Hello again! Welcome back to the last day of Not Back to School Blog Hop!
Today, the Homeschool Review Crew bloggers are sharing about their homeschool planning and record-keeping.
Planning
On Tuesday, in the “Must-Have Resources” post for the Not Back to School Blog Hop, I mentioned how important the right planner is for the homeschool mom. (You can read that post here.) Unless you’re unschooling, planning your lessons will ensure that you are completing the curricula you’re working on. It will enable you to work at a steady pace. And, it will provide a record for you not only at the end of the year but in the years to come.
I wrote down EVERYTHING we did; the lessons, pages completed in books, experiments, swimming lessons (and other sports lessons), coop lessons, field trips, books read, community service and volunteer hours worked. Trust me, this will enable you to complete those all-important….
End of the year records
You really will want to complete these every year. Even in kindergarten! Some families complete portfolios; while we kept many art lessons, essays, and other special projects, I relied more on a simple list of what we completed in each semester. That ought to include everything I mentioned in the paragraph above. All the books your child read, volunteering, recitals, roles in dramatic presentations, sports played, and awards won. You can include photos of special events. The more complete you can be, the better! Because, eventually, you will need to complete your child’s…
High School Transcript
Yep. All those years of faithful record keeping will bless you immensely when you have to complete your child’s high school transcript. Even if your child does not plan to attend college, he or she may need record of the proof of high school graduation for a job or other future plans.
Jackson did plan to attend college, however. And all the records I kept throughout the year enabled us to produce an accurate record of his high school work in the form of a transcript.
I am not an affiliate for Lee Binz, but I give her all the credit (tons of it!!) for teaching me how to keep records for high school homeschool. I recommend that you check her out, before your child’s 9th grade year if possible. (If you’re already into your high school years, it will still be very helpful!) Lee’s business is found on her website, TheHomeScholar. She has both free and paid resources which, for me, made all the difference in the world in understanding how to create a transcript. She provides free online webinars on a variety of high school homeschooling help topics. I particularly recommend what I used (I think the purchase price currently is $47); her online course, The Total Transcript Solution. (You can find that when you click on the “Online Help” tab on TheHomeScholar home page.) And, I believe right now, she is sending out free transcript examples for signing up for her newsletter.
Not only will an excellent transcript enable your child to get into college, it will be a help for you as he or she applies for scholarships. Some scholarship applications require a transcript; and if they don’t, your child can still utilize the information on the transcript (which can include awards, activities, and service) to write application essays.
In the end…
You will be so thankful that you have these records of your homeschool life. Even apart from the practical value good homeschool records and a transcript have, you’ll be surprised how much you *don’t* remember at the end of your homeschool journey. I have been decluttering this summer and I have had moments of astonishment when I ran across a brochure or picture from an event or field trip from our early days.
I’m so grateful for our lesson planners, for Lee Binz and all I learned about transcripts from her, and for the process of completing Jackson’s transcript. And, it did get him admitted to his desired university!
Be sure to check out the main Not Back To School Blog Hop page today, for all the other posts about homeschool record-keeping. You can access that by clicking on the pink link below.
https://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=298662
I hope you’ve enjoyed the Not Back to School Blog Hop. It has been a pleasure for me to share with you some of our favorites from homeschool. Bless you on your homeschool journey this year!
Enjoy! –Wren
finchnwren 
I love how you set up this post…I love reading works (books, blog posts, etc) that have good connections and transitions.
Aw…you’re so sweet! Thank you! 😊
You do such a lovely job of tying it all together and helping see the greater picture. So glad Jackson was able to get into his college of choice. Congrats on that. Thank you for the encouragement I find here so often, even when I don’t comment. This is another encouraging post for me.
Lori. You are so precious! Thank you!
As you know, I am so blessed by you as well. 💟