Homeschooling Mom's in West Tx?

[Shannoniganshens]

I'm looking for ideas the same, I did find a coloring/drawing contest for the day, all entries have to be turned in by Oct.1, I was going to throw it at the kids tomorrow,get their thoughts on it, tonight I printed out the constitution and some worksheets, starting with We the Students, for after our lesson, thought they could write their own, go from there. I have my guys write in a journal every evening about their lessons and their day, things that may have upset them and/or make them happy. I'm sure their own bor and journals will help me sum up where to take it, day by day. My oldest I know is too old for it, but I'm sure he will enjoy giving his ideas. He will also be a big help in our direction with it. Thought I would have them look up examples of CHANGE then and now, have them take side notes . I'm new to all this, thought this year we would note everything, (might be my ocd on documentation,lol) but it will help me. DD #1 wrote in her journal Friday, that her new goal in home school is to get spelling down, I'm happy she sees and wants to fix the problem areas. How do you grade, if you don't mind me asking, I kind of wanted a school style report card system for every 6 weeks, don't know if I'm taking it too far, just worried I'll miss something and it will hurt them when college years come. ???
Tomorrow I will hear from Hslda , I've kept myself pretty busy, trying to forget about the "thing" , seems to have made Monday, then Tuesday come faster

, Fun,fun. I'll post tomorrow/almost today after I hear from someone.

 

[WriterofWords]

Printable report cards:

http://www.justmommies.com/unit_studies/homeschool_report_card.shtml

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/allplanners.php

There are many more, these are good ones and have several types of report cards and grading forms.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

When my some was in a Montessori preschool, they had a list of the various "works" divided by subject area, with a place beside each to mark off how far he had progressed. Starting with (I am sure my memory for the exact terms is incorrect, but the idea is correct) Not Yet Attempted, then Beginning, then In Progress and finally Mastered. In his 2nd-5th grades they used a similar, albeit not quite as detailed grading system. Not as detailed in that they did not have as many choices for progress, nor did they break down the tasks in as much detail. At one point I asked for a received a copy of the standards reqired for each grade level, and that was in detail. I just put it in the shred pile (he's a senior, and I don't think I need the standards for 4th grade any more), so tomorrow I'll pull it and list a couple of examples for you. I would expect that Texa has a similar set of standards. Not that you have to match them exactly, but it will give you an idea of progression. I would expect that some of the homeschool groups have similar curriculum standards.

 

[Shannoniganshens]

Thank you !!!!
Well I just talked to a lawyer from HSDLA, and he said that I do have to show up to court with my son and present my withdraw letter along with the response from the principal and then we go from there, if that isn't enough then I am to tell them I am seeking legal defense and give them a call back. He is going to try and find me a lawyer down here, but doesn't think they have any. So I'm going to do all this tomorrow, at 9 in the morning and think positive.

 

[PineappleMama]

Grade wise, Time4Learning keeps track of theirs.... you can print daily, weekly or monthly reports.

Which is fine, but I printed out the list of lessons and bound them (have a binder jobber) into books for DS and DD. Divided into their subjects. I can mark which are due this week, add in the grades when done, make notes and everything. So far it's working well.

The lessons are broken down into chunks by subject... something like silent vowels 21021, 21022, 21023 and then long vowels 21024, 21025, 21026... etc Each of those 'blocks' of grades are averaged and then that counts as one grade for the overall LArts... Reading Log is another, Journal is another.

DS's is a little trickier. 7th grade does specifically Life Science and Texas (not US that's 8th) History so those two subjects we're doing the old fashioned way with a textbook, workbook and a spiral. All the section reviews, chapter reviews, etc are done in the spiral. In both of those subjects we cover a chapter a week. There aren't 36 chapters (6x6wks) but pretty close... does leave a little room in case a subject is too much and needs more review, but so far so good.

DD has a journal. She has the choice of 5 sentences OR 1 recipe/day. She's gotten into a cooking phase, which I figure isn't a bad thing. This way she's writing, seeing fractions, learning abbreviations (c, T, t), getting exposed to interesting words (can you say pilaf?), and she's getting a bit of a say in her assignments which I always appreciated.

Both kiddos have a reading log, but what they read is their choice. Told them I don't care if it takes you a whole year to read one book, so long as you're putting in your time every day that's fine. DH is a slow reader, I'm a fast reader, drives him nuts actually... but the kids could go either way and this way allows them to read as slow/fast as they need to in order to enjoy AND absorb the book. That's not been the case in school. They're taught to read just to find the tidbits likely to be on the AR Test. An example if I may? Where the Red Fern Grows... because it was also made a movie they REALLY try and make sure that you can't just skim/watch the film... so in that book rather than asking setting, characters, events, etc... nope they'll ask something like "What flavor soda pop did they order..." As if what flavor was chosen is somehow pivotal to the plot... you ask DS "so what happened in your chapter" and he rattles off facts like he's a robot... he gets those details, but totally misses the story. Anyone else has suggestions on that please feel free to pass them on!!!

Speaking of which, it's 8:20, time to get mine going.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Maybe have him watch some episodes of Reading Rainbow, then ask him to give you a summary on the chapter or book in that kind of format. Or ask if he can sum up the book (or chapter) in 1 or 2 sentences. Or maybe fine him by each detail if he gets too bogged down in them

 

[Shannoniganshens]

And I'm off, I'm taking my withdraw letter I sent to the school and their response along with my statement to the court, has our curriculum that I am following the state law, our hours of operation and days, along with my address, and my signature. HSLDA attorney told me that this is all I should have to provide and it will be done, if they ask me to plead guilty I am to ask for time to obtain a lawyer and call him back. I'm hoping and praying the first scenario is all it is. I'm one nervous lady, DS is getting ready and then we're off to the imaginary land of law breakers.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[PineappleMama]

I don't think they should have charged you at all, THEY screwed up, then let it snowball.
The judge should dismiss all charges completely.

You did inform them, again not legally required, and you are enrolled in a bona fide curriculum, so according to state law you're fine... and no charges should have been filed.

They shouldn't have you say guilty OR not guilty, the charges shouldn't even exist... I'm really lost on this one. It seems like they've got a law in your town specifically that says you must enroll in their public schools ... which is in direct opposition to the STATE law that say you have to do school but it can be private (big or home) or public. That's just boggling me.

I'd flat out ask that the charges be dismissed, as they should never have been filed, by the district's own admission. If the judge refuses then I guess you'll have to see about a lawyer. If they're charging you with a crime then by law they have to allow you one.

Ohhh this is driving me nuts speculating... be sure and let us know how it goes!!!

 

[Shannoniganshens]

The school did not change the code on my son's records, they asked no questions, kept my letter and the schools response for their records so that this won't happen again, did not give them my statement, they did not ask any questions, I handed them my 2 documents and now we have a paper signed and stamped that we are dismissed of any charges!!!!!!!!!

and Thank you everyone for keeping me sane ya'll are great!!!!!!

 

[PineappleMama]

YAY! 100% absolutely what should have happened EXCELLENT NEWS!!