Keeping Good Records For The Home School

I've heard it said that there is no trail like a paper trail. When it comes to the home school this mantra holds special meaning, both for potential legal and scholastic support, and for the memories that your child will hold dear in the future about their education.

Keeping records is not only a good practice, but it can also be valuable in upholding your rights as a home school practitioner in a court of law should the need arise.

Many home school parents like to use the portfolio method of keeping records during the school year. The portfolio can include, (but is not limited to) the following records:

Scholastic Achievement

This area of the portfolio expounds upon the educational activities that are participated in by the child for each subject.

Social Interaction

Families that home school often experience incredible cristicism from well meaning relatives and friends about the supposed lack of social interaction with the outside world. This section of a portfolio can assist the parent in explaining in real world terms, how their child interacted with their peers and others in social settings throughout the year.

Personal Growth

This section can illuminate the positive aspects of your child's growth in a variety of areas including mentally, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Examples of the child's work in a number of these areas will "flesh out" what the student has done with her time to grow as a person throughout the year.

Field Trips

Home school families are well known for their educational application skills in a wide variety of settings and places. A parent can elaborate on the trips that were taken, and the educational environment that was explored by adding pictures, essays, and personal narratives of the trip.

The portfolio doesn't have to be fancy, and most of them can be quite lumpy and bulky in appearance. Many families that home school their children use a simple 3 inch thick binder with a clear cover that allows for personal decoration and explanation by the student for that particular school year.

Although one cannot possibly include everything that the child has accomplished during the school year, the portfolio allows for a monthly sampling of some choice work and activities that have taken place. An example would be a writing sample or book report.

Most families who use this method of record keeping find it rather enjoyable to look back over the years and watch their children as a "work in progress" by perusing their portfolios. And, it helps to know that the documentation is there if they ever need it.