One reader wanted to know about our simple homeschool record keeping system. Today is the day I answer that question.
I’m one of those people who just can’t stand clutter.
Admittedly, with four sweet blessings running around, I’ve had to lower my standards a bit, BUT I always strive to be as clutter free as possible.
And paper clutter – oh ,it’s the worst!
Homeschool Record Keeping
Here is my basic system:
- Decide what to keep
- Put papers we might want to keep in a short-term storage folder throughout the school year.
- At the end of the year, sort through papers in short term storage and file in long term storage keeping only what we may need.
A simple system
Our long-term homeschool paper storage system is super streamlined and simple.
I know if a system isn’t super easy to maintain, then it likely isn’t going to be kept up. The last thing I want is a massive stack of papers without a home or to have to spend time every week filing and sorting.
Homeschool record keeping: what to keep
In order to file your homeschool papers, reflect on what you need to keep.
I’d love to give you a checklist, but the requirements may be different in your state. You should probably check out the HSLDA’s recordkeeping section.
Again, check your own state requirements.
For us, I think about what I would need if we would ever need to “prove” our children’s education.
Here’s what I’ve deemed important for our family to keep.
- Any paperwork filed with the local school/state
- Attendance
- Grades
- Course of study for each year (includes books used and general study plan)
- Any formal testing
- Samples of work for each year
- Keepsakes (special drawings, etc. which get filed in a keepsake box not our homeschool records)
I think the hardest thing to decide is what work samples to keep. During the school year, I keep more than I do at the end of the school year.
During the school year
As my children complete school work through the year, I keep all their tests, written papers, etc. I do NOT keep daily work like math lessons, handwriting, English lessons, etc.
Each child has a file folder in my homeschool room filing basket. I pop whatever I want to keep in the file as it gets completed.
Tour our homeschool room to see where this basket lives!
This system is just one motion, and I never end up with piles of paper to be filed = fail-proof easy
At the end of the year
At the end of the year I go through each file. My objective is to show my child has learned during the year but not to show that they have worked every day of the year.
Soooo….
Examples of things I keep:
Instead of keeping each test, I might keep the “good” tests or the quarterly/semester tests.
Maybe 5 of their best writings.
A list of literature read.
Quarterly/semester tests from workbooks (English).
Attendance and grade sheets(just S, S+, S- for early elementary) filled out and filed.
A lose “transcript” which lists courses studied over the years and grades.
All of this goes in the long term storage. The process takes me maybe an hour to complete at the end of the year for all 4 of my kids at this point.
What I don’t keep:
- Daily work (comprehensive tests show that daily work was done)
- Every bit of writing (we choose about 5-6 samples)
- Papers for the early elementary (just a few samples from the beginning of the year and the end of the year)
- I don’t keep Latin work (I don’t think the state will put me in prison if I can’t prove that my 6th grader completed their Latin. I will keep their foreign language work in high school though because foreign language is necessary to get into most colleges).
Permanent Storage
I take my stack of things to be filed and put them in my long term storage box at the end of every year.
What you need for long term storage:
- Colored hanging files (one color/child)
- Labels for folders (love my label maker)
- File Folder Box
I broke down our long term storage into these categories for each child.
Folder files for each child:
- Transcript/Course of Study
- Legal
- Testing
- Past Year
- K-5th
- 6th-8th
- 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th (I will likely keep one file for each year as this is the most important documentation for college admissions, but we aren’t quite there yet.)
- Arts
As you can see from the above picture, I label each folder with the child’s initials and then what is in the folder (i.e. ILR-Legal, ILR-Past Year, etc.)
What is in each folder:
Transcripts/Course of Study: Basically each child has a “transcript” which is a one page list of courses by school year, whether they passed/failed (elementary), their final grade (middle school and high school), and attendance for the years (I have to update this yearly). I also include a 1 page course of study for each year (which I have to submit to the state anyway!).
Legal: This is anything I have filed with the state through the local school. Also immunization records as we sometimes need to supply those.
Testing: If a child has done any formal testing, then I include those results in this folder. (We like to have our kids tested every other year for our own benefit and to prepare them for formal test taking.)
Past Year: I tend to keep more from our most recently completed year. Since education builds on itself, if I can prove what my child accomplished last year, it is a good indication we’ve been schooling for more than that year. At the end of the next academic year, I will cull some of these papers before filing what remains in the appropriate folder (elementary, middle school, or high school). Then the papers from the current past year go in this file in their place.
K-5th: Yep, one folder for this huge chunk of time. Like I said, education builds so much upon itself that if my child can do long division in 3rd grade, I likely won’t need to prove what he did in 1st grade.
6th-8th: I keep a bit more from this age range.
9th,10th,11th,12th: One folder per year. Or at least that’s my plan -we aren’t there yet!
Arts: I DO NOT KEEP every piece of art my child has ever made, but I like to hold on to a few of our favorites. We also keep the child’s illustrated and memorized poems here. Sometimes these get filed away in our keepsake box downstairs too.
I’d love to know if you have any special tips and tricks for sorting/storing homeschool records!
You may also enjoy:
Quickly Plan Your Homeschool Year
Create Your Own Scope and Sequence
The Complete Guide to {Catholic} Homeschooling
