Homeschoolers:

[kijip]

How do you keep track of assignments? Which work do you save? Which work do you recycle?

We are finding we need to be very specific, because part of making homeschooling work without a SAHP is leaving him a list of things to do that day. It's just what he needs/responds to. But keeping all of the work seems like it would rapidly fill our house.

We are keeping track of things to do by week in a teacher's assignment book ($1 at Target) and then making a list on a whiteboard of things to do so we can check them off as we work on them with him or he can check off the things he does while we are at work. Wondering what has worked long term for homeschoolers, especially those with children working on specific assignments.

Thanks.

[mamicka]

A couple things I've done that might work for you:
1) workboxes - putting each "assignment" or "project" in it's own box/drawer/file & refilling them each day or week, depending on the workload. I toyed with this a bit last year & when I was organized enough each week it worked really well. I had a two of those plastic Sterilite 3-drawer things & each drawer was another subject. I gave each drawer a number attached with velcro & when he was done with each drawer he stuck the number onto a chart. Charts full = he's done.

2) binder separated by week - I've been doing this for this year since now I'm doing 2 kids & it's less work (so far) on my part. I've already planned the first 12 weeks of the school year & each assignment was put in their binder (each child has one) which is divided into weeks. I have my own binder which has all of my stuff for each of their assignments.

I have a hard time getting rid of school stuff because I want to make sure we have a good enough record of what's been done, so I probably keep more than I need to & it definitely adds-up. I think at the end of this year I'll just have a binder for each of them with the buld of their work & I'll just keep that as-is. For big projects for science or art I usually take a picture of it & keep that as a record.

I don't know if any of that is helpful.

Have you checked-out any TWTM forums? They are very helpful IMO.

[kijip]

Have you checked-out any TWTM forums? They are very helpful IMO.

Thanks for the ideas. What are the TWTM forums? I like a drawer for each subject a lot. We don't have binders, we have bound primary journal books (with a space for handwriting and pictures). But I am thinking of getting binders for the science workbook sheets he is doing and maybe some other subjects.

Do you do anything special or different for multi-subject assignments? For example, over yesterday and today, T read "If Your Travelled in a Covered Wagon", we talked about it, then he did a writing and pictures journal entry with a bunch of colored pencil drawings and then he made a video of himself talking about what he would have liked and disliked about coming west in a covered wagon. So a lot of subjects- handwriting, language arts/communication, art and computers. But I guess I would keep it with the history stuff and then make a notation in the assignments book for each touched on subject? Tomorrow and the next day he is doing the same thing for "If you lived in Colonial Times" (guess who bought a cheap used set of a bunch of If you... books?:hysterical:)

[MommyAllison]

What are the TWTM forums?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/index.php

Warning: It moves fast and is addictive! ;)

[mommy111]

Not homeschooling here but we toyed with the idea.....then we realized that schools in China are really good at accommodating special needs and personalities and desisted. But, when we were thinking, one of the ideas that I loved from a homeschooler was using the ikea expedit (or any similar set of shelves). One cube marked for reading/research materials on a subject, the one after that for completed projects and the one after that on the same level for ongoing projects. So the third cube (for ongoing projects) tends to be cluttered, but once the project is done, keep only the 2-3 pages/CD of the project and put it into the bin in the second drawer and the third drawer gets emptied for a new project. The third drawer is marked with a to-finish-by date. This way, 3 drawers on one level for one subject, 3 drawers on another level for another subject etc etc.
I don't know if I've explained it in a way that makes any sense whatsoever.
Allison (mamicka), can I tell you how much I am in awe of you for homeschooling with a baby at home. HS was overwhelming enough for me just to think about when I had only one child that I decided against it.

[mamicka]

Do you do anything special or different for multi-subject assignments? For example, over yesterday and today, T read "If Your Travelled in a Covered Wagon", we talked about it, then he did a writing and pictures journal entry with a bunch of colored pencil drawings and then he made a video of himself talking about what he would have liked and disliked about coming west in a covered wagon. So a lot of subjects- handwriting, language arts/communication, art and computers. But I guess I would keep it with the history stuff and then make a notation in the assignments book for each touched on subject? Tomorrow and the next day he is doing the same thing for "If you lived in Colonial Times" (guess who bought a cheap used set of a bunch of If you... books?:hysterical:)
In your example I wouldn't do anything special to note that the assignment covered multiple subjects. I would have just had it listed in my planning stuff for the year that he would be writing/journaling/making videos/etc within his history studies. As an aside, we have some of those books as well & I love that assignment - I may steal it.

Just curious, does your state require you to submit records or meet lots of requirements? I don't have to submit anything (except our notice of intention to HS) so I'm not generally too worried about keeping track in such detail.

Also wanted to mention that there's at least one option for software to keep track of this stuff - I don't know anything about it personally but I believe there's a free basic version that you could check out. http://www.homeschooltracker.com/tracker_basic.aspx I've been meaning to check it out myself but haven't had the time yet.

It sounds like you guys are starting off really well! Congrats Katie! :thumbsup:


Allison (mamicka), can I tell you how much I am in awe of you for homeschooling with a baby at home. HS was overwhelming enough for me just to think about when I had only one child that I decided against it.
Thanks :love-retry: but don't be too impressed... I had frequent panic attacks just thinking about HS'ing this year. So far so good, but I've given myself permission to quit at any time.


then we realized that schools in China are really good at accommodating special needs and personalities.
I'd love to hear how they did this. It sounds awesome...

