Gel Pen Learning

If you’re reading this at 10 p.m. with a half-empty cup of coffee in front of you and an impending sense of doom bearing down on you, this post is for you.

You had plans. You were going to log attendance every Friday. You were going to stay on top of grades. You were going to pre-write your topics in your reports. But now, the Quarterly Reports are due this week and you’ve got nothing.

Deep breath. You can pull this off. Here’s how to batch all your homeschool admin in one mad dash and live to tell the tale.

Step 1: Buy My Book

Don’t look at me like that. This isn’t a shameless plug. I literally wrote this book for you! I’ve been where you are, I learned a better way, and now I’m sharing it.

Grab the Quarterly Report Toolkit (Amazon ebook or Etsy printable). It has the scales, the templates, and the examples ready to go. It will save you from the spiral of staring at a blank document wondering what to say, then choosing to over-document when you get rolling.

Step 2: Print Your IHIP

That Individualized Home Instruction Plan you submitted back in September? Yeah, you need that. It’s your blueprint.

Print it out or pull it up on the screen. These are the subjects and resources that have to be on your Quarterly Report. This is now your checklist.

Step 3: Gather the Curriculum

Stack every workbook, lesson book, notebook, and folder in one spot. This is your paper mountain.

The goal isn’t to organize. You need to see the scope of the chaos and vow to never do this again. Ok, now sort by subject.

If your kid uses online curriculum, open the gradebook and screenshots. No judgment if this is the first time you’ve ever logged in.

Step 4: Match “Supposed To Know” with “Actually Did”

Look at what each subject was supposed to cover versus what you actually got through.

This is the part where you realize you skipped three lessons on fractions, but you’re a full unit ahead in science. It’s fine. That’s why we have 80% material minimum.

Use the curriculum’s unit summaries or table of contents as your guide. That’s the official wording in your Quarterly Report descriptions.

Step 5: Grade Like You Mean It

Grab a pen and power through. Also, throw your phone across the room so it’s not distracting you because I promise, you will want to doomscroll.

Don’t overthink grading. You’re not compiling transcripts for Harvard. You’re just documenting progress. If you can’t find an assignment, skip it, and move on. If you’re unsure how to grade something, default to a benchmark scale: Progress, Evident Progress, Mastery.

Remember: you’re summarizing growth. It’s not that deep.

Step 6: Write the Report

Open your report template (I have a report template bundle on Etsy, too). Use a short list per subject:

“Topics included but were not limited to adding and subtracting to three-digits, adding and subtracting decimals, intro to fractions, etc.”

Grade: A

Proofread it once, mostly for typos and words that accidentally autocorrected into something weird.

Then proofread again, because you’re tired and your brain is lying to you.

Step 7: Sign in Blood That You’ll Never Do This Again

Actually write it on a sticky note and stick it in your homeschool binder (oh, you don’t have one. Okay, that’s another post for another day).

Anyway. Write:

Never. Again.

Future You will forget how miserable this whole process was by November 30. Leave yourself evidence of how badly this sucked.

Step 8: Leave It All In Stacks

Don’t clean yet. You’ll just scatter your hard-won piles.

Leave everything in stacks until tomorrow. Once the report is submitted, you can breathe, reset, and build a system that doesn’t rely on caffeine and adrenaline.

Step 9: The Debrief

Batching admin isn’t ideal, but it’s survivable. You’re still compliant, your kids are still learning, and the world keeps spinning completely unaware of the hot mess express that just got its reports in.

Tomorrow, when you’re slightly less traumatized, pour a coffee and start your First Quarter Reset (coming next week). You’ve earned a break.

And maybe…just maybe…your 2nd Quarterly Report won’t require any blood oaths.