by saying my husband and I were both homeschooled, so I am not coming at this as an uncertain newbie who is mentally unstable, underestimating the task, and possible doing this for the wrong reasons. Homeschooling is second nature to us, I think it would be much harder for me to put my kids in school! 

 

I have severe PTSD. It's well managed, effects my daily life severely but I have strategies, the kids are safe and daily routines generally happen, we get by pretty well, our life looks different but it isn't bad. However, I have had episodes necessitating hospital stays in the past and it's quite likely that will occur again at some point over the course of my kids schooling life. If this happens, I know from last time that child services becomes immediately involved. So, most homeschoolers fear of child services coming knocking is a certain reality for me, and worse still is most likely to happen at a time I am mentally ill and unable to cope. Lucky me  :lol:

 

I was speaking to my friend who is a lawyer specialising in family law about the situation. Her 6 kids have all been home-schooled (the younger three by her stay at home husband) so she is absolutely on my side here. She's also rather against how invasive the home ed unit is, so definitely on the side of less regulation. This makes me take her suggestion to me very seriously, it's definitely not coming from a place of paranoia or over-regulation. She has said I should keep a daily journal of every educational and social activity the kids do, every day. (especially social, apparently socialisation is still a big deal to child services here and I recognise that from my involvement with them last time). This is NOT required by our home education unit, and in all honestly it shouldn't be required by child services either, the approval of the home ed unit SHOULD be enough for them, however, there's the ideal and principle and what should be, and then there's what is actually likely to happen, and hearing her horror stories over the years, something like this would help a lot. It's not fair or right, but planning for child services to do the wrong thing and putting in the work to have a backup for that circumstance could be very important for my family. They can question my registration, they can't question years of journals.

 

But, it's a lot of work, especially if I want to include examples. Yikes! I wouldn't need examples for everything, but some would help, she suggested photos of projects and the occasional scanned or photographed worksheet/page of writing.

 

Anyone got any ideas of how to do this? Anyone already doing this that can show me their system? It HAS to be easy and quick, I have bad days, if it's a big job I have no hope of doing it on bad days. The ability to make it a consistent daily habit is the most important factor above all else here, a consistent but basic journal will be more useful to me than a very elaborate and detailed one which skips weeks or months at a time. Something which looks visually neat and organised, preferably colour coded, would help me as well due to certain mental health tendencies. Also, should I do a single journal and attempt to include the things the kids do together as well as their separate work/activities? Or should I attempt to keep three journals which would be clearer as to who did what but more repetition and the potential to become overwhelming. 

 

Lawyer friend suggested a document open on my phone and just voice-to-text things as we do them, this seems very efficient but not nice and organised and colour coded which gives the potential to become irrationally overwhelmed with it because it 'feels disorganised'. I could perhaps go back each night and edit the notes into something organised, but I'd want to do this at a desktop, I find typing on phones very very hard. I have access to both a windows phone and an android tablet though if anyone knows any apps which would easily do something like this and synch between them at the computer (not onenote, I struggle with the lack of a finite 'page', printing from it seems problematic at best and I would like to be able to print this). Also, incorporating photos seems trickier with this. 

 

A friend suggested photographing everything and automatically uploading it to a private instagram account with a one sentence description, a photo journal with it's own timestamps. But this would be hard for me, not everything can be easily photographed and I hadn't intended to keep visual evidence of every single thing done, just periodic examples. Photographing all projects and worksheets would be alright but, on a bad day I might literally be unable to get up and photograph my child doing physical ed or flashcards or other time-sensitive work, and I can just see it getting exhausting photographing every single thing they do when I am going to be including stuff which isn't explicitly school-book-work. It just doesn't seem a reasonable plan for MY situation where we are going to try document literally everything

 

My husband suggested text on a word document I keep open at all times, colour coded for book work, non-book work, social activities and excursions/field trips/projects, which appeals (he knows me well lol), but I don't know how I would incorporate photos etc. Embedding them large enough to matter would look messy to me, I'd struggle with that. Maybe giving them specific names, referencing the name in the journal, then having the photos in the same folder, separated by month? But we begin to wander into too-much-work territory, plus, the idea of every single day getting the camera out, putting the card in, loading the photos up, resaving and renaming, etc etc sounds like a big job. I recognise it actually probably isn't, but a lot of this relates to mental ideas rather than reality, I know my common roadblocks and this is a big one.

