Friday, September 26, 2008

"Record-Keeping, the Essentials!"




Record keeping has never been my strong area - I must admit. A book I like that has been helpful to me is "Relaxed Record-keeping" by Mary Hood. She has kind of shaped my record keeping model.


Basically I just keep a daily planner and take notes on that - a list of what is done. Field trips and other activities are kept in one place on the family calender. I do not keep track of grades - if we even take test - except for in high school.


I believe strongly that a child is learning all the time from the time they get out of bed until the going to bed at night. Keeping a record of significant events is all I have time to write.


New York state requires quarterly reports which also I find helpful in making a permanent record of what we have covered. (See, I am trying to make that burden positive.) I look through my day planner and make lists of what we covered. If we used a text or work book for a subject, I will list topics covered from the table of contents for that subject. For a grades I write in "Satisfactory" or "Needs Improvement." In high school, I do figure out the grades from what we have covered each quarter.

1 comment:

Sarah at SmallWorld said...

Mary Hood spoke to our support group several years ago and she was absolutely THE BEST homeschooling speaker I've heard yet!! I loved everything she had to say!

I grew up in NY. Where abouts are you?