Record Keeping

Record Keeping

Those who home educate (i.e., sent in a letter of intent) must keep records called a portfolio for at least two years. Those who use umbrella schools should keep records, too. The guide below will explain some example formats, optional material, and requirements for record keeping as a Florida homeschooler. To jump ahead, please click on the links below.

1. Log of Educational and Reading Activities
2. Work Samples
3. Report Cards
4. Transcript
5. Course Descriptions
6. Affidavit of Completion
   
7. Diploma
8. Next Steps

Log of Educational and Reading Activities

Log of Educational Activities

The law doesn’t give details about how the log of educational activities with titles of reading materials should be organized, what it should look like, how detailed it should be, how often it should be kept, etc.—so you can choose.
Suggestion: Label it “Log of Educational Activities.” Make it simple so it works for you.

Possible ways to keep a log include: a calendar with brief notes, table of contents pages marked to show parts of a book studied, a student score report from an online program, diary-type entries, a blog, a lesson plan book, publisher’s lesson plans marked to show what was done, assignment lists from an online program, etc. Pick one. If keeping up with it is too hard, try another method.

Many people keep a daily log, but the law doesn’t specify daily. Some people keep it weekly, or by unit study, or erratically as works for them. It is the parent’s choice. Below are some photos of options.

Titles of Reading Materials

The titles of reading materials could be an integral part of the log of educational materials or they could be kept in a separate list.

The titles could be of textbooks, websites, library books, fun books, serious books, books read to the student, articles read by the student, stories, lessons in an online program, chapters in a book, etc.

Be sure to have at least two since the word “titles” is plural. No other information is required; so, you don’t have to record authors’ names, number of pages, or such.

Work Samples

Samples of work can be of work done by the student or of materials used by the student. Worksheets, photos of projects, screen shots of webpages used, notes written on paper, documents typed on the computer, copies of pages read, and more are options for samples of work. Keeping samples from a few subject areas from the beginning of your year and a few from the end should be sufficient for showing that the student is learning.

Together, all of the portfolio should give an overview of the type of education your child received over the course of the year. If the log includes few details, that’s okay as long as the samples and/or titles fill in the picture. If the log is incredibly detailed, then fewer samples are needed.

Some ideas for samples of work are below. Note that a sample might show the child’s work or might just show materials used by the child. They should give an idea of the sort of things the child was learning.

Report Cards

While not required by law, having a report card can smooth the entrance into a school or be useful to prove academic eligibility for some extracurricular or volunteer programs. Florida public schools are required by law to accept the documentation presented to them by a parent as long as the child passes classes in the first grading period after entering the school.

An online search will reveal a variety of samples of report cards and even some templates for both. How does a parent know which to use? So many different styles are shown online because schools themselves use so many different styles. So it doesn’t matter; pick a style that works for you and use it.

Not sure how to calculate grades? Not sure what percentages to assign for each category of work? Didn’t have your child take quizzes or tests? Didn’t keep grades for individual assignments? Didn’t keep grades at all? The truth is that most schools allow teachers a lot of leeway in figuring out grade averages–some teachers in a school will use one method of calculating grades and others will use another. There’s no mandated system for all teachers and schools to follow. So choose any method that makes sense to you.

In addition, many homeschool parents don’t focus on grades but will have a child stop and go back and correct mistakes made and, if needed, do more work on a topic until it is learned; parents are unlikely to assign a grade and move on. Also, other people won’t put a lot of faith in grades given by a parent, so parents would be wise not to put a lot of time, energy, and mental effort into figuring out grades.

Instead, focus on putting together a picture of what your child was doing overall. If your child has been learning as much as you expected (and you have reasonable expectations), give the child an A. If the child wasn’t putting in as much effort as hoped or moved slower through the material than expected, give a B. And so on. Don’t give an A for a subject that the child spent little time on or learned little or it may make back to haunt the child–such as when a student in a public school math class that I taught brought a report card showing A’s in Algebra 1 and was thus placed in the next math class. She failed every assignment and quiz; when asked about it, she explained that her previous public school gave A’s to all the football players and cheerleaders; she had learned no algebra even though she got an A. The school guidance counselor said she couldn’t retake Algebra 1 because she had an A and she knew too little of it to tutor her and get her caught up enough to pass the next class. She was stuck.

Make sure you list course titles that the school will recognize. In the lower grades, the course titles would typically include math, science, social studies, English language arts (which might be broken down into spelling, reading, vocabulary, writing, grammar, or such). For middle school and above, using the course titles (and perhaps numbers) that the public schools use can help make sure the student gets credit for the appropriate class. Designed a class that doesn’t quite fit the ones listed on the Florida Dept. of Education’s official list? Consider finding the transfer code number for that general subject area and listing your course title with that transfer number using the Florida Department of Education Directory.

