Record-keeping app vs paper
The laws we checked care what the record says and when it was made, not what it was written on. Kentucky's says it outright: digital or paper.
A homeschool record keeping app is as acceptable as paper wherever the law simply asks you to keep records; Kentucky's state law page says attendance records can be digital or paper. What laws do specify is content and timing, such as a log made at the time of teaching. Peabody's free Record Book keeps records on your device, with no account, and prints them signed.
Checked October 27, 2026.
This is a plain-words summary, not legal advice. Laws change: check your state's current law and its education department before you act.
What do state records say about the form?
| State | What its record says |
|---|---|
| Kentucky | A homeschool keeps attendance records, which can be digital or paper, and scholarship reports showing the courses completed and grades awarded. They must be open to inspection by the local district's Director of Pupil Personnel and Department officials. Work samples are not required by law. |
| Florida | Keep a portfolio: a log of educational activities made at the time of instruction that names any reading materials used, plus samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials. The parent decides what goes in it and keeps it for 2 years. The superintendent may ask to inspect it with… |
| Pennsylvania | The parent keeps a portfolio for each child: a log made at the time of teaching listing the reading materials by title, samples of writing, worksheets, workbooks or creative work, and the grade 3, 5 and 8 test results. School districts do not review the portfolio; the evaluator does. Only the… |
| Utah | None are required. The statute says a local school board may not require a parent to maintain records of instruction or attendance. |
App or paper: what each gets right
| Paper | An app like the Record Book | |
|---|---|---|
| Made at the time | If you write daily | If you tap daily; "Mark this week" helps on weekends |
| Adds up | By hand | Days, half days, hours, credits and GPA, worked out |
| Shows a reader | Hand it over | Print it signed, or save it as a PDF |
| Survives a lost device | Not a flood | If you keep the backup file |
| Privacy | In your house | In your browser, with no account; nothing sent to Peabody |
What should any app let me do?
- Print or export every record, so you can hand it to an evaluator or an office.
- Give you a backup you hold, not only a login.
- Work without an account, or tell you plainly where your child's data goes.
- Keep notes on single days and dates on every entry.
How does the Record Book handle each of those?
- Every page prints, and attendance and hours also download as a spreadsheet file.
- The backup is one file with the whole book and every photo; reading it back checks the file before touching what is stored.
- No account: the book is in this browser's own storage on this device.
- Hours from the Tap Clock are marked "clock" and typed ones "typed", so you can say how each entry was made.
A sensible mix
Many families keep the record in an app and print once a month. The printout is your paper copy, signed and dated, and the backup file is your second copy. Florida's record, for example, asks you to keep the portfolio for two years; a printed copy and a backup both do that.
Try it
Open the attendance record or the portfolio, and find what your state asks in what to file, by state.
Sources
- Kentucky: Kentucky Department of Education: Homeschool Information Packet (May 2026) (checked October 27, 2026)
- Florida: Florida Statutes 1002.41, Home education programs (legislature) (checked October 27, 2026)
- Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Public School Code, section 1327.1 Home Education Program (General Assembly) (checked October 27, 2026)
- Utah: Utah Code 53G-6-204, school-age children exempt from school attendance (Utah Legislature) (checked October 27, 2026)