Homeschooling and record keeping. A few questions answered for you. Should parents keep a record of their child’s academic progress when homeschooling? Many homeschooling parents find themselves overwhelmed when venturing into the world of educating their children at home. One of the most often frequently questions is “What Records Should We Keep?”.
Many are of the opinion that record keeping is not that important, due to the fact that you as the parent know your child’s development better than anyone. Especially when it comes to what they have achieved academically.
However, my personal opinion is that it is imperative to keep an accurate record of your child’s achievements throughout the different grades.
Should You Keep Records When Homeschooling?
1. Keeping a good record of your child’s academic progress is part of taking responsibility for being a homeschooling parent.
2. If a family chooses to re-enroll their child/ren into a mainstream school or university, accurate and thorough documentation of their academic level of achievement would be an essential part of the application process.
3. Some children may have needed academic intervention, reports, assessments, and medical referrals would aid your child’s future teachers to be better equipped for helping them.
4. Our children have a basic right to education, by not taking responsibility in giving them the “proof” that they have in actual fact been educated, we as parents are taking that basic right away from them, these documents do not belong to us, they belong to our children.
I’m not suggesting that parents should keep each and every task or worksheet, and frame every piece of art, however, assessments, reports, grades, and exams would be very good to keep. The Department of Education also specifies which records should be kept in alignment with their requirements. Below is a summary for you.
Record Keeping
- A portfolio of your child’s work within their respective grades
- Detailed and up-to-date records of your child’s progress
- A record of attendance for each child
- Evidence of all assessments or exams that your child has done at the end of each year
- A detailed portfolio or evidence of each child’s continuous assessments in alignment with the DBE
- Evidence of the educational support that has been given to your child
- Proof that your child/ren has achieved the necessary outcomes at the end of grades 3, 6 and 9
All of the above needs to be kept for a minimum of 3 years, as proof of your child’s progression.
READ: How To Register With The DBE
*Would you like to add additional information to this post? Please email me at onemessymama4@gmail.com
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