{TOS Crew Blog Cruise} Record it Bloggy Style

Every week a question is posted to TOS Crew members and answers are then compiled into a blog cruise. This week the question is this....

What are your favorite record-keeping tips?

I have tried a few things over the last ten years to address this. Not only do I want to keep a good record of what my son(s) accomplish, but I also want a way to easily find those things have worked before for the younger ones as they get to that stage.

When I first started out, I used a traditional teacher planner or one redesigned for homeschooling parents. I found myself sitting down and filling in the little boxes and planning everything out. Then I would take an impromptu field trip and my boxes wouldn't line up. This drove me bonkers! I had the same issue when trying to use a free online planner. I couldn't reschedule if we took a day off, one of the boys were sick, or we headed out for the day.

Over the last few years I have finally settled on what works for us. Each day I create a checklist for my boys. This contains all the school work they need to do for the day. Click HERE if you'd like to see a sample of a recent one for my oldest son.

The next step for my record keeping is creating a blog post on my school blog. This serves as my permanent record and it allows me to toss the paper trail. The only problem I'm having lately with this system is keeping the blog updated. I'm almost three months behind - yikes! I also date each entry so that I can track the days we complete. Our state requires 175 days.

My ultimate goal is to have these printed. I add links and photos to each entry as well and at some point, I think I'll begin adding copies of worksheets. That would allow it to be a portfolio of their school and be a great record for them to have of their school career.



This post is part of the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog Cruise. The Cruise will go live on Tuesday, May 1st. I will add that link HERE once it is live.