No, really! It could! To glimpse a peek at what the planner contains, go here.
Here's just a partial list of what this e-book planner has to offer:
Calendars in various forms–yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily
Lists of holidays and places to record special days in your family
Planners for your homeschool–in various styles to meet your individual needs
Pages for both long-term and short-term homeschooling goalsCurriculum planning forms
Evaluation forms and test score recording sheets
A "through the Bible" in a (school) year schedule
Forms for recording Bible memory and other memory work
Logs for recording books read, movies and documentaries viewed, etc.A field trip planning form and recording log
A sample science lab sheet and nature study sheets
A place to record extracurricular activities
Outside classes, co-op, and support group information and recording sheets
Household planning forms
Daily, weekly, and monthly household schedule charts
Grocery, menu-planning, and food logs
Various budget and financial planning forms
Garden planning sheets
An appliance and electronics inventory sheet
Vacation planning ideas
Address and telephone records
And much, much more!
If this doesn't go along with my post yesterday about wanting to have better documentation of our homeschooling, I don't know what would. I've used other products designed for organizing your homeschool, but this one has the added bonus of helping you manage the "home" portion of your homeschool as well. There are many places all over the internet to find forms like you'll find in this planner, but I've yet to see them all compiled in one place like this. Above, I have bolded those tools which I am most excited about, and think that I would really use. If I win, maybe next year this little beauty will help me get my tomatoes in the ground in time to ripen before the end of summer! ;P
Thanks to Brenda, over on the K12users yahoo group for organizing this giveaway!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Pictures of the kids
Little brother took this picture of Sissy ealier this week, and I cropped it and tweaked it.
Picture from our bike ride on the Iron Horse Trail today
Picture from our bike ride on the Iron Horse Trail today
Covering my...
I mentioned that the other day we had to go track down the form that homeschoolers in our state are required to file each year so that we can continue to legally homeschool our kids (ie. show they aren't truant).
According to the law, this is supposed to be a simple form which contains the name and ages of any children being homeschooled, address, name of the parent, and parent's signature. That is what the OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) long ago determined was the information districts needed to ensure that if they weren't being held accountable for a students education, then someone else was (ie. the parents). Any child of compulsory age (8 in WA) not in school, and without the proper paperwork filed, is then considered truant. The law, and OSPI, also state that the form be filed directly with the superintendent of the school district.
That all seems simple enough, but for some reason they have to make it harder than it is. Last year I just mailed a copy of a generic form I had downloaded from the Washington Homeschool Organization website, which saved me from knowing firsthand how difficult it can be to fulfill my obligations under the law if I choose to do all of this in person. I went to the campus of the local "homeschool" program, and they couldn't find the form. They sent me to "the main office, since you'll need to turn it in there anyway", which I assumed meant the administrative building - you know, because I have to file it with the superintendent an all. I went there, and nearly gave the poor lady in student services a coronary - her getting defensive, and me trying delicately to determine who in the land may actually have this form, and where they expected me to take it, without making her feel personally attacked. She told me where to get the forms (the administrative building of the "homeschool" program - ie. the school district office that oversees families that educate their kids at home through the district, not the independent homeschoolers), and said that she "could tell me where in the building the superintendent was located" but she was "pretty sure that no one was going to let me turn the form in to him". In other words, they were going to prevent me from following the law, which, if they decided to get technical about it at a later date, would technically make my kid truant. School policy doesn't supercede state law last time I checked, no matter how much easier it is for them to try an compartmentalize all of us families that don't enroll our kids in a traditional program.
Eventually I tracked down the needed form. Now how to get it to the superintendent. I already knew of three separate families that had tried to take their forms to the superintendent's office, and were threatened with security. That didn't seem an appropriate environment to exposed my 9 year old to. As it was, she was raising many perplexing questions, like: why wouldn't the school district want to follow the law? and why would they tell you to do something different from what you are supposed to do? Interesting questions with complicated answers. After much deliberation, and discussion with some other homeschool leaders around the state, I decided that the next best course of action was to send our signed form via certified mail, return receipt requested. (Can you tell I like to get worked up about things?) I mailed it yesterday, and unfortunately it will be arriving at the Admin building today, Saturday. No one will be there to sign for it. It will go back to the post office, waiting to be signed for by whoever goes and picks it up. I wonder if anyone will claim it. Sigh. I tried.
Oh, and just for their education, I included a copy of the law with the pertinent parts highlighted. You know, so they can get their act together.
