With the many opportunities that homeschooling provides for activities outside the normal school curricula, it can be hard to keep track of them all. Nevertheless, doing so is important, not just on a calendar to maintain your sanity, but to help with scholarship and university applications later on in your student’s academic career.
Some scholarships are based exclusively on community service activities, while most others at least factor them into the decision process, so having an accurate record of activities which you are able to back up with proof can be worth thousands, even tens of thousands, of dollars later on.
When it comes to university applications, students are going to great lengths to set them apart from the competition these days. If your child has an outstanding record of community service over a long period of time, that might just be the edge he or she needs to gain admission at a competitive school. At the very least, a recommendation from a volunteer coordinator is often worth its weight in gold when it’s time to apply for a job.
Finally, some school districts and homeschooling programs require the teacher to keep a record of all the activities a homeschooler does to further his or her education. You may need to prove to the administration that you are able to educate your child effectively at home, and having an itemized list of activities by date and number of hours invested can shut down any criticism of your homeschooling practices.
The simplest way to track all your homeschooler’s activities is through keeping a daily notebook of activities done. It doesn’t have to be a large notebook, but the more pages it has and the smaller the width and height, the better. (This will make it easier to carry with you in a purse or backpack on vacations and similar extended periods of time.) Each day, record the date, any other details you want to, and what each of your homeschooled children did that day. If they volunteered, exercised, or did a similar activity, write down the length of time they spent on it, and any contact information for volunteer coordinators or similar. This notebook will be a goldmine in just a few years’ time, so keep it safe.
For those who prefer more advanced methods of tracking, you can devise your own spreadsheet to track what activities were performed on what dates. This type of data has the advantage of being easily manipulated, so if you would like to calculate how much time your child spent volunteering in a particular date range, exercising over the course of a summer, or working over a week or month, you can easily do so.
Everyone has to come up with their own method of tracking activities that works best for their particular family. These are two popular methods to get you started, but you may well find another way of tracking your homeschooler’s activities. If so, embrace it and make sure to keep it up from day to day! Once it comes time to apply for scholarships or college, your child will thank you for being so meticulous.