 

We furthered that idea with taking photos on my tablet and autouploading them to google drive, and having the document on google drive, that way I only have to rename. I guess I could see if there's a voice to text on my google document editor, and then each evening double check, add photo references and colour code on my computer which wouldn't be too bad, best of both worlds maybe? but I'm not even sure if my tablet has reliable voice to text, and typing on a touchscreen is not something I like doing. 

 

Any other ideas, suggestions, apps, programs, anything? Help for making it a habit? Layout suggestions, and whether to do one journal or separate ones and if I do a single one how to define stuff all the kids did and stuff only one kid did neatly and concisely (since being concise is obviously not my strong suit!). What about the stuff we do every day, just write it in every day?

 

Also, one final thing. Lawyer friend said I should try to phrase things as achievement based. So rather than 'I taught child addition tables' write 'child practised their addition tables'. That seems like it could be hard to apply for some things though, what if I am just assigning a few worksheets or they're just listening to me teach something 'lecture style'? Any suggestions or ideas for how to implement this? I'm going to ask my friend for clarification next week but thought I'd pick your brains here. 

[tatum]

Evernote!

It can easily sync accross devices...so you could type on your desktop...take pictures or videos on your phone...and you just add tags so it could all work together...

 

Example:

Take a picture of the activity...and just add tags with each of the children's names that participated in the activity...same would work with voice memos or links you used or anything like that...

Later on when you pull up that child's particular tag, all the activities he/she did would show up...

 

 

It seems like a lot of work...sorry you're going through this. 

 

 

[Clemsondana]

Could you do a daily planner (like what kids use in school) for each kid and just write what they did that day? It's how I keep up with our schooling - it's quick because it's already got blocks for each subject, so I just jot down the name of the book that we read for science or the pages that we did in math, or if we played a game of sequence numbers or went on a field trip. There's also an 'after school' block, and I write down play dates, ball practice, music lessons, etc. You could use that to make a list of outings and interactions if that's something that you need to keep a note of. I can imagine that it's a pain to keep track of 'life', but maybe having boxes to fill in would help keep it organized.

 

As for pictures, I think working with phone pics is a pain, too. :-) Could you use a cheap camera and print out some pics (or even get a polaroid-type instant camera - didn't they make a comeback recently?) or upload digital pics to something like shutterfly? If you uploaded them each week, you could put them in folders labeled with the week date as the name, so that somebody could see what you did in a week. Also, I stick all of the work that each kid does in a bankers box as they finish it - if you stick dates on papers or put them in folders by month, you'd have a physical record of what had been done for somembody to look through. You could stick in pictures of anything that didn't go in a box - a field trip or big craft project. Good luck - I'm sure that the addition of 'more work' isn't helping your stress levels.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Send me a PM and I will send you a link to my google docs journal that I keep.  Look at the oldest entries, as they are the most organized.  Things started to slip as we approached Christmas...   :leaving:

 

Personally, I think a daily log is too much.  My suggestions:

 

- have a spiral notebook in which you take brief notes on things done throughout the week.  On the weekend, compile these notes into one summary for the week.  This will allow for "quick capture" in the moment, while the final draft can still be made nice, color coded, sorted either by student or subject, whatever makes the most sense.  Obviously don't throw away the spiral notebook when it's full, just tuck it up in the attic or basement.  Your "executive summaries" will be significantly more useful to any overseeing bodies than your notes, but the notes are further proof of your daily/regular work.  This is how I make my googledoc, and I place the newest entry at the top always, so no  need to scroll through pages of past entries.  

 

- Again, this is a personal thing, but I would not take daily photos- that would totally overwhelm me.  The processing time per day would be enormous from my perspective.  I would instead save all work for X  number of weeks, where X is some reasonable period of time.  Save it in a clear and obvious location.  I'd say 4-6 weeks at a time is best.  At the end of that time, go through work, pull out the best samples, then photo, label, whatever, all together and throw in a google folder.  Make a note in your google doc of the folder name, and perhaps even a one sentence summary on why you chose each item, though that may be overkill.  Alternately, go back through the doc and include the word PHOTO after any entries that have a photo in the folder.  Then, throw all originals (both the "best of" samples and the rest) into a hanging file with the dates.  At the end of the school year, take all your hanging files (6-10, depending on what time period you chose to archive the work), and throw them into a document box in your attic/basement, along with a printout of your google doc and your hard copies of the spirals.  DONE!  

