Keeping Records for High School

If you’re preparing to homeschool through high school, now is the time to get yourself truly and forever organized. Think of that box of pictures in the back of your closet – the one you’ve always said you’re going to put into beautiful scrapbooks. When you look at the pictures now, do you know what year the picture was taken? Can you tell which child is which in baby pictures? Homeschooling high school can be like that box. You think you’ll remember the details. Then, suddenly, your child is scrambling with college applications and you can’t remember what you did about science first semester of ninth grade. Even if your child is certain right now he does not want to go to college, things change. Keep records as if he’s planning to win a full scholarship to Harvard.

There are many guides to steer you through homeschooling high school and record keeping. I have yet to meet a homeschool mom who thinks any are complete. Look for yourself and see what makes the most sense for you or just set up your own system. Three of my sons have gone through high school. For each one, I set up a milk crate  with hanging folders. The folders included:

1. Life Documents (birth certificate, baptism records, social security card copies, passport and driver’s license information)
2. State High School Requirements (I just printed out the courses we needed from the state website and added notes as needed)
3. State University Requirements
4. Dual Enrollment Information
5. Dual Enrollment Transcripts
6. Ninth Grade Plan (with any changes marked as made) + Transcript
7. Tenth Grade Plan + Transcript
8. Eleventh Grade Plan + Transcript
9. Twelfth Grade Plan + Transcript
10. A folder for each course taken – include notes, a sample paper or test, list of materials used, etc.
11. Church Activities – go ahead and keep a record of everything, save programs, document projects and save to a disc or flash drive
12. Scout Actitivies –
13. Music
14. Sports
15. Community Service –
16. PSAT
17. SAT
18. ACT
19. A fold for letters of recommendation
20. Medical Records (immunizations, sports physicals, etc.)

You get the picture, right? Obviously each student will have variations of these folders based on what they are doing through high school. The point is that the sooner you create your own system for keeping records, the easier it’s going to be when it’s time to put everything together for college.

Get your high school student used to filing things he’s proud of or thinks are important. Encourage him to take charge of the process. It’s easy to forget that you’re not the one applying to college! If your child is set on attending a specific college or one of the military academies, it’s not too early to start researching the process. Most colleges and all of the military academies welcome homeschoolers. However, you might have to get creative to ensure your child meets each requirement. This is much more manageable if you know before starting ninth grade.