End of year report

School's out

An end of year report to record what you have covered in your school year is worth the effort.

When we lived in Vermont, the state required an end of year report, a written proof of what we had done in our school year. In the same way that taking a test at the end of the year in school used to be a dreaded event for me, so I dreaded assembling this report. Yet, without fail, every year I was always surprised as I looked at the list of things we had done and studied, places we had been, books we had read, documentaries and movies we had watched.

Even if your state doesn’t require any reporting and recognizes that how you homeschool your child is truly your own business, creating a paper trail will be beneficial in time. For your child when they graduate high school, should they need anything to show what they have studied for college entrance, they will be thankful for it. For you, if anyone comes knocking at your door to check up on you, you will have proof of the fact that you have actually been educating your child. Even though we have moved from Vermont, I continue to keep an annual written report for each of my children as to what they have studied for the year, and the paper trail annually fills banker’s boxes, into which I put everything they have done that year.

I created a basic outline for the report, which I flesh out at various times through the school year, but complete before the new school year starts in July. I keep a log in my planner of things like movies, books and field trips, which I insert into the report in appropriate places, or else add as an appendix and simple reference in the report.

Curriculum review for end of year report
Curriculum review for end of year report. Click on the picture to see the full pdf.

An end of year report is a blessing, and it’s worth putting together. It helps you see all that you have done, both for the current year and looking further back as well. It can also help you plan ahead if you see the topics covered as stairs leading upwards, and seek to add the further stairs built on the foundations of previous years. So, take the time to assemble your paper trail, and you and your child will be thankful in time to come.

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