Planning and Keeping Records for a School Year

This is an update of an old post here.  I’m just adding pictures to make it easier to visualize.  Please note: these steps are done after you have chosen your curriculum and books for your year.  You can click on the picture for a better view.

Step 1 – Make a weekly schedule of when you are doing each subject.  I made a table in Word and typed in my final draft.  I printed it and laminated it.  (And added a pretty background I got at momstoolbelt.com)

Step 2 – You put this in the most convenient spot you can see, whether that is the frig or a notebook.  I choose my 3 ring binder because this is where I keep my records and track our progress.

Step 3 – I used 2 sets of 8 Tab Dividers to keep track of our subjects – we typically have about 15 subjects going at some point in the school year.  I labeled each tab and placed it in the 3 ring binder.  My most used subjects are up front (history), less used in the back (Shakespeare).

Step 4 – Copy the Table of Contents (TOC), the List of Chapters or the Title Page for each book chosen.  In  one of my books, the stories weren’t listed so I wrote them down on the copied Title Page.  I chose to make a little line by each entry to help look official and keep track of where we were.  Place the TOC in the appropriate subject dividers.

Step 5 – Daily Use:  Use the master schedule you printed in Step 1 to see your schedule.  As you do  each subject (or at the end of the day) jot the date (6/19/12) by the chapter.  I use a bookmarker in each book so I know where we are, and typically save time by marking my TOC’s  all a once.  Keep a pencil in the note book and you are good to go every day.  No re-writing your plans.  No stress.

Step 7 – At the end of the year, transfer your TOC’s  to your permanent record storage and get ready for the new year.

For individual students, I made notebooks just like mine (in smaller folders) and printed up weekly check-off lists for them.  It helped me to make sure that their records were current.