Simple Record Keeping

Planning:

1) Each student gets one page with their name and school year as the title.

2) Make five headings:  English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Math, Other

3) Under each heading list any curriculum you plan to use. I usually put lots of detail into this list. 

For example at the beginning of the year the list for my 12 year old son's math section looked like this:

Mathematics:

Math Facts Practice:  Skip counting 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, Math Rider, Mad Minute, Operation Math*

 

Math U See Delta Review Lessons 1 – 12 (1 week) and Units 3 and 4 

Math U See Epsilon 

4) Under "Other" list anything that does not fit in the four other sections like swim lessons, work experience, hobbies, special projects, field trips, skills, language study,  courses or travel.

Keeping Records:

As the year progresses when your student completes curriculum, goes on a field trip or achieves a new swim badge, add the month, year and achievement or final score to the list.  Keep work samples and certificates in plastic sheet protectors in file folders or a binder.  I have three students to keep track of and all their samples fit in one binder. I keep at least two samples for each subject area; one from the beginning and one from the end.

At the end of the year, delete any curriculum your student didn't do from the planning list.  Make a note of anything which was incomplete at the end of the year and record final scores. You'll notice that Sam didn't do MUS Epsilon at all this year so I deleted that information.  I recorded his pre and post tests for Mad Minute and deleted the fact drills. I print the completed list and add it to the samples I've collected in the sheet protectors and my record keeping for the year is done. 

Mathematics:

Mad Minute Correct answers in 60 seconds September/December:  (+) 12/18  (-) 14/19 (x) 4/14 (/) 7/18  or                         September 37/130 28%                 December 67/130 52%  

Math U See Delta Review Lessons 1 – 12 (1 week) and Units 3 and 4  95% December 2014

Some Final Notes:

I'm a big fan of pre and post tests.  I want to see that my students are improving through the school year.  but I'm always excited to get started with the school year and often forget that step!

If you can make your planning list on the computer, then you can easily add and delete information.  The saved planning list from last year will help me make the new list for this year.

At the end of the year also add to the list anything your child particularly enjoyed that year.  In Sam's case he spent a lot of time building new creations with Lego so I'll be adding that to his list. 

Separately, I keep a list of books that my student has read or that we have done as a read aloud.  Unfortunately, I didn't start this early enough with my two older children and I gave them the responsibility of keeping it up to date too soon.  As a result, their book lists have gaps.  Sam's list has every book he's ever read.

Record keeping requirements vary from place to place so be sure you are following the guidelines set by your school board and your governing authority.  This is what works for me.

* Math Rider:  www.mathrider.com

Operation Math:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/operation-math-addition-subtraction/id487387270?mt=8 

The Mad Minute:  http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Minute-Mastering-Number-Grades1-8/dp/0201071401 (We have an old version bought used)

2013-2014 What worked and what didn't

What worked:

Writing With Skill Level 1 by Susan Wise Bauer:  Excellent curriculum for Grade 10 English.  It teaches the student to research topics and outline papers in a step by step process which is painless for the parent and the student.  Be sure to buy both the instructor's manual and the student book.  You'll need both these fat fabulous books. The instructor's manual includes information on how to mark the papers, and how to help the student along the way.


Mad Minute I first encountered Mad Minutes in a public school classroom nearly 30 years ago.  These 30 or 40 question drill pages really forced my students to learn and remember their math facts.  I made all of them do them and they all improved speed and and accuracy in all four operations.

What didn't work:

Saxon Math  Both my high school students are using Saxon, unfortunately what makes Saxon an easy text for parents also makes it easy for students to get the right answer without understanding the concepts. (Each question has a lesson number.) If you can decipher the curriculum, you don't have to understand the concepts just follow the examples in every single problem. Coming from Math U See, I also don't particularly like the seeming random order of the chapters. Not sure about alternatives for my high schoolers, but my 12 yo might just continue with Math U See.

Monarch Online Science  This year two of my students tried Monarch's science courses on line.  One of my high schoolers did Chemistry and my 12 yo did Science 600.  These are dense full year courses.  I bought them because I thought they would provide a change from textbook science.  Last year I spent a lot of my time trying to find YouTube videos for my son to illustrate scientific ideas.  I had the impression that Monarch's lessons, especially Science 600 would include lots of audio and video presentations. I was disappointed. The videos were generally poor quality and done by a man dressed as an eccentric scientist; not really the picture of science I wanted for my son. If you have a student who learns by reading, has taken algebra and is interested in Chemistry, then this is a great course for them. Lots of detail here, but read carefully or you'll miss the clues which will help you answer the questions.  I thought this would be user friendly and plug and play, but I spent hours and hours helping both students understand the material and answer the questions.  There is no teacher's manual for the parent, so ideally you should pre-read and understand the material before your student does. On the upside, you can change the order of the units; allow your student to skip questions and choose which days are school days. The online part of this course worked flawlessly.  You can print informative grade reports for each course and student.