 

-  I realize the nature of your problems is unpredictable, but by maintaining a 4-6 week archival system, the most you could ever be behind in record-keeping would be 4-6 weeks, and you would still have your notebook, googledoc and hard copies of the student work right up until the day you were unable to continue.  Having easy-to-locate places for each of these items means your husband or a friend could quickly compile that last hanging file folder for you.  If 4-6 weeks seems too long, then do it every 2-3 weeks or even every week.  I just think every day would drive you crazy with the work involved.

 

 

 

[stutterfish]

I used to use a blog for my records, set to private, so no-one else could access it without my permission. With blogger I could email basic posts to the blog from my email, then edit/refine later. I carried a camera around, taking photos of stuff the kids did and once a week uploaded any photos. Its not an ideal format for record keeping or printing, but it was what worked for me. Everyone is different.

 

I think, whatever you choose, make it totally do-able, not something that becomes a huge burden. Aim small and you're more likely to maintain it. Too often, or too detailed, record-keeping and it will take time away from your homeschooling. A very short note at the end of each day, combined once a week into a week's summary, should be achievable :)

[Pegs]

Evernote could work like so:

 

Each child gets a 2017 notebook with one note per month. Within each month, create bold entries which list the KLAs you're addressing.

 

For a primary school aged child it might look something like:

 

*English*

Daily readalouds

Copywork 5x per week, beginning joins

Currently enjoying buddy reading [title], by So'n'so

Spelling 3x per week, current focus is on vowel digraphs

 

Insert photo of copywork

Insert photo of child reading a book

 

*Mathematics*

Working on improving fluency with multiplication facts using songs, mythmatical battles card game, daily drill

Working through section x of [curriculum]

 

Insert photo of a completed worksheet

Insert photo of child playing a card game

 

*More KLAs*

Further examples of the learning opportunities you're providing

 

Insert photos of child/ren engaging in the activities you've listed

 

You'd be amazed at how impressive a month of a decent homeschool looks - I really don't think daily or weekly journals are necessary. And a monthly record is really not difficult to fill out, IME.

 

I can send you a template or do a proper mockup for you in a few days if that would help.

 

I'm also happy to chat via PM about mental health hospitalisations and Australian home education registration requirements, etc.

 

Apologies for my poor formatting - posting from my phone.

[Mrs Twain]

Make a weekly checklist for each child, Monday-Friday as a Word document. Type out all possible assignments for the day that the child would do.

 

Print one checklist out for each child on Mondays and write the date at the top of the paper.

 

Whatever they do on a certain day, check off, and whatever they don't do, cross out. If they do any additional assignments or activities, handwrite them in on the appropriate day.

 

As for photos, take them with your phone or camera, whichever one records a date so that you could track down the photos by date if you needed them later. Make a card with each child's name and place it next to the project or whatever you are photographing so that you know whose assignment it is. Then you can access these photos later if needed for a lawyer.

 

Have a folder or binder for each child, and save the completed weekly checklists in it. You could also print out the photos weekly and add them to the folder/binder if you have time.

 

This system would keep an excellent record of their work without taking much time.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Mrs Twain

[Guest]

I use a composition book.

 

I don't write the dates, but rather "Day 1...2....200..." etc.

 

And just record as briefly as possible what my kids do. I draw a horizontal line under it and start the new day there.

 

so like:

 

Day 1

DS1: CLE Math, Zuess on the Loose Game, Cottage Press wb, one hour reading, CHOW read aloud w/ picture narration in main lesson book, LOL solar system section with Main lesson book diagram, self-designed floating experiment, karate, play group

DS2: BJU math, ELFTTC, LOL solar system copywork in MLB, CHOW picture narration in MLB, snake documentary, painting, karate, play group, Robin Hood Audiobook, 30 minutes reading

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Day 2

 

[...]

