I am so thankful that my wonderful hubby gave me a "kick-in-the-butt" in regard to getting my recordkeeping organized for homeschooling. When I got around to organizing it, I found that the schoolyear in Missouri begins on July first, so I was already 2 months behind!
But it was a lot of fun to open up Publisher and create my own little record-keeping book :-). I printed it, bound it (with my binder machine and a comb binder) and just today I closed out my first month of recorded school hours, giving David a lesson in using an adding machine in the process. Here is what is included in my record-keeping book:
1. A summary page: curriculum summary & goals summary
2. Hour-tracker pages for each month: colums for each subject, core hours, extra hours (ie field trips), and a block for notes at the bottom
3. Evaluation pages: Strengths, weaknesses, goals met...etc.
Missouri law requires periodic evaluations and I am excited about it because it forces me to take the time to ponder and plan and correct my course if necessary.
We believe that we are responsible first to answer to God for training our children up in the way they should go. We also plan to be ready to give an account, if necessary, to the governing authorities for the education we are providing.
In the meantime, I will use them to record and improve our homeschooling endeavors. I am sure that next year's book will far surpass this one, but I am having fun, and that is what school is supposed to be about, right?
"Then why do I have to do math flashcards?" I can hear my 7yob cry out :-)
"For the same reason you have to eat your vegetables!" I reply with a smile.
wow! I don't know how you do all you do. I took a week off of work this next week.It will be wonderful to have a break from the usual, and do what I want to do. Our weather has been so beautiful the past few days.
ReplyDeleteTell me more about periodic evaluations. I don't remember reading that part. Evaluations for the student or for the mother?
ReplyDeleteI am also struggling with the Pearls philosophy of work/study ratio vs. MO required hours. I am considering a 6 day a week school schedule with only one day off, so that we can accomplish more chores and less school each day.
Becky, I found it on a website. Here is the wording of the section in question:
ReplyDelete4. A parent who is home schooling a child must maintain the following records:
a. A plan book, diary, daily log, or other written record indicating the subjects taught and the activities engaged in with the student.
b. A portfolio containing samples of the student's academic work.
c. A record of evaluation of the student's academic progress.
The website I found the above on is eluding me, but this is HSLDA's page on Missouri:
http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp?State=MO
It states that we are to maintain records of evaluations or a "credible equivalent".