This week on the Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Record Keeping for Homeschool High School.

Record Keeping for Homeschool High School

Sabrina is wants to share about record keeping with our many 7th Sisters today. (Remember, HSHSP is brought to you by 7SistersHomeschool.com. There are 6 of us Sisters Sabrina, Vicki, Kym, Marilyn, Sara and Allison. Who’s the 7th Sister? YOU are!)

Homeschooling high school requires a lot of record keeping. This is something that many of us 7Sisters do not love. But we must keep our paper trails so that we graduate our homeschool high schoolers with a solid backup or proof of what they have done. This might be as simple as a transcript, but often we want to have more records to back up the transcript, just in case.

Remember: there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school! So there’s not ONE right way to do record keeping. You get to decide what is best for you, your teens and their future.

So what kind of record keeping for homeschool high school do YOU need?

There are almost as many ways of record keeping as there are homeschooling families. If will help if you think about these two ideas:

You need a record keeping system that is sustainable.

• Some homeschool moms love planners! Planners often help keeping track of all your homeschool “stuff”.
• Some homeschool moms find planners unsustainable, but they can keep work at track of papers.
• Some homeschool moms will find they must learn the skill of keeping track of paperwork.

You need a record-keeping system that fits your personal style.

• You cannot just copy someone else, no matter how impressive. You have to be you.
• God made you to be a unique person and that is good in His eyes. (He made your teens to be unique, also.) You can develop a record-keeping system that works in your unique situation.

Ask yourself these questions:

These questions will help you figure out why kinds of record keeping will work for you and your family.

• Who are you?
• What are the things that make you, you?
• What is important to you?
• How do you currently manage your:
  • Calendar
    • Family schedule
      • Medical appointments
      • Family times together
  • Household management schedule
    • Meal planning and prep
    • Shopping
    • Home and car mainenance
  • Church schedule
  • Homeschooling schedule
  • Community schedule
  • Work schedule
• Does mom do everything or are the responsibilities spread throughout the household? Or is your family free-roam and things get done when they get done?
• These all make up the feel and structure of your unique family and homeschool. What works for your family, works for your family.

There’s not ONE right way to run a family. A good system for you and your family is the one that you finds works best for you all.

No matter what you decide to use for record keeping, please keep records.

In the end, you need to be able to assure that the credits earned by your homeschool high schooler mean something. You need to be able to assure yourself or an employer or college that a credit earned was a credit earned. That the papers were written and the books were read and the hours for Carnegie credits happened.

We want to maintain our integrity as homeschooling parents for the sake of our homeschool high schoolers’ future. Record keeping in some form helps with that.

Remember: The way you go after success in your family and homeschool needs to be a reflection of the individuals in your home.

• If you have a loose-style/free-roam/organic family, think about having a place in the house that finished work lands:
  • A box
  • A table top in a room (not in the kitchen, hopefully)
  • Set a day once a week or month where you grade and file papers and tests, add up logged hours
  • Place them in some sort of file system (portfolio, crate)
• If you enjoy more discipline and organization:
  • Think about creating a crate per high schooler with hanging folders for each subject.
  • Regularly go through the crate and grade tests and papers and update adding logged hours
• Or use your planner to keep papers that need grading, then add them to a file.

IF you fall off your record keeping for homeschool high school, do not criticize yourself.

• God is a God of grace. Forgive yourself and work on getting back on track.

If you want your teens involved (which we do recommend), there are a couple of ways to handle this process:

• We 7Sisters worked to have our teens more and more involved in:
  • Choosing courses and curriculum
  • Developing and following syllabi
    • 7Sisters provides a suggested syllabus for many of our texts
  • Learning independent learning and motivational skills
  • Moms should become a resource manager and accountability partner (grading, daily or weekly checkins, developing the transcript)
• Remember: NO mom-shaming! Please do not shame your homeschool mom-friends for their unique styles…and do not share yourself!

Join Sabrina for an encouraging discussion about record keeping for homeschool high school. Also check out our interview on record keeping with our friend, Ann Karako.

• Check out our resources from 7Sisters to help you with your planning.https://www.7sistershomeschool.com/authoritative-guide-to-planning-homeschool-high-school/
• Check out these interviews on getting organized with our friends, Melanie Wilson (of Homeschool Sanity Podcast) and Tatiana Adurias.
• Hey, if you haven’t joined our 7SistersHomeschool Facebook group, it is a wonderful place to ask questions and be encouraged! (And check out Sabrina’s helpful, weekly Facebook live.)

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Record Keeping for Homeschool High School

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