How do you record what schoolwork they've done?

So far, my recordkeeping is all descriptive instead of proscriptive.  In other words, I don’t lay out what I will do on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday.  I just record it after it happens.  Here are some examples. 

Three times a year (spring, summer, fall), I make new charts for each of the boys.  I list any subject I think we might get to and the maximum number of times I suspect we’ll get to it in a given week.  As you can see, I don’t have a crystal ball:  Michael hasn’t begun typing yet, and sometimes we begin a subject I wasn’t expecting mid-semester.  That’s fine.  I write it in or leave it blank as the occasion calls for. 

You can see that at the bottom I write down any extra projects, field trips, or classes they attended, plus any sports they played as part of a league.  Last year we visited Washington, D.C. and I recorded that.  I record when they finished a particular textbook.  And though I could never record all of the books they read each semester, I try to record real “literature” that they read and also any series that captured a lot of their time, just to get a feel for what they were reading at the time.

I only record the things that are not “givens.”  Michael reads.  There’s no need for me to record that since I live in Texas and only have to keep records to satisfy myself. 

These two checksheets sit on the bar under my personal calendar.  I am one of those people who loves loves loves to cross things off of to-do lists, and putting check marks into boxes releases the same endorphins.  I like seeing the boxes fill up, and so this works for me.  Besides that, it helps me see, “Yikes!  We haven’t done spelling in forever!”  (A common occurrence.)  I also use it to motivate me into doing things with them that aren’t quite “school” but that I want to make a point to do with them (like board games).

It’s like having a checksheet for cleaning that shames you into doing chores more often.

(That’s why I don’t have a checksheet for cleaning.  I don’t want to do chores more often.  I don’t want to know how dirty my shower really is.)

Anyway, at the end of each semester, I take those papers and transfer the information into a Word document I have on my computer.    I’m not going to copy that here because I feel that’s a little more personal—akin to a report card—since it has how old the boys were when they finished certain grade-levels of textbooks.  I just write something like:

2012—Michael (ages 5 ¼ to 6 ¼):

       Singapore Math level **--February-September (2-3X/week)

       Singapore Math level **--September-   (2-3X/week)

       Spelling—January-December (occasional)

       (etc.)

  Extras:

       Played fall league of soccer

       Made a weather vane

      (etc.)

 Books:

      Read Stuart Little together

      (etc.)

I keep this list partly for the kids’ sake (in case I was ever second-guessed by someone about their education—although I don’t know who or why that would be), but also because I know I’ll use it as a reference for my younger kids.  I’ll think, “Oh, I forgot that the Map Skills book even existed!  Glad I saw that!” or “Am I crazy to start him on this so early?  Oh, I did it then with Michael too, so maybe I’m not!”

And…thus far, this is how I keep my records.