My Homeschool Records Book
Tomorrow is the first day of the final term of the school year. Andy is busy preparing lessons for his school class (he is a primary school teacher). And I am not busy preparing lessons. I have hardly thought about the new term. I don’t really need to. Andy will get up early and head off to school, and we’ll slip back into our normal term time routine. It always happens that way. The only preparation I should do is find my records book. Yes, tomorrow I have to resume recording my children’s learning experiences in order to satisfy my homeschooling registration requirement.
I wonder if you’d be interested in hearing about my method of recording. Perhaps you’re looking for some ideas. (Or maybe you’re not!) You might imagine, after nearly 21 years of homeschooling, I have worked out a very impressive recording system, perfected by many years of trial and error.
As you probably know, there are lots of recording methods: I could buy a special homeschooling journal or diary; I could download a template and insert all my info; I could set up my own computer file or use a special online website designed just for record keeping; I could even buy a homeschooling app for my tablet. So which of these methods do I use? I don’t actually use any of them. I use an old exercise book.
I keep my exercise book on the arm of the sofa, together with a pen. The book is there, right at hand, and it doesn’t take much effort to jot down a few notes at various times of the day. I don’t have to wait for a quiet moment. I don’t have to write neatly. I don’t even have to turn on my computer.
Perhaps my system doesn’t sound very sophisticated. It sure doesn’t look very impressive. But for me, it works. And it has always satisfied the Board of Studies Authorised Person when I am renewing my homeschooling registration.
Now I’m not saying, “Go out and buy an exercise book to use for your homeschool records.” The point of this post (I think) is…
Simple is sometimes all that’s needed. A method that doesn’t involve much time or effort is good. I’d rather spend more time with my children and less time compiling records. And a method that works is better than one that looks impressive.
Since starting this post, I’ve located my exercise book. Now I think I’ll go and take a couple of photos and add them to this story. Perhaps then you can be totally not impressed, but at least you won’t leave my blog thinking, “I could never do that. I feel so inadequate.”
Because everyone can scrawl a few notes in an exercise book.
So I don’t have an impressive record-keeping system, but that’s okay because I know…
Homeschool records, however sophisticated, are just words. If we really want to know if our children are learning, we only have to observe them. Sometimes that can be very impressive indeed.