So now that I've probably brought way too much attention on myself and my family, I decided that I'd best start keeping better track of what we're doing in our homeschooling. I'm not required to keep a record of what we do, only to make sure that we cover the eleven subject areas: reading, writing, spelling, language, math, science, social studies, history, health, occupational education, and art and music appreciation (and test or assess our child annually). I'm thinking though that if anyone should ever like to make my life difficult, it would be handy to be able to whip something out that showed that we had indeed been covering everything.
Happily, our state's law actually recognizes the unique character of homeschooling:
"...all decisions relating to philosophy or doctrine, selection of books, teaching materials and curriculum, and methods, timing and place in the provision or evaluation of home-based instruction shall be the responsibility of the parent"
and "...the legislature recognizes that home-based instruction is less structured and more experiential than the instruction normally provided in a classroom. Therefore, the provisions relating to the nature and quantity of instructional and related educational activities shall be liberally construed."
Which means that playing on Webkinz world counts for reading (kinzchat, the newspaper), math (figuring out how much Kinz Cash you need to make in the arcade so that you can afford to go on Vacation and still have money to spend in the gift shop), and occupational education (computer skills). And taking care of the family pets counts as occupational education and science. When a late night discussion turns to Hannibal marching elephants over the Alps, and we stumble upon a documetary of Hannibal, Carthage, and the Punic Wars, then we've covered history and social studies. An email about an opportunity to see Vaux's swifts coming in to roost for the night in a large chimney stack in a local town, and leads us to investigate their habits, adaptations, and migratory routes. I'd say that about half of our homeschooling looks fluid like this, where we stumble into learning, and about half is semi-planned out in advance by me, with input from N. and my observations of how things are going guiding that plan. So now I'm just journalling what we do at the end of each week, in case somebody decides to care, LOL!
According to the law, this is supposed to be a simple form which contains the name and ages of any children being homeschooled, address, name of the parent, and parent's signature. That is what the OSPI (Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction) long ago determined was the information districts needed to ensure that if they weren't being held accountable for a students education, then someone else was (ie. the parents). Any child of compulsory age (8 in WA) not in school, and without the proper paperwork filed, is then considered truant. The law, and OSPI, also state that the form be filed directly with the superintendent of the school district.
That all seems simple enough, but for some reason they have to make it harder than it is. Last year I just mailed a copy of a generic form I had downloaded from the Washington Homeschool Organization website, which saved me from knowing firsthand how difficult it can be to fulfill my obligations under the law if I choose to do all of this in person. I went to the campus of the local "homeschool" program, and they couldn't find the form. They sent me to "the main office, since you'll need to turn it in there anyway", which I assumed meant the administrative building - you know, because I have to file it with the superintendent an all. I went there, and nearly gave the poor lady in student services a coronary - her getting defensive, and me trying delicately to determine who in the land may actually have this form, and where they expected me to take it, without making her feel personally attacked. She told me where to get the forms (the administrative building of the "homeschool" program - ie. the school district office that oversees families that educate their kids at home through the district, not the independent homeschoolers), and said that she "could tell me where in the building the superintendent was located" but she was "pretty sure that no one was going to let me turn the form in to him". In other words, they were going to prevent me from following the law, which, if they decided to get technical about it at a later date, would technically make my kid truant. School policy doesn't supercede state law last time I checked, no matter how much easier it is for them to try an compartmentalize all of us families that don't enroll our kids in a traditional program.
Eventually I tracked down the needed form. Now how to get it to the superintendent. I already knew of three separate families that had tried to take their forms to the superintendent's office, and were threatened with security. That didn't seem an appropriate environment to exposed my 9 year old to. As it was, she was raising many perplexing questions, like: why wouldn't the school district want to follow the law? and why would they tell you to do something different from what you are supposed to do? Interesting questions with complicated answers. After much deliberation, and discussion with some other homeschool leaders around the state, I decided that the next best course of action was to send our signed form via certified mail, return receipt requested. (Can you tell I like to get worked up about things?) I mailed it yesterday, and unfortunately it will be arriving at the Admin building today, Saturday. No one will be there to sign for it. It will go back to the post office, waiting to be signed for by whoever goes and picks it up. I wonder if anyone will claim it. Sigh. I tried.
Oh, and just for their education, I included a copy of the law with the pertinent parts highlighted. You know, so they can get their act together.
So now that I've probably brought way too much attention on myself and my family, I decided that I'd best start keeping better track of what we're doing in our homeschooling. I'm not required to keep a record of what we do, only to make sure that we cover the eleven subject areas: reading, writing, spelling, language, math, science, social studies, history, health, occupational education, and art and music appreciation (and test or assess our child annually). I'm thinking though that if anyone should ever like to make my life difficult, it would be handy to be able to whip something out that showed that we had indeed been covering everything.
