Keeping all your kid’s homeschool paperwork organized can be very intimidating. Worksheets, tests, important records, you need to keep it all, right? Well, not necessarily.
Let’s decide what’s important…
*This website is an Amazon Affiliate. If you click through one of these links and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. If you make a purchase, THANK YOU!*
What homeschool paperwork should I keep?
Samples of Homeschool Work
You should definitely keep samples of what your child has learned for each school year. Homeschool paperwork will grow quickly if your curriculum requires a lot of worksheets. I’ll cover this in more detail in a minute, read on. 😉
Attendance Records
Your attendance record is a very important piece of paperwork. It’s another piece of paperwork that will prove your child has actually been schooling and on what days. You may also choose to keep up with hours on your attendance record as well. Your method should be determined by how your school district or state mandates that you log in your homeschooling time. In Tennessee, we’re required to school a minimum of four hours per day, 180 days per year. I, however, only keep up with the days we school, not the hours, as our school district is a little stricter with the days instead of looking at individual hours.
Certificates of Completion
Any documentation that shows your child has completed a classroom or an online course should be kept in with your important homeschool paperwork. This also proves you child has completed school hours. Depending on why the certificate was given, this may also help with future employment.
Organizing Homeschool Paperwork
Binder Method
The Binder Method is one of my favorite homeschool organization hacks. This is the easiest way I’ve found to keep up with my kids’ worksheets, tests, and grade records.
I store all the worksheets from my child’s work in binders or plastic folders with prongs for each subject. But, here’s the thing, I don’t hang on to them forever. As soon as the child tests on what he’s been working on, I keep the tests and ditch the rest.
At the end of the school year, you could store attendance records (if each child’s is separate), and tests from each subject, or a few samples of your child’s work, in one large 3-ring binder with the school year, child’s name, and grade level on the cover.
If your child doesn’t test on what he’s learned, then you’ll need to keep a variety of the worksheets that have been completed. Keeping a few worksheets from each unit of study is all you’ll need. This will prove, if you’re ever questioned by your local school board, that your child has completed actual work.
Certificates of completion should be slipped down in page protectors and kept in the binder. If you have only one child, you’ll only need to keep up with the one large binder for each school year.
You don’t have to keep these binders for all the years your child is in school, but I would keep the last two to three years’ binders, just in case.
Store your binders in a cabinet or on a bookshelf, somewhere out of the way.
If you have more than one child, you may need to implement the next method as well as the binder method.
Banker’s Box Method
Another easy homeschool paperwork storage solution is to use Banker’s Boxes.
In our home, we use this method along with the binder method. At the end of each school year, I gather samples of my children’s paperwork, whether that be in binders or by stapling it together, I make sure their name is on it, and toss it in the Banker’s Box. Then, I label the box with the school year and the kids’ names and put the box into storage. I store the boxes in a closet in my dining room.
The method of storage is less important than having the homeschool paperwork and having it accessible. You must be able to prove, if asked, that you are doing the best you possibly can to teach your child at home.
For more homeschool paperwork storage solutions read, 10 Options for Organizing Homeschool Paperwork. Want to see how we’re keeping up with the homeschool materials we’re currently using? Organizing Homeschool Curriculum
If you’re utilizing another storage solution for your child’s homeschool work, shoot me an email and let me know what you’re doing. I’d love to hear from you.
