I know what we need to accomplish through the year (we school year round) and I write that down when I do our “Notice of Intent”, and I know what books/materials we need, and I make sure we have them. BUT I don’t make a breakdown or daily/weekly schedule…we just keep going and going and going.
Last year we used MFW’s K and CTG and I just checked things off in the TMs as they were completed. I signed up for the SCM Organizer’s free trial, and never used it. We put everything in notebooks, and I put last year’s in a box marked “Completed Homeschool 2008-2009.”
I guess my question is…does anyone else use this insane method of recording/tracking…AND since we’re still fairly new to this…I don’t know…will this eventually get us in trouble? Keep in mind we are military and will be moving every 2-3 yrs (meaning different HSing laws will come up).
My thoughts would be after every 2-3 years you will have lots of notebooks to move around. I think you would have less stuff to move if you saved for each year: copy of “Notice of intent”, a book list for each student and your overall/general plan with a sample of each subject. You might have less boxes to carry around. I also know for us here in California, when filing an avadavit we are implying we are a private school. With that we must keep a copy of shot records and attendance records on file. I keep these every year as well.
Well, I guess I’m insane!!!! I knew it all along. I don’t daily/weekly plan either. We just read the next book or complete the next lesson and so on and so forth. And we usually get side-tracked and don’t finish everything. We’re military and I only save what I need for that particular state and I chuck it when I move or take pictures and do a digital “scrapbook”. We’ve moved 7 times in 7 years (5 different states). I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me….
When we left CA I send a letter stating that we had moved because I didn’t want any problems if they couldn’t contact me. They replied that I didn’t need to contact them and they didn’t need to know anything since I was no longer there. I figured if they didn’t care, I wouldn’t worry.
I think if there’s ever a question I can have my kids take a test or produce a quick sample. Just my 2 cents.
I sooo hear you!!! We homeschool year round as well and are also military. We moved 12 times since 2002! My husband is an activated reservist and we move whenever he has TDY for more than three months.
Anyway, I completely understand your record keeping situation. I was in four states in one year once. I can tell you how I use the organizer. First, I gather up any and all books I might use and plug them into the organizer. Basically, I put everything M-F unless it is a once a week thing like picture study. I go through each day and check off what each child did or what we did as a family. I LOVE keeping my records through SCM because it shows what I did and how I did it. 🙂 Now it even tells you how many days each child has in.
My organizer is very full. I may use one out of 10 resources I have entered for that day. You can also add things like nature study, exercise (I have my Total Gym listed and workout dvds), family bible time or devotions, kids helping me cook, chores, etc. It is not limited to just books and schooly things.
If you are sincerely concerned about “getting into trouble” then I would suggest that you contact the HSLDA and ask them what you should be doing. This is the only way to have a true peace of mind that should something happen you’ll be covered, all of our methods are fine, but legally they’re not going to be concerned what your friends on the internet are doing should they come calling at your door. You should DEFINITELY be a member of HSLDA as that is the best insurance a homeschool parent can have, and then follow their advice in terms of what to keep and how to keep track. My husband is an attorney and while I would be more inclined to just do one thing after the next that does not pass muster around here. Sorry, this post doesn’t sound too friendly – I’m not sure how to rephrase to sound more pleasant – I guess that’s just the harsh reality of dealing with legal compliance – no fun.
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