 

 

 

 

 

[Ausmumof3]

I easily get overwhelmed with complicated systems. I easily leave tech stuff. So for me it would be super basic and just an inverse bullet point planning - but instead of planning I would record. Just a lined notebook. Write the date at the top of the page. Write a bullet point list of everything educational you did that day. One notebook only not one per child. Maybe write the initials of which child/children did each task at the beginning after the bullet point. Do it when you brush your teeth or immediately after you clean your sink so it's a must do habit.

 

I wouldn't try to put photos or assignments in the notebook, but Id keep a box or file where I dumped this stuff so if it's ever needed as proof that you actually did the stuff the notebook says it can be dug out and used.

 

There are loads of awesome organisational systems out there but for me simplicity works best.

[regentrude]

I found this very easy and not time consuming for my two children. It took only a few minutes each day.

I use an excel spreadsheet with two columns for each subject area. In one goes the activity, in the other the time (my state requires logging a certain amount of time). I have it programmed so that it adds times per subject and also per day, so I have an immediate overview over how much time we spend on what.

Filling it in takes very little time. For example, entries could be:

under math: ch. 5.1- 30 (that is time in minutes)

under English: Hobbit, creative writing - 90

under science: planetarium - 120

under misc: playgroup - 120

under PE: biking - 45

 

In addition, I keep a portfolio for each child where I save writing assignments, math tests, special projects, programs from events attended. That is a 1 in binder per school year.

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2016 by regentrude

[theelfqueen]

What about buying a daily planner the type with time sections...and just jotting down what was done in the time slots ie. DC1 MATH PAGES 2-7, DC2 typing practice,

cub scout meeting, hike at the park, etc?

 

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[Dramorellis]

What works for me is to have a comprehensive planner. I have a Plum Paper teacher planner that I list all of their social/sports/clubs on the calendar section for the whole session in advance. So we will be meeting with our co-op every Friday for the next 12 weeks then I sit down and list the time and label it for the next 12 weeks. Same with swimming, gymnastics and park days. I have a "Field Trip" printout I got free online and I fill it out every time we got to a museum, theater or workshop. I can fold them and keep them in the pocket of the planner. What is most helpful for me is to label what did weekly but after we have done it. So I label subjects as Math, Language Arts etc. and then this week I would fill in what we accomplished last week in every box. I put all 3 children in the same box. It takes me 10 min. once a week to do. You could also do the same thing but fill it out every night for the "school day" just completed. I save completed workbooks and samples of progress. Copywork and  notebooking works well because it's all together in a spiral notebook already. If it's loose I might save something every month or so in every category. I just have a cubby that I pile it in totally unorganized and then at some point in the year I put it in a binder. I take pictures of artwork or quick videos of music lessons or things that are nice but I don't want to keep. 

[abba12]

I can send you a template or do a proper mockup for you in a few days if that would help.

 

I'm also happy to chat via PM about mental health hospitalisations and Australian home education registration requirements, etc.

 

Thanks for the offer with the template but no need. I'm pretty good with actually making that stuff, it's just figuring out how to go about keeping the records in the first place and what/how to record that I'm struggling with. This is me brainstorming, and thanks everyone for the help with ideas. It'll probably end up looking like a combination of many of these things, I am getting some good ideas, just reading what everyone else does is helpful. 

 

I assume by your second quoted sentence that that means you have some experience with mental health hospitalisations. Sorry to hear that  :sad:. Thanks for the offer. Thankfully I have been stable enough to avoid that for almost 5 years now (my pregnancy with my second child did something weird and sent me into psychotic episodes and more on top of the preexisting PTSD. Never happened with the first or third, but has the potential to happen if I get pregnant again or, heaven forbid, during menopause). I'm hoping we can avoid it ever being necessary again, but I also need to be realistic, even without female hormones adding to things, I have good months and bad months and there's a number of circumstances that could trigger some really bad months, that haven't occurred but have the potential to (the cause of my PTSD isn't a completely closed situation). But, for now I'm doing well, actually this month is a great month, perfect time to plan this kinda thing. 

