I feel hopeless with LJ, Daily Diarys etc.....

[Carol Raeburn]

Hi all,

You may wonder what on earth I am doing being a childminder asking this questions, I feel so thick at times if I dont nail it on the head now I will be in trouble when Ofsted come out to see me...

I have over sibblings that are over 5 years old and I am just wondering what other childminders do regarding LJ, Daily Diarys, portfolio and scrap books etc.

Do you do them?? Do you do all of them??

Any information is welcome as i feel hopeless :(

[cara1235]

Hi, don't beat yourself up about it we all feel deflated and down about this part of the job at some point or other, I tend to do a daily diary that goes home at end of the day with lo, a lj which stays with me this also includes individual plans and this goes home once a month for parents to look at i get them to sign in it to say they have seen it, as for the over 5's who are not in the eyfs i just do a lj for them but without the links ie lots of photos and written bits about things we have done. HTH x

[rickysmiths]

Hi there!

I do daily diary sheets for under 3s if the parents want them.

LJs have to be done until the 31st August after the child is five which is when the child comes out of the EYFS, haven't read the new EYFS in detail enough yet to know if after the 1/9/12 we will only do them up to the end of the school year in which they turn five.

When they are out of EYFS then I do a scrap book with photos, pieces of work and odd notes about what they have been doing.

[rosebud]

Daily diary sheets for under 5's which double up as observations / next steps and are filed in LJ's. Nothing for over 5's unless they want to do a scrapbook. Do you know any more experienced childminders locally that could help you? if not there's lots of help on here but paperwork doesn't need to be as much as people think - please don't let it get you upset, you will get there.

[BucksCM]

Personally, I do a daily diary when the children are little. There comes a point when I do stop though as I'm just repeating stuff we do each week so then the development stuff goes in the lj. If an older sibling is over five and at school then the lj are supposedly passed on to the school (if they have them!) so I don't do it past the time I'm supposed to.(august 31th after their 5th birthday)
We do summer holiday scrapbooks and other art and craft stuff is sent home.

[Carol Raeburn]

I think i am getting it now phew :jump for joy:

I do a daily diary so Ofsted can see that I am communicating with the parents- well trying to the parents never seem to write anything in it :(

I have been taking pictures to put in a scrap book as long as i don't need to be doing much more than I am already then that is good enough for me. I only have the kids 3 times a week 2 hrs in the morning and 1 1/2 hours at night so it can be difficult to squeeze lots of fun things in as well as feeding them. However all they want to be doing is on the park playing football, if they had it there way they would do that every night the scrap book would be more like a football magazine :laughing:

Thanks everyone for you advice :D:D

[catswhiskers]

Where does it say in the EYFS we have to do a 'learning journal'?

I keep one folder on each child (under 4/5's) and in this is a daily diary, observations, any comments from parents (which sometimes are not filled in and I just write "no comment" next to) photos of child doing activity, craftwork. Also any letters I've written to other settings like nurseries, with photocopies of what I've sent etc.

Up until last September (when I got an Outstanding) I was doing so much more paperwork than now. I worked so hard since the EYFS came in but to the detriment of my own health/family.

Personal circumstances have made me re-think and I now don't do as much.

As long as the children/parents are happy with your service then why worry?

[Bridey]

Where does it say in the EYFS we have to do a 'learning journal'?

I keep one folder on each child (under 4/5's) and in this is a daily diary, observations, any comments from parents (which sometimes are not filled in and I just write "no comment" next to) photos of child doing activity, craftwork. Also any letters I've written to other settings like nurseries, with photocopies of what I've sent etc.

Up until last September (when I got an Outstanding) I was doing so much more paperwork than now. I worked so hard since the EYFS came in but to the detriment of my own health/family.

Personal circumstances have made me re-think and I now don't do as much.

As long as the children/parents are happy with your service then why worry?

But ... that IS a learning journal isn't it? LOL

[melco]

Hi, don't beat yourself up about it we all feel deflated and down about this part of the job at some point or other, I tend to do a daily diary that goes home at end of the day with lo, a lj which stays with me this also includes individual plans and this goes home once a month for parents to look at i get them to sign in it to say they have seen it, as for the over 5's who are not in the eyfs i just do a lj for them but without the links ie lots of photos and written bits about things we have done. HTH x

I just want to say reading this as made me feel so much better. This is what I have been doing but have been worried I have not been doing enough, now I feel that I can start doing my job without worrying, Thanks!!

[Baildon bears]

I just wanted to say you are not alone in feeling confused, the problem is there are no clear ways to do it, you just have to find your own way, Im still trying to find my way :blush:, I think we just put too much pressure on our selves. I know i sure do:rolleyes:.