What type of records do i have to keep for homeschooling my preschoolers?

Question

What type of records do i have to keep for homeschooling my preschoolers?

Answer 1

You don't.  Preschool is not compulsory, so no records have to be kept.

The records you keep once your kids are of school age will depend on the state you live in.

Answer 2

Like everyone else said, none until school is compulsory in your state. Even then, some states require no special recordkeeping.

If you want to keep some records just for your self or to track progress, one idea is to keep a spiral notebook and each day/week/whatever you can write notes about what you did or anything special you want to remember.

Answer 3

I concur with everyone else -- you are not required to keep any records for preschool regardless of where you live because preschool is not compulsory.

After compulsory attendance age in your state, you may or may not need to keep records, depending on the laws of your state. For an overview, you can check your state laws at: http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp, however, do not rely on this exclusively, but check the law yourself because you are responsible for it.

An all around very cool website to learn a lot of information about homeschooling in general is: http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/

A very popular record keeping software is Homeschool Tracker: http://www.homeschooltracker.com/. They offer a free version that you never have to pay for and can use indefinitely, but some of the features are limited.

A free k-12 literature based curriculum, that also includes a link to a free (off-site) preschool curriculum is Old Fashioned Education:

http://oldfashionededucation.com/index.h...

Back to record keeping at compulsory age: If your state doesn't require it, other than for your own personal satisfaction, it's generally unnecessary until high school or unless you plan on enrolling your child in public school. Howevefr, most parents LIKE to keep samples of work done throughout the school years.

Answer 4

None.

Answer 5

None. But I have a Dip in child care and I have started writing developmental reports for my two aged 2 and 3. I am keeping a folder of the reports and work samples in the hope that they might help in the registration visit.

Answer 6

None.  Preschool is compulsory and not required.  You can contact HSLDA (Homeschool legal defense) and get more information.

Answer 7

None, since they aren't the compulsory age.  Most states start that at ages 5-7.  I'm in IL and the governor is trying to pass mandatory preschool legislation, so that would lower it to 3 here.

If you want to, though, you can so you can get the hang of it for when you do need to keep records.  I've kept records since my son was 5 because I'm a datahead - not because either of the states I've lived in required it.

I'm currently searching out HS planning software to use.  In the past, I've just used Excel for record keeping, but now I need something more powerful as he starts high school courses.