Happily, our state's law actually recognizes the unique character of homeschooling:
"...all decisions relating to philosophy or doctrine, selection of books, teaching materials and curriculum, and methods, timing and place in the provision or evaluation of home-based instruction shall be the responsibility of the parent"
and "...the legislature recognizes that home-based instruction is less structured and more experiential than the instruction normally provided in a classroom. Therefore, the provisions relating to the nature and quantity of instructional and related educational activities shall be liberally construed."
Which means that playing on Webkinz world counts for reading (kinzchat, the newspaper), math (figuring out how much Kinz Cash you need to make in the arcade so that you can afford to go on Vacation and still have money to spend in the gift shop), and occupational education (computer skills). And taking care of the family pets counts as occupational education and science. When a late night discussion turns to Hannibal marching elephants over the Alps, and we stumble upon a documetary of Hannibal, Carthage, and the Punic Wars, then we've covered history and social studies. An email about an opportunity to see Vaux's swifts coming in to roost for the night in a large chimney stack in a local town, and leads us to investigate their habits, adaptations, and migratory routes. I'd say that about half of our homeschooling looks fluid like this, where we stumble into learning, and about half is semi-planned out in advance by me, with input from N. and my observations of how things are going guiding that plan. So now I'm just journalling what we do at the end of each week, in case somebody decides to care, LOL!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
A bumpier ride (updated 5:45pm)
Today went slightly less smoothly for our resident kindergartener. This morning he really did NOT want to get ready for school. What he wanted to do was stay in his pajamas and go downstairs to watch tv. He let me know that he's already done two days of school this week, and he didn't want to do it today. Doh. Sorry, buddy, but we're going to play by the rules here for at least the first few weeks. You don't get to take a personal day on Day 3.
When he came home, things weren't much better. He seemed happy enough, but when I was asking him about his day, he started walking towards the front door (we were outside). He closed the door, then opened it and told me "Mom, I've had to talk to people all day, and I just can't listen to anyone anymore!". Then closed the door again, and stormed off to his room, leaving me sad and speechless out in the driveway. I think he's burnt out on people (lol, ya think?) which I was kind of afraid would happen. Later he excitedly told me that he gets tomorrow off, but I had to break the news that he's got one more day. And this is only a four-day week. Sigh.
UPDATE:
Apparently I misunderstood. I thought he was telling me that he gets a full day off tomorrow, but what he was trying to tell me was that tomorrow was going to be "full day". Now, in his mind, after three days of adults asking him if he's in full-day or half-day kindergarten, he thought that full day meant he was going to be at school all day tomorrow. When I prodded him further, trying to figure out what he was telling me, he said that his teacher told them "tomorrow is going to be a full day!" LOL - imagine his confusion. He was telling me that he was going to miss lunch, and that he hoped he'd be home in time for dinner. Fortunately I was able to explain that his teacher just has a lot planned for them to do tomorrow, and he'll be home at his usual time. I'm sure his worries over spending the whole day at school tomorrow probably contributed to his attitude upon arriving home. So much to learn.
When he came home, things weren't much better. He seemed happy enough, but when I was asking him about his day, he started walking towards the front door (we were outside). He closed the door, then opened it and told me "Mom, I've had to talk to people all day, and I just can't listen to anyone anymore!". Then closed the door again, and stormed off to his room, leaving me sad and speechless out in the driveway. I think he's burnt out on people (lol, ya think?) which I was kind of afraid would happen. Later he excitedly told me that he gets tomorrow off, but I had to break the news that he's got one more day. And this is only a four-day week. Sigh.
UPDATE:
Apparently I misunderstood. I thought he was telling me that he gets a full day off tomorrow, but what he was trying to tell me was that tomorrow was going to be "full day". Now, in his mind, after three days of adults asking him if he's in full-day or half-day kindergarten, he thought that full day meant he was going to be at school all day tomorrow. When I prodded him further, trying to figure out what he was telling me, he said that his teacher told them "tomorrow is going to be a full day!" LOL - imagine his confusion. He was telling me that he was going to miss lunch, and that he hoped he'd be home in time for dinner. Fortunately I was able to explain that his teacher just has a lot planned for them to do tomorrow, and he'll be home at his usual time. I'm sure his worries over spending the whole day at school tomorrow probably contributed to his attitude upon arriving home. So much to learn.
