It’s no surprise to most of my readers that I am dragging my feet over my children growing up. Our eldest daughter is an 8th grader now (where did the time go?!?). She is starting to earn high school credit this year. I’m still not completely settled on how to but together her transcript. From talking with other mamas who are doing this already, I know we need to keep track of her work. There is a lot from the resources used to the time put into her studies. Not to mention the books read, projects completed and other accomplishments. I need her help in documenting this. That is where My Student Logbook comes in. My daughter has been using the dated homeschool planner ($15) with the golden vines cover for this review. There are many other options to choose from.
The dated logbook we received begins Monday July 28, 2014 and runs through Sunday August 2, 2015. There are also options for undated pages and dated running from Monday December 29, 2014 through Sunday January 3, 2016. If that isn’t enough versatility, there are pdf options ($10-20) as well. I thought the dated pages would work best. Now that we’ve been using this awhile, I think the undated would work better. We “do school” throughout the whole year, but do like to keep track of our 180 days. At the top of each column (there are seven), we could indicate #1 or #56 and write the dates in the space at the bottom of each page (August 18-27 for example).
The physical logbook is spiral bound with clear plastic cover over the themed cover and a heavy black plastic back cover. The first few pages include a simple getting started guide as well a bit more in depth look at using the logbook for high school transcripts. Those earning high school credit are not the only students who will benefit from this logbook though. The logbook is easy enough for your learners as young as 2nd grade to use. I am still torn on getting physical books for my other children or the family pdf and letting them create their own covers. If we go with the pdf, I will most certainly have it spiral bound. We have a plethora of 3 ring binders available, but the easy of the spiral binding and more compact size (think standard notebook) are part of what makes this easy to use.
My daughter keeps her logbook closed, using the folded checklist as a bookmark to find her current page. This will probably help to keep the pages neater and less likely to fall out. I have kept a daily notebook for years, leaving it opened (but folded over) to the page I am on. It looks pretty ragged by the time I use all the pages.
The folded checklist is where you list the tasks you are tracking (or having your student track) in the logbook. We have created a few of these. I had at first written everything – filling the twenty lines. We then decided to only include those tasks she works on independently or that I am tracking time spent for credit purposes. This logging things daily is new for us. I anticipate another checklist or two to get things fine-tuned. Good thing there are more checklists!
The logbook includes more than just the transcript information and log pages. The last 13 pages are places to keep track of books read, test scores, projects, field trips and more. Where appropriate, there is a column for indicating possible subject this applies to. I really like all these built-in helps for building that daunting high school transcript.
Other pages in this section are “All About Me”, Prayers and Goals and Bible Verses Memorized. These are each one page, so the prayers and goals is more for over all prayers for the year rather than a daily prayer list. The “All About Me” page is the place to fill in basic details like age and height along with favorites. I have done this randomly through the years, but having it kept with the other information contained within the logbook will keep it from being lost. I loving looking back at how my children have grown – in all ways.