Transcript

A transcript isn’t required under Florida law, but it’s a document that a high school graduate should have and can be useful for applying for scholarships, middle school students entering high school with high school credit already earned, and more. It might be needed for college entrance or by a company considering hiring the graduate. (I was asked by a potential employer for a copy of my own high school transcript more than a decade after graduating from college even though I had earned a number of graduate school credits by that time.)

Some colleges won’t ask for a high school transcript. They may ask for the information on their application. Wise parents will make sure their child has a transcript even if a college didn’t ask for it as the student may need it in future years.

Transcripts can be used for grades k-8 as well though they are most commonly thought of for high school. Transcripts can be used in place of report cards or as an addition to them, though they’ll contain mostly the same information. The major difference is that transcripts can include information about multiple grade levels at one time. Those with middle school students taking high school level courses may want to consider starting a high school transcript for their middle school-aged child.

Look for free samples and templates for transcripts online. The style doesn’t matter as public and private high schools use a variety of styles. What does matter? Keep it simple and short, consistent in style throughout, with no spelling or other errors. Be sure it says “Official Transcript” on it.

A transcript is a simple document and should be one page (or at most, two pages) long. For each year covered, list the course titles, credits earned, and grade average. Do not include information about curriculum used–the transcript gives very little information.

Keep course titles simple. For example, list classes such as Algebra 1 and Biology. Do not include the publisher’s name or textbook name in the title. (Don’t say Saxon Algebra 1 nor Apologia Biology.) Titles of materials used and information about topics covered or projects done can be listed in a separate document called Course Descriptions but should not be in a transcript.

Consider listing course numbers. For dual enrollment classes taken at a college, list the course number assigned by the college. For others, consider using FL DOE’s public school course number for the course that sounds closest to what your student studied. This can help high schools and colleges easily recognize the credit earned.

List the credits earned. Typically, a full-year class is 1 credit and a half-year class is 1/2 credit. How are credits determined? There are a few options.

1. Completing 2/3 to 3/4 of a high school textbook designed for a one-year course is 1 credit. (2/3 to 3/4 because schools almost never finish their textbooks. Textbooks are designed to include more than can be covered so that teachers and schools have options of what to cover.)
2. 120-135 hours of study in a subject equals one credit; 60-90 hours equals a half credit.
3. Passing a CLEP test, AP exam, SAT subject area test, or other such test can be considered equivalent to passing a class in that subject area and earning a credit.
4. Completing most of the topics in a scope and sequence list for a year-long high school course can be considered equivalent to earning a credit in that subject.

A high school transcript should list all courses used towards high school graduation. So if high school credit was earned in a public or private high school, list those in the transcript. The standard is to mark those with an asterisk or other symbol which is explained in a key. If high school credit was earned in middle school, that credit would be listed on a high school transcript. If college credit was earned through a dual-enrollment program, that credit should also be listed on the high school transcript; use the current list from the Bright Futures Scholarship program Course Table to determine the amount of credit to award.

Note: If a college asks for a copy of an official transcript, put a copy of the transcript in a sealed envelope and sign across the sealed flap. Then put that in another envelope addressed to the office requesting it. Including a copy of the Affidavit of Completion with a notary public’s signature can help. Colleges are used to getting transcripts in this fashion from high schools and, even though homeschoolers put together their own, the colleges may not accept transcripts directly from parents’ or students’ hands. Another option is to use a service, such as fasttranscripts.com, to send a transcript through an electronic clearinghouse directly to a college or scholarship service or such. Public and private schools often use the same clearinghouses.

Course Descriptions

A few years ago, while tutoring a public school student, I saw pieces by Shakespeare, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Dickens, and a variety of modern writers in the high school literature book. I also saw something shocking. Not only was this shocking material in the textbook, but a local high school teacher had assigned it to students.
I’m sure most parents had no idea that this is what their child was studying and would be upset if they realized it. After all, how could reading stories by Dr. Seuss–the same stories read when their child was four years old–help prepare their child for college? Had high school standards really dropped that low?
Most high school English classes never finish their literature books. Their teachers pick and choose what they’ll cover. That’s true in public schools and homeschools alike. While most never think to question what’s taught in a typical public school, college admissions officers and employers alike might question the quality of education received at home. Course descriptions are one way to help show what your child’s been taught.

Course descriptions aren’t required by Florida law for home education students, but smart homeschool parents will keep them for their high school students (and even middle school students who may be doing high school work). These descriptions could help a college admissions officer or possible employer know the quality of the education a student received. Were they getting the Shakespeare and Twain sort of education? Or the Dr. Seuss and beginning reading books type of education?

Course descriptions are the sort of documentation that might never be needed, but in my experience, when needed, they are needed NOW. So it’s a good idea to keep them as you go along even if you might not ever need them. They are certainly much easier to keep as you go along rather than trying to back track and figure out what your kids learned a few years ago.