Rules
I was thumbing through the student/parent handbook that A. brought home from school the other day, and I came across a list of Playground Rules. Doing my parental duty, I was sharing the rules with A. and trying not to express my disdain as I read them.
In particular, did you know that:
1. There is no running allowed on the playground. (This would explain why my son is bouncing-off-the-walls hyper when he arrives home).
2. The grass is off-limits from September through the end of April. Okay, really, I do understand that the school is trying to avoid 300 kids tracking mud through the hallways, but still. One of the cool things that A. and I had discovered when we'd gone to visit before school had actually started was that there were these fun stumps to climb on, and a small "grove" of 3 fir trees that created a neat spot to play in. He and I were imagining him playing there on recess with the other kids. Guess not.
3. There is to be no digging in the sand. My son tells me that the sand is only for walking on.
It was at about this point, with my son on my lap, that I accidently let slip out of my mouth the words "These rules are so lame!"
To which he replied in the affirmative. I had to tell him that I understood why they had the rules that they did, and that it was really important that he didn't go to school and tell anyone that the playground rules are lame. I told him we'd just have to play on the playground the way we want to when it's not school time.
BTW - I really am hsing my other kid right now. She's sitting down next to me creating a worksheet for me to do. It's important to keep Mom busy.
In particular, did you know that:
1. There is no running allowed on the playground. (This would explain why my son is bouncing-off-the-walls hyper when he arrives home).
2. The grass is off-limits from September through the end of April. Okay, really, I do understand that the school is trying to avoid 300 kids tracking mud through the hallways, but still. One of the cool things that A. and I had discovered when we'd gone to visit before school had actually started was that there were these fun stumps to climb on, and a small "grove" of 3 fir trees that created a neat spot to play in. He and I were imagining him playing there on recess with the other kids. Guess not.
3. There is to be no digging in the sand. My son tells me that the sand is only for walking on.
It was at about this point, with my son on my lap, that I accidently let slip out of my mouth the words "These rules are so lame!"
To which he replied in the affirmative. I had to tell him that I understood why they had the rules that they did, and that it was really important that he didn't go to school and tell anyone that the playground rules are lame. I told him we'd just have to play on the playground the way we want to when it's not school time.
BTW - I really am hsing my other kid right now. She's sitting down next to me creating a worksheet for me to do. It's important to keep Mom busy.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Reflections on the first day
A's first day seemed to go well for him. The two of us walked together to the bus stop at the top of the hill, while N. stayed home by herself. This is a big step for her, too, since she hasn't had the opportunity to stay alone before. It's only for 15 minutes or so, and she seems to enjoy the quiet. Heck, at her age I was a latchkey kid and I survived, so I think she can handle it. And it's not like I'm terribly far - if she needed to, she could wave to me from the driveway, or call me on my cell phone. I think she appreciates the wee little notch on her belt to independence. Right now she plays on Webkinz world while she waits for me to return, with the idea being that she's all ready to jump into doing school with me when I walk in the door.
It's been nice to spend the one-on-one time with N. these last two days. I have a rough outline of what I'd like to get done each day, and we were able to get through her work well before A. returned from school. Today she and I had to drive over to pick up our district's form so she can homeschool (another long story, but one I'm not going to get into), and then went to Starbucks at B&N together to do school. That was a nice change of pace. She also picked out a new book that she's had her nose buried in for most of the day (from the Warriors manga trilogy - cat fantasy stuff). In spite of the fact that she's shutting out the rest of the world while she's absorbed in it, I really can't complain - it's pretty exciting to see, actually. While we waited for A's bus to drop him off after school, N. did math out in the driveway. I had her write out the skip counting for 2s and 3s (I drew blank lines on the ground, filling in a couple, and having her figure out the pattern). Then I called out multiplication problems, and had her jump on the answers. We've got to take advantage of the last of the summer weather while we have it!
So my thoughts on yesterday.... My first thought after I put my boy on the big yellow bus was "I can't believe I just let my baby leave with that big hairy man who I know nothing about!" If a big hairy guy drove up in a van and offered to drive my child to school, I wouldn't hand my kid over to him. The Bus (and presumably the background check that was performed) somehow grants this stranger a status that very few people have been given: our trust that he will care for our boy when we aren't there to keep him safe. Really the same can be said of his teacher. She seems nice enough, but that tells me nothing of her qualifications, personality and temperament, experience, ideology and beliefs. This all kind of creeps me out, yet parents everywhere do this every year, and seem to not even give it a second thought. That's just plain weird.