[debi21]

I have been using an open Excel file, similar to what you mention about Word, but maybe even easier. Three columns: day, date, and one wrapping cell where I list what we did that day. I keep on copying and pasting down the date and day as time goes on. I will probably start a new tab or file for a new year. On a separate tab I list books read, a column for each month (and read alouds separate) so I can just put "reading" in the cell. I'm terrible at record keeping and it's so easy, even if some days I just write none. I haven't listed playdates as far as social but I put on extracurriculars like art workshop or gymnastics and I put on museums/plays/other events. I even put on educational DVDs we watch. Looking back the big, multi-line cells make me feel better about the emptier ones and I have a little record.

 

I also take phone photos of interesting writing or art my son does - but don't do anything with it for now - similarly you might just take the pic and not really organize it unless it becomes necessary - this way it takes no time/effort.

[Pegs]

I assume by your second quoted sentence that that means you have some experience with mental health hospitalisations. Sorry to hear that :sad:. Thanks for the offer. Thankfully I have been stable enough to avoid that for almost 5 years now...

That's great that you've been able to manage at home for so long without requiring inpatient care. You must have some kickarse skills and some really good systems set up.

 

And yeah, I was in just recently for the first time in a long time. Hoping not to have to repeat that, but like you, I've started wondering on it - how to cover homeschooling through a crisis where I'm unavailable, or even just how to build more general resilience into our homeschooling. There's probably a whole other thread in that, hey? :)

[abba12]

That's great that you've been able to manage at home for so long without requiring inpatient care. You must have some kickarse skills and some really good systems set up.

 

And yeah, I was in just recently for the first time in a long time. Hoping not to have to repeat that, but like you, I've started wondering on it - how to cover homeschooling through a crisis where I'm unavailable, or even just how to build more general resilience into our homeschooling. There's probably a whole other thread in that, hey? :)

 

I've PMed you. A lot of it probably isn't helpful lol, but I figured I'd just start writing about what we do and maybe you'd find something helpful or reassuring or inspiring in there to apply to your situation. 

[73349]

I would work with a spreadsheet (Excel or a Google Sheet, whatever works for you). I'd have a column for each child and one for things done together. Each row could be a day or a week, depending on how detailed you'd like to be. If you need more room or it works better for the color-coding, you could make columns instead for each kind of activity (reading, hands-on, social, etc.) or each subject (English, maths, art, etc.).

 

Print on a schedule, such as once a month (I have my phone remind me of things like that), and place in a 3-ring binder, with a new cover page for each year--maybe back to front so the newest page is on top. If you are up for adding a photo page for each month, Microsoft Publisher is a good way to do so neatly and gives the option of a little text box caption.

 

Best wishes. I hope your record-keeping becomes merely a nice memento for the kids when they're older.

[73349]

Oh! Or there's Trello. It's an app for phones and also you can use it via the web. Make a card for each day. Put items you do that day on the card. It has color-coding, and I think you can add a picture to a board (collection of cards). That might be simpler.

[CadenceSophia]

I would use the basic bullet journal system and what OKbud suggested. That's basically what I am doing now. When you start your notebook (only one!) Leave several pages at the beginning for an index. Then start writing down what was done on the days one at a time (I divide a two page spread into 5 sections to make a week) Use children's initials to record activities that only apply to that child. Every time your children finish something big, or maybe roughly monthly as you feel like it, take one page to write a nice summary of what was accomplished since the last update and log that page number in the index. When you are finished with that notebook you will have a complete day to day record and a nice collection of written updates logged that you can quickly find.

 

For work sample, I'd just make a computer folder (or Drive/Dropbox) that says work sample [year], inside go by month, click pictures from the phone and upload to a monthly folder. If you get around to renaming the file with child, date, and subject great. If not, it's pretty organized already. I'd shoot for 6-8 photos per child per month, hitting all the subjects.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I missed one of your paragraphs in your original post, and see that my idea will NOT work. (Photos for instagram or FB) Good luck to you on finding a system that will work! I admire your determination, and your ability to assess both strengths and weaknesses. I'm sorry you have to jump through extra hoops.

 

Edited January 1, 2017 by Tibbie Dunbar

[kolamum]

If blogging is out you could look at Homeschool Thing. It's private, free, & simple. You can snap photos & upload them with dates, times, locations, & what happened. You could even let kids & hubby help.

When called upon it can all be printed out in PDF format or you could just log in & let them scroll through.