One caveat: Don’t send course descriptions to anyone unless they ask to see them. When I volunteered for a college admissions committee, the Dean of Admissions told us that extra paperwork could be all it took to get a tired committee member to put a file on the reject pile.

Expect the course descriptions for four years of high school to fill several pages. I know from years of volunteering with a college admissions committee that courses that aren’t typical can be a very good thing, so don’t feel compelled to copy the schools even at the high school level.

Course description would typically include the following information:

• Subject area
• Course number (These are optional. Consider using the numbers from the FL Dept of Education’s course listing for public schools that best match what you did. If no course titles matched, use the “transfer credit” number for that subject area. For courses taken at a local college through dual enrollment, use the college’s course number)
• Course title (The FL Dept of Education’s course listing can help in picking course titles that colleges will recognize–but feel free to change the titles to indicate when a course differs from those offered by public schools. For any college courses, consider beginning with the word “college” to make it clear that they were college courses as well as later listing the college from which they were taken), and the amount of credit (1.0 or 0.5) earned. (See the section on transcripts for more information on determining credits.)
• Text(s) or other resources used. Feel free to list not only textbooks but other books, websites, apps, videos, or whatever was used.
• A description of the topics covered, including the source of the class if it was something outsourced (such as classes taken through FLVS or a college). If using a textbook, a list of topics covered may come from the table of contents pages and titles of chapters covered. (For courses taken from other sources, simply copy the source’s description of their own class.)
• Notable projects, activities, etc. are listed (if any apply. This section should include lists of the labs done, research papers, any major projects, etc.) Skip if it doesn’t apply to a particular course.
• Awards earned, if applicable.

Some sample course description entries are below.

Affidavit of Completion

Florida law guarantees that home education students who finish high school at home will be recognized as high school graduates by Florida colleges if they present an Affidavit of Completion. This document requires a parent to swear or affirm that the student completed high school and must be signed by the parent before a Notary Public. (Recent changes in Florida law allow notarization to be done virtually.)

Florida colleges usually have their own versions or a parent can type their own. The Affidavit of Completion might be a document of its own. Or it might be included on the student’s high school transcript.

A general example of the text used is listed below. Include a place for the parent to sign and date and a notary public to sign and date.

————-
Sample Affidavit of Completion

I, _______, parent of _______(student’s name), do hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of the official high school transcript showing the high school graduation of _______ (student’s name) who has been home educated in a Home Education Program in accordance with Florida law (FL s. 1002.41).

__________________ ____________

Parent’s signature Date

*************

STATE OF FLORIDA

COUNTY OF _______________________

The foregoing instrument was acknowledged before me by means of [ ] physical presence or [ ] online notarization this
_____ day of _____________, 20______, by ____________ (parent’s name).

________________________________
Signature of Notary Public—State of Florida

(Print, Type, or Stamp Commissioned Name of Notary Public)

My commission expires: ____________

[ ] Personally Known or [ ] Produced Identification

Type of Identification Produced:

Diploma

Parent Diploma

A parent running a home education program in accordance with Florida law has the right to issue a high school diploma.

A diploma can be typed using a certificate template on a word processing program or ordered from a printing company. There are several online companies who provide fancy diplomas in holders–two popular ones are found online at homeschooldiploma.com and HSLDA.org.

Or if a student participates in the homeschool graduation through FPEA Florida’ statewide homeschool support group, a ceremonial diploma is included with the graduation.

Note: An Affidavit of Completion is the official proof of high school graduation for Florida colleges Many people never have to show their diploma to anyone, but the graduate should be able to check the box for “high school diploma” on applications. On the other hand, those going into the military will have to show their diploma as part of the processing into the military. The military does accept homeschool diplomas though they will want other documentation as well–such as a notarized copy of a transcript.

GED

A homeschooled student can get a public school diploma by passing the GED test.

Be careful, though, there can be a stigma attached to taking the GED as it is often seen as a sign that the student quit school first. This is particularly so with the military as the military classifies GED holders in a lower tier than high school graduates; this can make getting into the military less likely with a GED and can affect promotion potential for years to come.

Private School Diploma

Some private schools offer programs that will end with a high school diploma.
An example of one that some homeschoolers have used is North Atlantic Regional High School (NARHS).

Be very careful in selecting these as some are seen as “diploma mills” and will be rejected by colleges that fear losing government funding. Search out the school’s reputation and the reputation of their accrediting agency, if accredited. (Do not accept a school’s statement of accreditation at face value as I’ve seen some be deceptive. Check directly with any accrediting agency and ask about the type of accreditation to be sure it is actual accreditation rather than some other type of affiliation with the accrediting organization.

Next Steps

Now that you have learned about Record Keeping, please read our guide on Evaluations.