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Unschooling & Recording - Some Ideas for Collecting Samples of Children's Writing by Beverley Paine, Oct 2018 Susan mentioned to me on The Educating Parent FB page that the "biggest problem [she has] is working out how to report without any physical 'written' samples." Lists were probably my standby for checking how my children's handwriting and spelling were progressing. What the kids wanted for Christmas or their birthdays. Camping lists, what to take. Itineraries, what to do. One year we had one of those calendars where you can fit a few words onto each day, and the kids would write (or draw) what they did that day. This made a fantastic record of a busy year filled with a huge variety of activities. Another time I drew up a calendar (one month's duration) and we recorded the weather, with the children writing temperatures, humidity and drawing clouds, rain, lightning or a sun to denote the type of day. I found science experiments often gave rise to opportunities to record, particularly change over time. Recording our expectations and then later revisiting them in light of what actually happened was often interesting! I'd wish I'd kept up my gardening diary - I'd be a much better gardener by now if I had! I've even taken photos of my grandson writing in the sand at the beach - some of his first attempts at writing were done in the sand. I asked what other home educating parents do in my The Educating Parents Homeschooling and Unschooling group. Here are some of the ideas people use:
And finally, something I'd do when pushed for time and starting to panic because there really wasn't anything we could zip out and use to reassure the registration officer that home education was happening, I'd ask the kids if they wouldn't mind penning a story or something to satisfy the registration requirements. I'd let them know it wasn't necessary but would make the process flow more smoothly, and that they'd get another year of freedom to learn however they wanted... And I found that because the kids didn't have to write every day to prove they could they'd usually say yes, and we'd sit and brainstorm ideas. |
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