[Moonhawk]

Instead of you keeping the journal, can the kids each keep their own journal? (Okay, kids are younger, so you'll be doing the heavy lifting still, but by getting them involved, it will be easier long term and they can take over eventually)  We do this for piano, and are going to be expanding to other subjects, but I could see a quick and easy journal form for them to either fill out as the day goes, or at the end of the day.  You could create a document, print out a bunch of copies, then either put in a binder or get it spiral bound.  Since your kids are younger, you'll probably have to write down what they dictate at first, so it can be simple, just like

 

Date:

In Math, today I ________________.

In Writing, today I ______________.

In .... etc.

My favorite part of the day was _________.

 

If this is in a binder, they could also put examples of some of their work -- like if they do a math worksheet or artwork, 3 hole punch and put behind that day's journal page.  This would also be good to eliminate papers floating around after the day.  My kids love to 3-hole punch stuff.  And, if it is just part of the routine to do the journal at the end of the day, it shouldn't take too long. Your kids will help you make it a habit.

 

It doesn't address the issue of to frame it in an achievement way, like your lawyer suggested, unless you coach the kid to answer that way. 

[Momto6inIN]

I didn't read all the other responses, but as far as taking and organizing pictures, chatbooks.com immediately came to mind. It wouldn't be tied to a document of your activities but it wouldn't require any extra effort on your part other than taking the pictures.

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[lots of little ducklings]

Make a weekly checklist for each child, Monday-Friday as a Word document. Type out all possible assignments for the day that the child would do.

 

Print one checklist out for each child on Mondays and write the date at the top of the paper.

 

Whatever they do on a certain day, check off, and whatever they don't do, cross out. If they do any additional assignments or activities, handwrite them in on the appropriate day.

 

As for photos, take them with your phone or camera, whichever one records a date so that you could track down the photos by date if you needed them later. Make a card with each child's name and place it next to the project or whatever you are photographing so that you know whose assignment it is. Then you can access these photos later if needed for a lawyer.

 

Have a folder or binder for each child, and save the completed weekly checklists in it. You could also print out the photos weekly and add them to the folder/binder if you have time.

 

This system would keep an excellent record of their work without taking much time.

 

This is similar to what I do, except I print it all out at the start of the year, and it usually works very well.  I'm a pencil/paper type, for what it's worth... I just find that faster and easier.

 

Before the start of the year, I create a chart for each child, listing days (m-f) across the top, and subjects down the side.  Within each block I type all possible anticipated activities for that subject -- book(s) that child will use, labs, lessons, etc... basically anything I might want to record (Sometimes I'll even list multiple texts if I'm undecided or might change my mind).  I copy and paste that same info across that subject for each day of the week (even if I don't plan on having the child work on that subject every day).  Do this for all subjects, then print forty copies.  (Each copy is used for one week, equalling forty weeks)

 

Then, on Monday morning of Week 1, the date for that week is jotted on top of the page, and any items completed for any subject are checked off down the Monday column as we go.  Check, check, check, and we're done. If I want to track specific pages for, say, their math book, I just jot the page numbers down in the space I left for that purpose beside the book's name. The big bonus is that there is no need to write out book titles, because they are already there, and there's no need to set up a new document each week because I'm not listing actual specific assignments, just recording them after the fact. Somehow, that makes the whole process do-able for me.  

 

I currently bind all of the sheets for all my children together into one fat journal, since my three schooling kids are still very dependent.  I look forward to binding them separately in the future, so each child can take charge of their own record-keeping.

 

Also, I use this editable planner to create my charts, but of course you could create your own.   

 

Here's a screenshot (hopefully!) that may help clarify my ramblings above:

 

 

[Cynful]

The first thing I thought of when I read your post is Notgrass' Planner:  https://history.notgrass.com/other-resources-k-12/record-keeping/  Here are sample pages: https://history.notgrass.com/content/record_book.pdf  This is if you want to record after the fact and have a paper journal.  Hope it helps.

[knitgrl]

I use my lesson planner. There's the excel grid I print, and then daily plans are written in pencil. If it gets done, it gets a check mark next to it. If it doesn't get done, no check mark. Sometimes, we do something differently, so I erase what was there, write in what we did, and put a check mark next to it. There's enough space to put extra notes, like a play date, field trip, or whatever. I periodically take photos of projects that don't fit nicely into a 3 ring binder. For me, it really isn't any extra work at all.

