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Making Your Own Records and Planning Book

© Cheryl Lewis

If you are a parent who is homeschooling your preschooler, then you probably don't have to keep records of your schooling. Although, to be better able to gauge your child's educational progress, records would be a big help. If you're planning to send your child to public or private school in kindergarten, records might come in handy to be able to refer back to.

If you're a parent who is homeschooling a kindergartener or primary student then it's likely that you do have to keep some form records. It will be up to you as the homeschooling parent to find out what your state requires. Many states are changing their laws faster than websites can update their information but the one site I would recommend for this information is HSLDA | State Laws.

I looked at several different homeschooling planners when I homeschooled my older kids for elementary. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in a premade book so I created my own. I bought a one inch three ring binder with the plastic cover. I then purchased dividers in two different varities. I made a nice title sheet with our name, a graphic and my goal statement printed on it. It gave the book a little more life and served as an inspiration and reminder of what the overall goal was.

In my state I was required to keep attendance. So in my first section I kept my attendance records and grade sheets. In the second section I made my own lesson plan pages. In the third section I also used the same lesson plan pages to make notes on what we did that day and how the kids seemed to be progressing with the lesson for that day. The fourth section contained a list of books, magazines and/or articles that we read. The fifth section is where I kept records and notes of our field trips. The sixth section was actually one large section in which I subdivided into subjects and stored notes and ideas. The final section is where I kept copies of our state and county laws, our support group information and any other important information.

I also purchased an expanding file folder for each child's cumulative folder. I kept papers and worksheets from each subject that showed their progress and/or final projects.

Now there are lots of places online to find forms that you can print out and have copied to make your own planners. Tipz Time offers some nice free and helpful pages that you can print out. Although this site has closed they still have wonderful forms that you can print out at Homeschool Forms.

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