The plan is to homeschool year round with more frequent short breaks rather than one long summer vacation, but we still haven't started “real” homeschooling. The kids have worked on some “summer bridge” worksheets most weekdays but that’s it. We have been too busy having fun, going to camps, and just hanging out to have do anything formal yet. As for record keeping, however, our official homeschool year started June 1st.
But that brought me to a question... What exactly counts as “curriculum” or “official” homeschooling time?
Does an outing to the swimming pool or the bowling alley count as PE? How about Nick’s overnight camping trip?
What about watching the *excellent* television show “How the States Got Their Shapes?” Surely this counts as Geography or History or Social Studies... or all three.
Is VBS officially Religious Studies... or even PE, Art, and Music?
This week we have gone to the US Space and Rocket Center, watched an Army Material Command Band orchestral concert, and to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. We will also go to Sci-Quest, Huntsville Museum of Art and Burritt on the Mountain this week as well. (It seems like a busy schedule, but it’s Armed Forces Week and as a military family we get into these places for FREE!) Do I list all of these outings as part of Science, PE, Art, and History?
This weekend will we have “community service” when we work for a while at a Homes For Our Troops build?
Nick has Aviation Challenge Camp next week while Emma has Horse Camp... Science and PE?
We divided our garden up into sections and each kids is responsible for their own little plot... A “Home Economics” grade?
I don’t want to get bogged down in record keeping, but it seems to me that almost everything we do could be assigned to a certain curriculum subject, and maybe that’s a good thing. Do I track it all or only the truly core things they do with a specific intent at “schooling?”
How do YOU do it?
I was wondering the same thing!. Seems like a lot of record keeping. Do you have to keep track of how many hours you do each subject per day? I do, and not sure how to do that either.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know this as well! :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, just posted a comment on one of your later posts. Again, I have nine kids and have homeschooled for about ten years. My oldest has graduated (we started homeschooling him in 4th grade) and our others have always been educated at home (and always will be). When I started, I lived in AL, so all I was required to keep by my cover school was a statement of attendance. We moved to Korea (eligible for DOD Schools) and we weren't even required to register with them in any way. So I never kept records. Not even for my highschooler. When we needed them for preparing for college, I basically made them up. That sounds awful, but really, I was able to pull out of my head what we had done. I know what my kids' strengths are and where they excel. To me, letter grades mean nothing to a homeschooler. Think about it. If you gave your kids a test and they scored an F, would you really leave it at that, or would you keep working with them to improve their understanding to at least a B level?
ReplyDeleteSince you are military, you might desire to keep more detailed records in case you find yourself in a state that requires them. In that case, to answer your question, I would absolutely count anything you do that has to do in any way with learning.
There are all kinds of record keeping methods out there for homeschoolers, so there's no need to reinvent that wheel.