[MeghanL]

I have a super simple system. I take a notebook and write the month and year at the top of a page. On the first line I write "Books Read". On the second page I write the same month and year on the top of the page and "Places Been" on the first line. I do this every month by writing the books we read in the notebook before I put them in the library bag to return to the library. Then, I look at my calendar at the end of every month and write down lessons, social events, family gatherings, therapies, etc. Then I assign a subject to each event and the time spent. When the notebook runs out of paper I write the months and years on the cover and store it in the rubbermaid bin in our basement. 

 

I also have a 3 ring notebook for each kid and a 3 ring hole punch. After tests, big writing assignments or anything else I want to keep, I have the kids put it in their "portfolio". At the end of the year, I take everything ok, put a rubber band to keep everything together and include a sheet of paper that says "child's name, year". Then I keep it all in a rubbermaid bin in the basement. 

 

It takes seconds a day to keep up with and the kids do the hole punching :) 

[ondreeuh]

I also need things to be organized and simple. I plan things out in OneNote but then hardly reference it because I have to flip around the program constantly. The best year we had was when we used Homeschook Skedtrack, and it is free.

 

If you plan out assignments in Homeschool Skedtrack, it generates a to-do list each day. As they check off assignments, it saves the date. You can then print reports to document what you've done. You can assign 200 assignments called "Watch CNN Student News" and tell it to assign then work Mon-Fri. You can even include hyperlinks. And for things that aren't really planned in advance, you can make it editable so the kid types in what they did. We used that for free reading and an exercise log. You could do it for play dates, library visits, field trips, etc. if you don't check the box,it just shows up the next day.

 

Personally, I would just make weekly file folders and put their finished work in the correct folder. Get them in the habit of writing their name &a date on each assignment. I wouldn't bother with electronic copies unless I had to.

 

I save work samples in PDF format using the CamScanner app on my iPhone. You just lay the paper on the table, take a photo through the app, snap the borders to crop it, add another page, save, boom.

[2_girls_mommy]

I keep a daily lesson planner. I fill it in for the most part once a week, filling in the lesson # of math or any other curric that is just do the next lesson. PE is dance classes that occur weekly plus co-op class. Easy enough to fill in. I log all field trips and such in the closest subject they fit into. (Science museum goes under science. If we spent particular attention on any one exhibit or had a focus for the day then I jot that too. Otherwise I just note that we spent a couple of hours there.) 

 

I do not log everything we do with friends, but if we do a project with our homeschool group I will log that. Social Studies once a month is a lesson there around our topic of the year. I will note the topics of the day and that it was with our group. Dance classes are noted in PE. Scouts activities, even weekend ones, are noted. So those are all things that occur with groups i.e. socialization, so it is there as evidence if needed. 

 

I keep a separate folder for each child each year. In it I put brochures from field trips, national parks, museums, play brochures they were in at church or homeschool group, any awards or certificates earned at outside activities like from swim lessons saying they passed to the next level, scout certificates, awards from educational contests we enter, etc. I sometimes put a few examples of favorite art or a snapshot or two of the child in here. I put ribbons from the state fair and from the field day they compete in once a year and from swim meets in the summer, stuff like that.  That folder shows a lot of outside activities, and I don't do anything special. It is just a place to keep things in one place that I could scrapbook if I wanted to, but most likely is just a momento folder for each child each year. 

 

And I keep work separated into folders or binders by subject, so I can easily pull samples from each subject if I needed to, but I don't have to show a portfolio. But if for some reason I ever did, I have the daily journal (planner,) the special folder for each child, and plenty of work samples. I also keep a flat storage box of good art that they do in art class or at home, so I have that.  I keep lists of books read in the daily journal. 

I don't worry about pictures. I do take some with my phone. If I needed to print some I could, but I don't very often. I used to at the end of every school year go and print some that showed the highlights of the year, but that gets pretty expensive. The things I do are just habits that don't really require too much extra time. Filling in the journal daily as we go is just something I do during school time. Filing things in the proper place takes some time each summer to prepare binders and folders and to pull and file the previous year's. But once that is done it is just a matter of putting papers in the right place during the school year.