One cool thing about him riding the bus is that it's giving me an opportunity to meet some of the other families on our street. There are only two other families with kids at our stop, but one has a boy in A's class, and the other has a daughter just a few months younger than N. We've lived here for more than 2 1/2 years, and have never seen any of these kids before. Hopefully some new friendships can come out of this experience as well.
Most of the time A. was gone, besides schooling his sister, I kept glancing at the clock and wondering what he was up to, and how he was doing.
He arrived home 40 minutes after school got out (we live about 4 minutes away, but they transport all the half-day kindies on one bus so it takes awhile), and was full of energy. He had lots to report, but the first thing out of his mouth was "Recess was too short!"
He was also excited to tell me about a kid in his class named "Viper". I was intrigued, and said "Really? A boy named Viper?". He said that no, it was a girl, and I realized he was actually talking about a girl in his class named "Piper". As uncommon as the name Piper is, Viper was sounding especially unique. If we ever have another kid, I have dibs on "Viper"! ;P
Today's happy report from him (after a 30 minute ride - there's hope the ride will grow shorter): "Recess was longer today!" LOL - the kid has priorities.
I have to say, it was really cute to see him getting off the bus. I stood on the stairs at the entrance, and the kids are so short you can barely see their little foreheads sticking over the tops of the seats. Already he has a little buddy from class - a boy who shares his same name. They said good-bye to each other as A. got off the bus, and apparently they shared a seat this morning on the way to school. I'm glad he's having fun, and two days into kindergarten, this is looking like a good choice for him.
It's been nice to spend the one-on-one time with N. these last two days. I have a rough outline of what I'd like to get done each day, and we were able to get through her work well before A. returned from school. Today she and I had to drive over to pick up our district's form so she can homeschool (another long story, but one I'm not going to get into), and then went to Starbucks at B&N together to do school. That was a nice change of pace. She also picked out a new book that she's had her nose buried in for most of the day (from the Warriors manga trilogy - cat fantasy stuff). In spite of the fact that she's shutting out the rest of the world while she's absorbed in it, I really can't complain - it's pretty exciting to see, actually. While we waited for A's bus to drop him off after school, N. did math out in the driveway. I had her write out the skip counting for 2s and 3s (I drew blank lines on the ground, filling in a couple, and having her figure out the pattern). Then I called out multiplication problems, and had her jump on the answers. We've got to take advantage of the last of the summer weather while we have it!
So my thoughts on yesterday.... My first thought after I put my boy on the big yellow bus was "I can't believe I just let my baby leave with that big hairy man who I know nothing about!" If a big hairy guy drove up in a van and offered to drive my child to school, I wouldn't hand my kid over to him. The Bus (and presumably the background check that was performed) somehow grants this stranger a status that very few people have been given: our trust that he will care for our boy when we aren't there to keep him safe. Really the same can be said of his teacher. She seems nice enough, but that tells me nothing of her qualifications, personality and temperament, experience, ideology and beliefs. This all kind of creeps me out, yet parents everywhere do this every year, and seem to not even give it a second thought. That's just plain weird.
One cool thing about him riding the bus is that it's giving me an opportunity to meet some of the other families on our street. There are only two other families with kids at our stop, but one has a boy in A's class, and the other has a daughter just a few months younger than N. We've lived here for more than 2 1/2 years, and have never seen any of these kids before. Hopefully some new friendships can come out of this experience as well.
Most of the time A. was gone, besides schooling his sister, I kept glancing at the clock and wondering what he was up to, and how he was doing.
He arrived home 40 minutes after school got out (we live about 4 minutes away, but they transport all the half-day kindies on one bus so it takes awhile), and was full of energy. He had lots to report, but the first thing out of his mouth was "Recess was too short!"
He was also excited to tell me about a kid in his class named "Viper". I was intrigued, and said "Really? A boy named Viper?". He said that no, it was a girl, and I realized he was actually talking about a girl in his class named "Piper". As uncommon as the name Piper is, Viper was sounding especially unique. If we ever have another kid, I have dibs on "Viper"! ;P
Today's happy report from him (after a 30 minute ride - there's hope the ride will grow shorter): "Recess was longer today!" LOL - the kid has priorities.
I have to say, it was really cute to see him getting off the bus. I stood on the stairs at the entrance, and the kids are so short you can barely see their little foreheads sticking over the tops of the seats. Already he has a little buddy from class - a boy who shares his same name. They said good-bye to each other as A. got off the bus, and apparently they shared a seat this morning on the way to school. I'm glad he's having fun, and two days into kindergarten, this is looking like a good choice for him.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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