How Do I Track My Homeschool?

Homeschooling is a wonderful way to educate your children, but it can be hard to keep track of everything that gets done daily. In fact, many new homeschool parents ask, “how do I track my homeschool?” This article will tell you how to track your homeschool effectively so that you know what progress has been made and where there are gaps in learning.

You Should Have a Set Time and Place for School Work

It’s important to set a time and place for school work because otherwise, it can be hard to focus or get your child to work on her studies. To help you stay on track with this, here are some things that will help:

• Make sure that you have a dedicated space. This could be in the corner of your living room or basement, or even in another room entirely. Just make sure it isn’t too distracting.
• Make sure that it’s only used for educational purposes—and not as storage space for leftover Halloween decorations or old toys.
• Set aside at least four hours daily and stick with this schedule regardless of how busy life gets around the house (or when exams get closer). This allows everyone involved time to settle into their routines before starting class each day without conflicts arising from scheduling issues later on down the line when everyone has different commitments during any given week’s activities.

You can download a free homeschool attendance tracker here on the Mommy Daughter Love Homeschool Blog. This simplistic attendance tracker allows you to easily jot down the days your child does school work and the amount of time you spend!

Print the Homeschool Attendance Tracker

Make Sure You Have Your Supplies Ready

Whether you are just starting out or a veteran homeschooler, it is important to ensure that you have all the supplies you need before beginning. Having your materials ready will help make your homeschooling more efficient and will also ensure that you don’t waste time looking for things throughout the day.

Organize everything into one place so that you can take inventory quickly and easily. For example, create a shelf in your closet or one large drawer to store all the supplies needed for each subject area. Keep a checklist on hand so that when something runs out (like paper), it’s easy to add it back onto the list and get more during your next trip to the store. For more homeschool organizational tips, check out our guide on organizing your homeschool supplies.

Have a Daily Routine or Schedule

You’ll need to have a daily routine or schedule. This will ensure you are on track with your homeschooling and that you can complete the work needed each day without being stressed out or feeling rushed.

The key is finding the right balance of time, as too much can be stressful, but too little may not allow enough time for learning. How long should it take? Well, there’s no exact answer to this question! Some days will go faster than others, depending on what you’re working on and how many distractions there are around you at the time (like pets who want attention). But figuring out how much time it takes each day isn’t so hard if you plan ahead of time by having a routine or schedule ready beforehand when starting out with your homeschool curriculum.

You can get our Minecraft-inspired homeschool schedule if you want a game-based schedule to keep your homeschool fun and on track. It is a free printable with a per-written second-grade schedule or a blank schedule to fill in your own activities. Your child can cut out the Minecraft player pieces and use them to move around the game board from level one to level five. Once your child completes the levels and gets to either the Minecraft portal or treasure chest, they are done for the day.

Print the Minecraft Homeschool Schedule

Keep a Log Book or Portfolio for Each Child

Keeping a log book or portfolio for your children is an excellent way to track their progress. A log book can be a physical notebook, or it could be an online file. Keep this logbook updated throughout their homeschooling career so that you can look back on what they were interested in and how far they have come over time. Keeping a log book is also a requirement in some homeschool states. Other states require that you keep a grading system or even have an outside person evaluate your child’s progress. If you want a professional-looking portfolio or logbook, you can check out the Mommy Daughter Love free printables library to get a fill-in-the-blank annual report. This annual report has a lot of great templates for tests, evaluations, reading logs, time trackers, transcripts, and more.

Use the Letter Grading System

As you’re tracking your homeschool progress, use the Letter Grading System. This method is simple to understand and easy to implement. Plus it is a universally accepted grading method in the U.S.

This grading system uses a scale of letters A through F. The letter grade:

1. A shows excellent work and effort
2. B shows good work and effort
3. C indicates fair work and effort
4. D represents a poor quality or incomplete assignments
5. F means failed or incomplete assignments

Grades can help motivate your child to succeed. You might also want to consider creating your own less-than-perfect grade equivalents (such as U = unsatisfactory). Or even use a pass-fail approach if you want a mastery homeschool program.

The great thing about using the mastery method is that it allows you to keep track of your children’s progress by comparing their scores over time rather than just focusing on the end results. If you want to learn more about all of the grading options available to homeschoolers, you can check out our guide to grading.

Use a Dedicated Google Calendar

To track your homeschool, you might want to use a dedicated Google Calendar. This ensures that everyone in the family can access it and view the dates for each subject. It is especially helpful if you are homeschooling with a partner or even a close co-op. You can also put other things on your calendar, like appointments or special events.

Google Calendar syncs automatically between devices that are logged in, or people with whom the calendar is shared.

• Create a new calendar called “Homeschool” using Google Calendar and make sure that it has separate sections for each child’s classes/subjects. You could color code it.
• Make sure the entire family (or those who participate in the homeschooling process) has access to this calendar by sharing with them through Gmail Contacts or adding them as owners/editors of the calendar itself.

Use a Printable Log

A printable log is a great way to keep track of your homeschool. Make sure you have a place to keep all the printables so they don’t get lost or forgotten. You can use a binder and label each section with the subject matter that was covered in it, or you can create one large binder with dividers for each subject.

Keep track of the time spent in school each day and ensure your child has worked on their assignments for all their subjects throughout the week.

You can get a pink printable reading log from our free printable library. This reading log is a fun and simple way to track the number of books your child reads throughout the year.

Print the Free Reading Log

Make Sure To Follow Your States Homeschool Laws

To follow the laws in your state, you first need to make sure that you know what those laws are. Some states have very strict homeschooling laws, and others don’t have any regulations at all. You can check out our guides to learn more. The consequences can be lofty in some states for not following regulations.

End the Day With a Review of What You Completed

End the day with a review of what you completed.

• A good way to ensure that your homeschool is on track and that all your goals are being met is to do a daily review.
• You should discuss how you feel about what has been accomplished and what can be improved upon for tomorrow. This will help you know whether or not any adjustments need to be made or if there’s something that needs more attention than other areas.
• Discussing these things helps keep everyone accountable for their actions and responsibilities, so no one feels left out or forgotten about in terms of receiving their education, which makes it easier for everyone involved!

You can do this by making notes in a Google Calendar or keeping it in a homeschool diary or log book. Self-reflection and reflection on your teaching style is one way to improve you and thus help your children in the long run.

Use Checklists, Planners, and Journals to Keep Track of Homeschool Work

Checklists, planners, and journals are great ways to track your homeschool work. If you want to get a good idea of what you’ve learned, write down the major topics that were covered in each subject. This will help you see where there are gaps in your knowledge.

Checklists can also help plan out future lessons. If you’re unsure about what to teach next, look at the checklists from previous years and see if any topics need revisiting or reviewing before moving on.

In conclusion, homeschooling can be a lot of work. But with the tools we’ve outlined above and a little bit of organization, you should be able to keep track of your children’s progress without too much trouble. Hopeful this answered all of your questions about “how do I track my homeschool?”

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