Tallybook

Guide · For parents

Keeping home education records without turning home into school

You need very little: a few lines a week on what your child did, a rough note of hours, and a folder of the odd photo or piece of work. No law tells you to keep records at all. A light habit simply makes council contact quick and painless.

Last checked 10 November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

Why bother

Three moments make records useful:

  • the council's yearly enquiry
  • register information, once the register starts
  • your own sense of how far your child has come

What the law actually expects

Guidance says you do not have to plan lessons, mark work or formally assess. It also says you should be able to show roughly how much time your child spends learning. And councils look for evidence of progress.

So the useful record is about time and progress. It is not about paperwork.

The ten-minute weekly note

Once a week, write:

  • three or four things your child did or learned
  • anything new they can now do
  • groups, tutors or outings, with rough hours

A notebook, a notes app or a photo album with captions all work.

For the register

When it starts, you will be asked to estimate time spent being educated by you and by others. If you jot down tutor and group hours each week, that estimate takes a minute.

Keep a small evidence folder

A piece of writing each term. A photo of a project. A reading list. A dozen items a year is enough.

What not to do

  • Don't log every hour. Nobody requires it.
  • Don't re-create school subjects if you don't teach that way. Describe what happens in your own terms.
  • Don't keep records about other people's children.

For child-led and unschooling families

Record what your child chose to do and what came of it. "Spent two weeks building a model railway: measured track, worked out gradients, read about steam engines" shows learning clearly.

When it's time to report

Read back through your notes. Pick the best examples. Write one or two pages. Our guide to the educational provision report gives a structure.

Sources