On any given day, I would rather pick up a month’s worth of dog treasures in our yard instead of dealing with the piles of papers in my study. Unfortunately, each new project or responsibility in my life necessitates some form of record keeping.

Incrementally, I’m reducing the paper mountains and embracing digital technology but I’m not ready to let go of my loyal companions - the files and binders in my life.

Although I use Quicken to track our family’s finances, I still have a manila file for every billing or investment account. I like knowing that I have tangible evidence that I can produce if ever there is a question about our accounts.

I’ve launched a Yahoo Groups account for the Girl Scout Service Unit that I manage and someday I hope to have every document that we need available in this forum. Nevertheless, I keep a binder next to my computer with the calendar, directory, and current project information. It’s much faster to reach for a binder than it is to get to the relevant page online.

Similarly, although there are many excellent online planners for homeschool educators, I’m not giving up on the convenience and permanence of files, binders, and paper planners. Twenty years later, I haven’t forgotten my experience losing an entire semester at Columbia University due to a computer error!

Files

I keep a plastic file box with manila files on each of the subjects we are currently covering, or that we hope to cover in the future. This is where I toss magazine articles and any other information on resources that may be useful to learning about that subject. There are also files for local field trips and other travel destinations where I put the brochures that I’m always picking up at Visitor Centers. Before you get too envious of my incredible organization skills, I should add that there are a few (too many) unfiled articles in the plastic box.

Binders

I love binders. My love affair with binders started when I was a paralegal at Davis, Polk & Wardwell, a big Manhattan law firm. One of my primary duties was to organize important documents in big, black binders. Considering that our case had enough bankers boxes of documents to build a Frank Gehry corrugated board home, it was quite a feat to reduce the massive quantity of documents to a manageable amount in a 5″ binder.

Inspired by this, I created a binder for my first major organizational project: my wedding. I put everything -fabric swatches, brochures, photos of floral arrangements, etc. - in this binder and it was wonderful. I had every detail of the wedding plans at my fingertips with me at all times.

Now, I have a binder for each of the groups that I lead as well as a binder for each of my kids with all their school records, tests, and important letters. Each child also has a binder for his writing portfolio. Additionally, my homeschooled child keeps his work product in subject binders.

Homeschool Record Keeping

In New York, homeschoolers are required to produce quarterly reports.

However, it can be difficult to keep track of daily accomplishments when you don’t follow a routine schedule. We have some work such as math lessons and handwriting practice that we cover sequentially most days, but there is a lot of learning that occurs when we veer off on tangents.

I find that the easiest way to keep track of our work is to keep a simple teacher’s plan book purchased at The Parent Teacher Store on hand where I note what we are working on. The letter-page-sized plan book is divided by week so when you open a 2 page spread you see 5 rows labeled Mon - Fri and 6 wide columns (3 per page) that you can label according to the subjects you usually cover. Mine are labelled: ELA; Math; Science;History; Spanish; Other. You could easily use the tables tool on Microsoft Word to create the same thing.

When it’s time to generate a quarterly report, I review the plan book to fill out what we covered in each subject. However, I hope to simplify this process next quarter using a computer-based homeschool record keeping program.

Homeschool Record Keepers:

  • Homeschool Tracker - Free Windows based software that allows you to keep track of assignments, reading logs, lesson plans, and field trips.

  • Edu-Track Homeschool - $60 software program for tracking records and generating report cards, certificates, teacher’s journal, and much more.

  • Homeschool Reporting Online - Record keeping and electronic storage of student records.

I won’t be letting go of my files and binders, but I’m willing to try wired learning solutions for saving time and trees.

For more help getting organized visit Homeschool Planners and Organizers at The Homeschool Mom.

What is your experience with these programs? Any other recommendations? Please post a comment to let me know.

Related Posts:

Homeschool Quarterly Report

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