How do you keep records?

We also live in TN and I report grades according to progress.  Our umbrella school asks that we report letter grades for 4th-8th and number grades for 9th-12th (K-3 gets S-Satisfactory, U-Unsatisfactory, G-Good, etc.).   I don’t let the children see what grades I turn in because like you, I don’t want them to know they are being graded.  But, since they are learning and we are progressing, I’ve always recorded the highest possible.  The only exception is for high school math, which I did calculate based on homework and ‘tests’ grades.  In the end, it doesn’t really matter, because the state doesn’t do anything with those grades.  (In fact, our umbrella school told us up front, they don’t use those scores for anything.  They require it as an accountablility tool for people who aren’t taking homeschooling seriously.  It’s hard to imagine that’s even possible, but…)  The ACT, SAT and standardized tests (if your school requires any) are the scores that are looked at when necessary. 

As far as keeping records, could you be more specific?  I just keep a copy of anything I turn into our umbrella school (number of school days completed is included on our grades form-so that covers attendance).  I’ve been using the organizer here at SCM (absolutely wonderful!) for a couple of years and it keeps track of all our lessons covered.  Before that, I just kept a list for each child of different books they read and activities they completed and so on in Excel on our computer.  We also put together a simple portfolio (key word, SIMPLE) of some of the work that they feel most proud of.  One of the joys of CM is that they become the authors of their own books (science, history’s Book of Centuries, Nature Journal, etc.) so at the end of the year you have this notebook of their work that they’ve put together all year instead of tons of worksheets that they’ve filled out.  These become your records, and you don’t mind keeping these on your bookshelves just like you would any other book.  Our kids really enjoy going back and looking through these.  In the beginning we used workbooks too, and they have never asked to go back and look through those;  and I can see why! 

By state law we don’t have to keep records, since my husband is an attorney… LEGALLY, I am required to keep records.  LOL  I’m using the CM Organizer and printing the daily plan after the day is over to keep track of our work, in addition to that I put everything in a box and write the year on the outside JUST IN CASE.  He wants EVERYTHING documented so that legally we are covered should anyone ever question the thoroughness of our children’s education.

Be sure to take advantage of the free 30 day trial with the CM Organizer – it really is AMAZING and you can keep track of SO much that way!

I agree that the CM organizer is amazing.  Before we started using it, I didn’t keep a record of every day’s work completed.  I just kept a list of books each child read and kept some samples of copywork, math, etc. as Christie described above.  And I kept up with the number of school days completed.