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Having "nothing to show…"
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Quick question for all you CM experts!
We’ve been using MFW for the last 2 years & though we’ve enjoyed it… I’ve found myself supplementing to the point that I feel that MFW is not really giving me my $’s worth. That being said, I’ve all but decided to go with the SCM Modules beginning our new year and 1 question came to mind today:
With MFW, there are student sheets that are completed regularly & together they all form a nice, neat little notebook record of all the things covered for that year. What would be the equivalent for the SCM Modules?
We are in a state that can request homeschool reviews (though I’ve never had it happened & don’t actually know anyone that has…) and I’m just wondering what I would “present” as a record of work done.
Thanks so much!
~Sherri
Hmmm….I use the SCM Organizer to “show” what we did. I mark off the books we read as we do them, adding grades for math and such. I’m not sure of the ages of your kids but you could have them do some written narrations. Or you could write out some of their oral narrations or have them draw pictures. Include some of their map drill (from the Geography part). There are several activities listed in the modules (like making salt dough maps)….include those or take pictures of them to show you did them. Perhaps add some copywork examples of Bible verses from the lessons.
For English keep copywork pages for handwriting, list of books read for literature, and any original writing (if your child is older). I usually keep a few narrations I typed out for them as mine are young. For Science keep a book list and show your nature journal, and record any experiments you do like growing a plant or something. For history again keep a book list, your book of centuries/timeline, and a few written or typed oral narrations. For geography keep some map work. For art and music I keep a record of artists and composer studies and keep a few paintings or art projects.
I must put together a portfolio at the end of each year and this is whIat I did last year. Actually, for composition I took my sons Bible journal with all his narrations he dictated. I included a few math sheets from throughout the year. Since we aren’t just following a curriculum this year I am keeping a math journal I will take.
We are also required to teach health and fire safety so I have a packet of safety flash cards we go over every year just to be covered.
To keep it all together I make a “master list” of all we have done for each year. It’s just a document I add to throughout the year. It’s not a plan of what we will do but a record of what we have done. I list books, field trips, and classes we take.
It probably isn’t necessary for my state to be so detailed but I like the record and it never hurts to be prepared.
Did you make your health/fire safety flash cards, or did you purchase them? If purchased, from which source?
Becca<><
I always think the same thing. There’s so much less of a “paper trail” than there was when my oldest was in public school.
We do have a copywork and dictation notebook, a math workbook or program, and some geography work. Otherwise I keep a book list of everything we’ve read.
Thankfully my state allows for standardized testing, so we just do that and get it over with.
I purchased the flashcards. They are actually more like posters since they are large. I got them from Abeka several years ago. They are Health Safety and Manners posters I think. We just set out a poster and go over it. It goes over thigs like the food groups, table manners, fire safety, not talking to strangers, and how to cross a street safely. Even though they are for younger grades I think they work just fine. They have a little paragraph on the back you can read.
It’s just how I make sure my bases are covered. I think you naturally teach your children these things but I can put these cards down on my curriculum plan I have to turn in at the beginning of the year.
Tara
Thank you all so much for the ideas!
I suppose I am just going to have to be more diligent in making that paper trail for us! 🙂
About the SCM Organizer… Do ya’ll mind speaking to that??? How exactly does it work? I currently just use a homeschooling “journal” to record out daily accomplishments.
Sherri, it is pretty simple. Here are the srticles and vidoes provided by SCM: http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/cm-organizer/
This old post has my top reasons for using the Organizer:
From my experience, I hate the record keeping aspect of homeschool the worst!!! I plan out our year/tem/month/week/days or however I choose to plan it out, It looks so nice on paper all organized. Then my dd goes to the hospital or something else happens and we only do half a day. I then have to adjust all the plans to match the reality of life. AAARGGGGHHHHH! I can keep a journal daily too, but that is time consuming and bulky. ugh
I used the Organizer for a few months and thought, well, I get distracted too easily, so I went back to paper for about – ummm – two weeks. It was so frustrating! My children loved their own check-off lists, I loved having mine, I wasn’t nearly as organized and school was quickly becoming an emotional issue for all of us. It was so bad, and I missed the ease of the Organizer so much, that I actually stopped our school routine on a Friday, and spent the next couple of days imputing and scheduling out our year into the Organizer. (It doesn’t have to take that long, I was being interupted a lot). In about 10 minutes a day I can print, record and track everything that we have done and have a schedule printed for first thing in the morning. I am so much more organized now it is ridiculus.
Here are my top reasons for having the Organizer:
- I can print every one a new schedule every day
- I can track my dd individual daily progress at a glance and allow priviledges based on her “performance” – no projects if your math isn’t done
- I can imput everything in my day – I can put my daily dinner menu and prep so I don’t forget, my cleaning tasks, along with my devotional time, service hours. and any other thing that might need a list daily or weekly.
- I can take a day off with out having to waste my time playing catch-up or using my eraser
- I have more time to enjoy my family – and be with my husband mentally and physically (no more sitting on the couch thinking about all the other stuff I need to do besides sit there with him – lol)
- I can track our attendance as well as our progress individually and collectively with one click of a button
- I can print those records at anytime and present them as proof that we are schooling our children – and that they are making progress (most people are impressed when I tell them what we are reading)
- I do not have to try to keep track of everything long enough to get it into my records
- I can change a book. a curriculum or a schedule quickly and without interuption in our lives – again a few clicks of a button.
- It gives me confidence to use the books and schedule them out over longer periods of time – they don’t get lost in the shuffle – and it is working. We are going through books so quickly even if we are not reading in them daily
- It teaches my children to take responsiblilty for their schooling.
- It is only $10.00 a month – I save that in time easily – freeing up my time and planning it on the Orgainzer helps me to not spend more money on convenience foods, duplicate purchases of supllies, etc….
I LOVE the Organizer and it is worth every single penny in this house.
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