Adequate record-keeping strategy?

[fourisenough]

My 14-year old DD just completed 9th grade. We live in a no-reg state, so I'm relying on the wisdom of this board regarding what documentation I need to keep for purposes of college admissions. I have created a DropBox account for her with 4 folders, one for each year of high-school. In the 9th grade folder, I have included: the syllabus for each class; the final grade reports for each class; her final report card for the year; her standardized test results; the course descriptions for each course. I also have a physical binder containing printed copies of all of the above, plus important work for each class, such as all labs, projects, and tests for physics; all exams for geometry; all essays for Great Books, etc. Does this seem comprehensive? Am I missing anything important? She uses her Google drive to store all of her written work, so she should be able to provide even more work samples should the need ever arise. This seems to me like a simple and sustainable solution for the duration of high school, but I'd love others to gut-check my system to ensure I'm not overlooking anything.

[RootAnn]

Probably more than she or you will need, IMO. I admire the organization of it all. Don't forget to keep a running list of extra-curricular activities & any awards/ achievements (sports, academic, or other). Easy to forget stuff.

[8filltheheart]

I just threw out a ton of my 11th grader's work from this yr. I don't keep much. Lesson planners for the yr and her essays are on the computer anyway bc she typed them.  Other than that, nothing. For ds I kept his lab notebook for AP chem.  No school has ever asked for any completed assignments. A small handful of schools are now asking for a graded essay.

[teachermom2834]

I hardly save anything. For outsourced classes I try to keep a printout of a syllabus and a final grade report. Maybe. Kind of like the last task for my high schoolers wrapping up the year is to print those items for each class and I trust they have done it and rarely follow up. I report grades to our umbrella school but it is just grade reporting software. No actual proof to justify the grades. I did hear of someone needing a graded research paper for an honors college application somewhere. 

I guess I am rolling the dice that it won’t be needed and in the rare case it is, it can be recovered off the computer or if a graded essay is needed it could be produced at the time. 

I have two in college and never needed anything like that. (With the standard disclaimer that we did not pursue admission at elite universities.)

I am the anti-hoarder and not a good record keeper. I pretty much figure if I saved all that stuff it would be misplaced or too disorganized to put my finger on it anyway. 

[Roadrunner]

Love your system. I am going to copy it for my homeschool. I have heard couple of times that UCs have asked for audits of some homeschoolers, so I don’t mind keeping a box or two until after I ship my kid to college. I know lab reports were mentioned, but the recent anti-homeschool spirit in the state with revelations of cheating by some homeschoolers elsewhere makes me think we should keep graded essays, lab reports, graded tests and exams just in case. And syllabi of course.  And make a tradition of burning the box on a bonfire on graduation day. 

Edited May 31, 2019 by Roadrunner

[catz]

I designate a binder for each year.  I keep course descriptions, curriculum names, grades, etc.  In the binder, I put together a calendar from the year in a spreadsheet, a transcript, and then some work samples.  Along with odds and ends - programs from things they do or see, maps from museums, odd photos, notes from teachers, travel itineraries, lab report examples, extracurricular info, dual enrollment transcript/course descriptions etc.

It is overkill, but I was grateful to have it all at college application time.  And they make nice little memory books, though I think when my kid is a couple years into college and I know I won't need that info anymore, I may condense down to maybe 2-3 binders total.  My kids do a lot of performance art/music stuff so it is nice to have that all kept somewhere for reference.

Some schools he applied to asked for work samples (written papers and/or lab report, etc).  

Edited May 31, 2019 by FuzzyCatz

[fourisenough]

Okay, good. It sounds like I’m on the right track, if not going slightly overboard. I’d rather keep too much than too little. The 9th grade binder is just a 1.5 inch standard binder, so no big deal to store. I’ll happily co-opt the idea of burning my binder contents in a bonfire after graduation!

[RootAnn]

2 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

 And make a tradition of burning the box on a bonfire on graduation day. 

DD has a box of generic college mail that she will recycle & another for the colleges she got into but isn't attending (so more personal info that she would want to shred) that she plans to burn once she gets the chance in a friend's fire pit.

[Bambam]

You guys are all more organized that I am!
I had a spreadsheet listing each year across the top, subjects as rows, and filled in the Course Title and book (if known, or what I thought we would use). 

I kept copies of all the schedules - only because I keep our schedules in Excel, so I saved it each week and just copied/renamed for the next week.

I kept tests. They kept their papers on their Google Drive. 

That's it.

All colleges wanted to see here in Texas was the transcript. No one asked any questions. 

Good idea about a backup email address for college emails. 

[Mbelle]

For my oldest the first 2 years of high school we did a few classes outsourced and regular homeschooling.  I kept a bankers box with a hanging files for each class and anded tests and a couple of samples of work plus class description and books used if any and grade reports for outsourced classes.  We went to a private hybrid school for the last 2 years of high school and they do the transcripts and added our first two years to it.  I'm glad I had all of that.  It took a lot of time to make copies and fill out forms, but at least I had all the stuff.   So you never know if you'll really need it all, but it can't hurt to have a good system going.

[MerryAtHope]

I kept samples instead of all lab reports, essays etc..., so unless you are in a state that requires you to keep everything or you think there's a chance a school would really want to see all of that, you'll likely be fine with just samples.

I think you'll really appreciate having done all of the end of year grades etc... each year! It makes doing a transcript SO much easier (in fact, I always just did the transcript as I went, inputting the info after I finished our course outlines/grade reports. I've done transcripts for a friend the other way too--without having any of the pre-work done. It's a lot of work trying to remember 4 years of courses and what you think the grade should be after the fact!) Having that info on how you did the courses and grading also makes it easier when you school the younger ones--you don't have to reinvent the wheel each time! 

Have fun with high school--the teen years can be a really exciting time to school, though definitely work at times too. 

[Kareni]

We kept a list of all my daughter's reading (purely pleasure as well as assigned reading) from 9th through 12th grades. Several of the colleges to which she applied asked for her reading list.

Keep a log of all the hours your child volunteers as well as what they did and where. Some applications ask for that information.

My daughter kept copies of all the essays she wrote throughout high school. Some of those essays were cannibalized when she wrote application essays.

Occasionally a tutor or out of the home teacher would provide a written assessment or a copy of a letter of recommendation to me. I saved those and used some quotes in the counselor letter I wrote for my daughter as part of her application package.

We also sent a portfolio of my daughter's work to two colleges which required or recommended that one be sent. Some of the things my daughter included in the portfolio:

--graded papers from outside classes
--a quiz and lab report from a community college science class
--Latin translation assignment from her AP Latin class
--a picture of a page from a Latin picture book that she wrote and illustrated
--photos of a couple of art pieces with the ribbons they won in the County fair

Regards,

Kareni