How do you document your kids’ learning at the end of the year?  There is something about compiling work done well that makes for a very satisfying end to the school year. We homeschooling mamas work way too hard to shrug off taking a little time to relish in all that we’ve helped our kids accomplish!

I made similar books this year as I did last year. I made each of the kids their own folder, and started with a cover page with interview.

Then I added page protectors filled with documentation from the year’s work. This year I once again used inexpensive report covers with clear plastic covers, but next year I think we’ll promote to 1/2″ binders.

There was certainly enough work to place in each folder to legitimize using a whole binder- the kids have been up to a lot! :)

Sample Pages

Accomplished Work

I keep track of all the curriculum resources each child uses throughout the year, as well as booklists for history and family read-alouds.

These get compiled into lists, and those pages go right at the front of each child’s folder.

Here is Prim’s list of accomplished work (I shrunk the pages so that they don’t take up too much space on this post, but I think if you click them they’ll be easier to read):

Art Samples

I also take some of the kids’ favorite artwork for the year and include it. If the piece is too big to fit in the folder, I’ll either trim it to make it work or scan it into my computer and print it so that I can fit it into a standard size page protector.

Here are a couple samples from this year.

Booklists

Each child tracks his or her independent reading for the year, and then at the end of the year I have them complete a simple reflection assignment to think about what they’ve read.

Photo Pages

These are the kids’ favorite part! I make very simple collages in Picmonkey (free!) and then print them out on matte photo paper. I try to include photos of field trips and memorable activities.

This is also where I document things like participating in a science fair or performing at a piano recital. I place certificates indicating participation or promotion (Snap’s promotion to Senior White Belt, for example) next to pictures of the event.

This makes sure that we keep those ribbons and certificates that mean a lot to the kids, but they don’t just take up space somewhere- they are displayed!

Here are just a couple samples from Snap’s book this year- each child has 5 or 6 pages of these.

Work Samples

I include just a couple good pieces of writing for each child, as well. If they got a great score on a math test, I might include that, too.

This year we did a little unit on the solar system and the kids actually made notebook pages for that, so I popped those in.

These are Snap’s.

Each of my kids’ books ended up being between 25-30 pages long this year (gasp!), and even though it looks like it might take a lot of time to compile, it really wasn’t so bad.

It’s worth spending a bit of time putting these together, anyway. We all love looking at them.

More free resources and booklists

Get the best episodes and reources
from the Read-Aloud Revival

Powered by ConvertKit