[caleymama]

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/index.php

Warning: It moves fast and is addictive! ;)

I'll third the rec for TWTM forums. We aren't homeschooling, but I do read there and have considered it pretty seriously.

Another online scheduler I have bookmarked after seeing it recommended is Homeschool Skedtrack (http://www.homeschoolskedtrack.com/HomeSchool/displayLogin.do).

I also have DonnaYoung.org bookmarked - lots of good homeschool specific organization printables there. Here's (http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/planner.htm) a link to the Weekly Lesson Plan Forms and the Daily Schedule Lesson Planners (http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/daily.htm).

[Melaine]

:popc1:Thanks for all this info.

[Meatball Mommie]

I def. recommend The Well Trained Mind (books and online resources) as well. We were considering homeschooling our 2 as well (we opted not to and they are currently in a Montessori school). I really found that method/philosophy interesting and we would have gone that route had we homeschooled.

[Raidra]

Well, we lean towards unschooling, so I can't really comment on organizing assignments. But as far as what to keep, we keep very little stuff that the boys produce. For one, our state allows us to submit progress reports, so I don't need to have completed assignments to show what he's been doing. For another, with four children, to keep costs down, I use a piece of clear plastic and dry erase markers for our consumables.. that way I can use the same workbook for each kid instead of having to buy four copies.

I've kept special creative things, like their book club journals, but that's about it.

For keeping track of what we've done.. last year, I blogged about everything we did. This year, I'll probably keep a Word file. I don't get very specific like dates and exact assignments, but I'll write something like: September - read XYZ on human evolution, watched numerous PBS and NatGeo specials on early humans, visited Natural History Museum, etc, etc.

[brittone2]

I'm in a state where we'll eventually submit a portfolio (not until DS1 is 8 though), and I still don't see myself keeping a lot of work. Our portfolio must contain "samples" and I will pick out a few samples representative of different subjects and then keep a reading log (part of the law in my state). I'll keep samples from the beginning of the year, mid-year, and the end of the year for my port once I have to file.

I do not keep a ton of DS's work by any stretch. I sometimes photograph things w/ my digital camera in lieu of keeping them. Writing samples, etc. so I can look back on my own and evaluate progress. I will eventually keep a little log for myself of what we did each day, but I don't really do that regularly as of yet.

PPs linked to some good sites. I've heard good things about several of the planners, etc. online.

I also have a CD ROM from Rainbow Resource that contains all different homeschooling types of forms. I could pretty easily create them on my own but I like having a bunch of templates (schedules, lesson plans, meal planning, logs, etc.) available and ready to go.

Sounds like things are off to a good start :cheerleader1:

If I lived somewhere with less onerous reporting laws, I would totally chuck a good bit of DS1's stuff with little remorse. I might keep a log for myself, but once I was done looking at and talking over his work with him, I'd probably dispose of the vast majority of the day to day stuff. I'd probably digitally photograph special projects or excellent examples for my own files.

[mommy111]

Thanks :love-retry: but don't be too impressed... I had frequent panic attacks just thinking about HS'ing this year. So far so good, but I've given myself permission to quit at any time.

YOu are my hero for even trying. I tried afterschooling for just half an hour a day to see if we could transition into homeschooling. At the end of a few weeks, we were getting to the point where my daughter and I were really starting to not like each other too much. I just gave up and decided it was best for our relationship for her to go to school :) Probably for the best b/c the schools here are really good.


I'd love to hear how they did this. It sounds awesome...
It really is. On the one hand, the private schools here play to the more academically gifted students, not to bringing the bottom students up to par (that is considered the parents' responsibility.....good or bad though that might be). The schools benefit very much by having a couple of brilliant students per class at whatever it may be these students are good at....speaking, art, math, whatever....because these students then represent the school as high scorers, winners of speaking competitions, debates, drama etc etc. The schools also work really hard at developing individual student strengths. For example, they strongly encourage DD to read out to the rest of her class, because she has the American English accent. So, not because she's extraordinarily smart or anything, just playing to her strengths. Every child is treated this way, if nothing else, there are day badges for 'I was kind today'......
The other thing is, they are not afraid to accelerate kids. Rather than have special classes, I would estimate that around 2-3% of the kids in each class who are gifted are accelerated. Of course this is easier here with less social/sports pressure in the higher classes, but also because acceleration is accepted and done and a certain part of each class is accelerated kids so their is a wider age range in the classrooms. I was very anti-acceleration until Beth (egoldberg) on this board pointed out to me that it may actually be a good option for some kids and I looked into it.
Thirdly, things are so structured here that high-energy kids like my DD are accommodated and learn (in my mind, very healthy) to work in and conform to the atmosphere. Part of this is that the schools are less individualistic than US schoold (again, not necessarily bad in my opinion). But the other part of it is that they are sooo well structured. So if DD finishes her work ahead of time, she 1) gets a badge to take home saying she finished ahead of time 2) gets to go out to the mini-library (there is a small age-appropriate library outside every classroom) and choose and read a book at the 'library table' outside the classroom (thereby not distracting other kids in the classroom) 3) in the smaller classrooms, can choose to go to a play area attached to the classroom and play there with other classmates who are done.
I've found that its a very child friendly system.
Sorry to hijack, but since you asked....:)