Planning and Organization

Planning and Organization:
I do a little planning during our summer break to get ready for the new school year. This past summer, I planned out all 170 days of my boy's lessons. I wrote down all of their assignments to be done each day in a spiral notebook. I was going to do my oldest daughter's lessons but ran out of time. I will probably get hers finished in a few weeks. Since I have so many teacher's books, it is just so much simpler to write everything down at the beginning so I don't have to drag them out each week to write everything down. I also don't date the assignments, just write lesson 1, lesson 2, etc. So if we take a field trip, the lessons don't get off. The kids can just pick up with the next lesson.

A few years ago I wrote this Homeschool Organization post. I try to keep all the quizzes and tests and papers that are needed for the year in a plastic container in file folders. Then I can just pull them out as needed.

Record Keeping:
The only record I have kept prior to my oldest reaching 9th grade is an attendance record (required by the state).

Last year, I only had one student to keep grades for, so I did it on a printable grade keeper form I found. It was sometimes difficult to keep up with especially at the end of each quarter and semester. I did manage to get the right grades and make up a transcript at the end of the year, but I would suggest being super organized if you go with the paper method.

This year I have two students I need to keep records for, so I downloaded the free version of Homeschool Tracker. This program makes it easy to keep track of their grades. I give them the test or quiz and grade it right away. I then enter the grade into the tracker program and I have it readily available. The Homeschool Tracker also keeps track of attendance. At the end of the year, I am able to print the grades and the attendance to keep on file.

Be sure to check out the post on the Homeschool Review Crew blog about planning and record keeping.