A couple of years ago, a friend who homeschools in another state told me that her state had conducted an impromptu "Audit" of all homeschoolers. They were required to show up to a government building (I don't remember if it was the police station or armory) and bring with them their children and "proof" that they were homeschooling their children. Their state's laws did not provide for this, and HSLDA did step in and defend them, but a state can traumatize you quite a bit this way before the legal mill does its proverbial "slow but fine" grinding.

So, it occurred to me that I should be keeping much more thorough records of what hours we spend and what we study than I might naturally be inclined to do, or think was necessary.

So, this year I've been keeping a computer log of hours & materials, complete with book Titles & authors of library books, and URLs of websites used, and I'm finding that I quite like it! (we spend WAYYY more hours schooling than I had realized when I didn't keep records!) I have a record of every resource we use all year, that will provide a record for DD when she grows up of what she actually studied & learned in school - every day. And, I don't have to try to remember what some great resource I found was if I want to recommend it to someone later.

So - what about you - what kind of records do you keep? Have you ever been audited? Are there any resources you really like for record keeping?

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http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/

That is a good idea. I am so disorganized. I've tried getting organized and keeping records several times, but never keep up with it. Most of the time, I don't even grade anything. I know how well they do and I know what they know, so it's kind of pointless to me. I'm glad we live in a state where I don't have to keep track of days/hours/grades/curriculum, etc. and I don't have to report anything, because I would be in trouble. The school district doesn't even know my kids exist, so there is no threat of them calling me in to show proof of schooling. I guess something like that can only happen in a state where they have a record of everyone who homeschools. Still, it would be a good idea for me to try to at least make sure I would be able to show some evidence of schooling in case a neighbor called CPS on me for whatever reason.

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Mom to Christian (13), Saphira (10), Xavier (5), and Adrian (2).

I envy you the Texas laws! Our laws aren't TOO bad here - and I've never heard of an audit in my state- but I just want to be careful.

I keep a word document on the computer for records. Since I'm almost always on the computer in some way, it's not too hard to remember to pull up my document. (In addition to a box full of text books, we do youtube lessons for science & history sometimes, piano lessons online, occasional starfall, and all sorts of other stuff in addition to HSC, email etc) Record keeping also lets dh know what we do in a week, which is an additional blessing : )

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http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/

Oddly enough, the first 'how to homeschool' book I read was written by a former public school teacher and she encouraged the keeping of records. So I just naturally started doing it in NM before we moved to TX. So when I didnt have to, I still did. Since my last two kids are 9yrs apart, the records of older dd did come in handy for lil dd. At least what books we read and activities.

For many years I used this inexpensive lesson planner from Rod & Staff, simple big boxes to write in plans/or just keep records of what you are reading or activities. It has a plastic cover.

http://www.milestonebooks.com/item/1-65 ... cher_Helps

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"...with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26

Well, Briva, unless God performs an Abraham & Sarah sort of miracle, I doubt we'll be blessed with a 9-year age spread after this one (not that I'd mind if we were : )

But, who knows, maybe a grandbaby someday? I'd love to be able to use this stuff again! That's a great idea! I really wish now that I had kept a better record of the first two years.

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http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/

Anna, I live in that state and was still homeschooling when it happened. It actually never got off the ground. I think as long as you follow your states laws you'll be fine but I would definitely keep records once they enter high school because you have to submit a transcript to the colleges which includes course, course description, grades and sometimes names of curriculum. In my state we are only required to submit attendance records although our regulating agency does asks for our tests scores as well. Many homeschoolers in my state comply to this request even though it's not part of the law simply because they are afraid of further involvement by the government. HSLDA did not encourage homeschoolers to comply with this requests in addition they said not to send in attendance forms because the law says the agency must come to us. I never submitted anything in my 12 years of homeschooling, never had a visit and never had any trouble. That's why I say as long as you're following state law you should be fine.

Alice - assuming that the NC in your name is your state - the audit I mentioned happened in a different state.

It is my experience with legal things that in civil matters (unlike in criminal) quite frequently -if not always- the "burden of proof" lies with the accused. Often this is a shock to people who have watched a lot of crime dramas on TV and think "innocent till proven guilty" also applies in civil matters. It doesn't

Although I may not be legally required to keep records, it is probably the safer & more sensible course of action if I'm ever accused of failing to do it or do it properly.

But, besides all that - I find it is a blessing to ME to have the records on hand : )

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