what's the best way you've found to track your kid's progress?

do you keep grades?
do tests?
not keep much written record?
keep a list of skills mastered?
do you keep them for your family?
do you keep them for the state?

please tell a newbie what's worked for you!
thanks

We're in Mississippi. Our state requires that you submit a curriculum plan for each semester, so, we submitted that and retained a copy for our personal reference. At the end of each semester, I graded my kids. I kept up with their progress daily by conversing with them. By the end of a semester, I had a good picture of what they had learned. Doing all this gave me what I needed for transcripts. These transcripts were accepted when the kids decided to go to college, but IT MAY BE DIFFERENT IN YOUR STATE.

To decide what subjects to list on the curriculum, I found out what subjects were required for college prep in our state.

Whatever you do, make sure you can locate your records when you are ready to fill out college applications. If you keep your records on computer, you should also keep a hard copy--maybe even in your safe deposit box at the bank.

I know things vary greatly from state to state. For example, I've heard that Florida requires supervision and testing of homeschoolers by a regular school teacher. I think Kansas is pretty strict, too. Check with your state or county School Superintendent and follow their guidelines.

Good luck, and have fun!

I do daily journal entries that include what the kids did, what resources were used and what they have mastered and need to work on. I just activated the article about how I do things, it's on the homeschooling front page.

I have started a new system for keeping track of their papers and projects. I either save the paper or take a pic, whatever is best, and file it according to subject in a 7 subject plastic file folder. I have a 7th subject just for copies of attendance reports (which we have to send in monthly until we reach 180 days) and other legal stuff.

Remember that first and foremost you need to know the law. Each state requires something different when it comes to records. Some states require proof that certain subjects were taught, some require written curriculum plans, but on the other hand some require nothing at all.

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I am newbie as well. I have three kids, soon to be four, and I plan to homeschool all four. My eldest is five and would be at K level. The home school educator at the district where I live said that I don't have to officially register her until she's eight. But I still want to keep a journal, log portfolio. Any suggestions? My other two are young toddlers.

Whatever you do, make it easy. That way you won't have to stay up all night documenting what your children are doing. You could just get some nice boxes, one for each child. Then, just chunk the mementos in the boxes. You might want to date the boxes and change them at set times--like every quarter. This way, each child has a box for Jan.-Mar, Apr-Jun, . . . you get the idea. That keeps it uniform for easy reference. You could even tape a summary page or pages on top of the box (or on the inside top) so you can list the highlights of what is in the box. As your box collection grows, just stack them on a bookshelf somewhere.

If you absolutely love scrapbooking or journaling, you could do scrapbooks or journals for each child; but that seems like it could get overwhelming. It depends on the person, though. If you love the method you choose AND if you keep it simple, you're more likely to be able to keep up the record keeping.

Mainly, just enjoy the process.

here is a website I found that is very useful in keeping records, obviously you'll have to keep hard copies of worksheets and whatever.

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In a previous post I mentioned my file folder system.

I have 5 kids, two are of compulsory age, 1 will be next year, a toddler and a baby.

For each comp. aged child I have a file folder with a seperate pocket for each subject. I just put papers in the correct pocket. I reuse almost everything so I make copies of workbooks or have the kids do the copying by hand where appropriate, so those go in the corect pocket. They also have a notebook for each subject where they keeps notes and stuff that fit in the pockets. I bought the folders for around $1 a piece at target at a back to school sale last year. At the end of the year I dump everything into a box, label it and store.

I also have my own notebook where I record what we did that day, when I remember. By my state law I have to document 4.5 hours a day, with specific subjects taught, for 180 days a year.

This is the simplest method I've tried over the years and the one I can keep up with the best.

My state has several options and the one I homeschool under doesn't require tracking. But, I do start tracking specifics once they hit high school (including jobs & extra-curricular activities) so that I can make up a diploma and for colleges to review. I have never given my kids grades and the diploma points that out. My oldest (18) is getting his AA at a local community college in May and then will transfer to a 4-year university the following fall. This worked well for him.

I guess I should mention that he finished out his high school years by taking classes thru the community college - so the grades they gave him were the only grades on his diploma.


Donna

Greetings, Cela! I too am in Mississippi.

The copy of the certificate of enrollment I have for the school board to file says a description of instruction program must be attached to card. What I usually submit is a list of the subjects I plan to teach and a description of what will be covered in the year.

The local community college does not accept homeschool transcripts. My children will test for the GED then apply to college and take the entrance tests needed at that point.

Hello. We are a new family here. I am the mom of 2 boys both of whom I home school. My oldest is 6 (will be 7 next week) and is autistic. Every Friday we do a "test" day. Whatever we have worked on that week we try to refresh on Friday with memory. So far it seems to have worked. Then what I do is grade him based on what he has remembered, tried to remember, or plain forgot. I put those grades in a book with listings of S (satisfactory), NS (non Satisfactory) and UA (unaccomplished). So far this seems to be going ok because the ledger I use is a simple one from Walmart and I update every three months with overall skill progress. The school district here in Minnesota does not require that I enroll him in a home school yet because he is not yet 7 or in 2nd grade. I hope this helps some. But at least when and if they ask me for something I will have the answers for them.