Guest Author - Meg Grooms

Journaling provides not only a record of studies for evaluation purposes, it also provides a family record that will be valued for many years. It can’t be simpler, and it only takes a few minutes per day.

organization, homeschool, family, homeschooling, home education, education, home school, school, home, home-school, home-education

Sticking to a routine helps even the most organizationally challenged persons (“OCP”) among us get things finished. I confess, I am a time-tested “OCP”! I have managed to muddle my way through life with little problem as I am compulsively early for appointments, however, my OCP tendencies made homeschooling a nightmare!

Half-way through my first year of homeschooling my oldest daughter I realized that things just weren’t getting done. We were three months out from our annual evaluation and I knew I had to do something! It took me a lot of trial-and-error, and a lot of notebooks, but I managed to devise a system that works quite well in my household. I knew that for us to stick to a schedule it had to be flexible and it had to leave a lot of free time. It had to include at least one day per week that was designated as mom’s work and errand day.

This is how I made it work…

I call this method the “Tick-the-day-away” method. The first thing you need to do is buy a large spiral-bound notebook with at least 3 divisions. One notebook lasts us approximately 3 months per child.

Sit down and list all the subjects you plan on teaching your children. Break larger subjects into smaller subjects as necessary.

Next to each subject note the amount of time - either per lesson, day, or week - you plan to study each. Take into consideration your child’s attention span and tolerance for each academic area.

On another piece of paper list the seven days of the week. Mark any recurring plans under the appropriate day (church on Sunday, PE on Tuesday, etc.) You may find that scheduling one day for make-up work or running errands helpful.

Now assign each subject to a day. This system works quite well in households that have multiple children studying the same material. You can assign the more complex and multi-faceted subjects to multiple days if you like. You may find that you want to assign a time frame for each subject, and that works fine for some families, but not mine. What you schedule on each day & how you schedule it is completely up to you!

As an example, this is the schedule we use with our first-grader:

Monday - math, read-aloud, phonics, Spanish, science, creative writing
Tuesday - Errand Day/make-up work/support group day
Wednesday - math, read-aloud, phonics, social studies, health, music
Thursday - errands/make-up work/
Friday - Math, read-aloud, phonics, handwriting, art

This is the part where the notebook you purchased comes in. Section number one is for your planning and calendar. Transfer the daily schedule into the front cover of your notebook. Section one is where you write down the plans on a particular day. You can write this down diary-style as it’s only a plan, be as detailed as you want. Use this section to document conversations with school officials and when important papers are sent as well.

Section two is where you record the “meat” of your child’s educational endeavors, where you write down every aspect of your child’s day. Begin by writing the date on the top of a fresh sheet of paper, I like to make a box around the date to help it stand out. Underneath the date write each subject you plan to study, underline it and leave plenty of room for journaling. As your child completes their work, write it beside the appropriate heading. Don’t be afraid to document the spontaneous activities, adding subjects if needed. Also, know that it’s perfectly fine to list an activity under several headings. At the end of the day write all undone subjects into the first make-up day available. To supplement the journal, pictures and brochures are easily pasted to blank pages.

Here is an excerpt from an entry in my first-graders journal:

Math - addition practice sheet, 12 problems. Self-corrected.
Mexico Unit Study - watched “Families of Mexico” video. Discussed diet of rural Mexican families.
Health - discussed posture and the importance of a balanced diet. Discussed diet of rural Mexican families.

Section three is all yours. Here you will record your thoughts, goals, obstacles, accomplishments. If you don’t wish to have your child or the evaluator seeing these entries they are easily removed. Upon removal simply staple and file.

Journaling provides not only a record of studies for evaluation purposes, it also provides a family record that will be valued for many years. It can’t be simpler, and it only takes a few minutes per day.