Homeschool Corner

Homeschool adds a unique set of complications and variables to working from home. But it also provides some unique opportunities.

Lynda's Forms

These forms are in MS Word format. They are free to download. Lynda's comments on the use of these documents are reprinted here for your convenience. All files are easily modifiable, just change them to work how you need them to work.

Most of these forms are a stationery or template type document. That means when you open them the computer will always open a new copy, and leave the old copy untouched on your hard drive so you can reuse it over and over. You must follow instructions to get this to work correctly though: Open Word, click on Tools, Options, File Locations and look for where User Templates are stored, this will tell you where to put the document. Place the file in the folder indicated on your hard drive. Make sure the file name ends with .dot or it won't open correctly. If you want to change the name that is no problem at all. Just click on it one time, right click, click rename and then change the name. Just don't change the .dot.

---

This is the one we are using this year for my son Evan. He is in High School and is working with a male teacher through Independent Studies. The teacher gives him a weeks' worth of studies and then Evan has a week to get them done before we meet back with the teacher again. They discuss his work and the teacher is MUCH smarter than I am so they have these deep intellectual discussions on politics etc. Evan loves it. I LOVE IT!!! I just bring home the assignment sheet from the teacher - it is a months worth of assignments - break it down into the weekly format and the only accountability I have to monitor is whether he is getting it done. I meet with the teacher for about 30 seconds, confirm Evan is doing his work and doing it well and we move on. If there are ever ANY concerns, the teacher tells me and we work on it together. Evan does all his work at home, asks me questions or if he needs help comes to me and we don't quarrel at all about "get your work done." If he doesn't get it done, he doesn't go anywhere for the next week. Simple. NO hassles.

Please change the last three letters of this file name to "dot" instead of "doc" after you download it.
evanweeklyassignment.doc

---

This form is what I used when they were in lower grades and needed every single detail lined out for them. It actually worked great for us.

I would fill in the details on Saturday or Sunday night. Give it to them and they would put a mark in the little box next to the assignment when they did it that looked like this - / - with a pencil or blue/black pen. Then I would grade it, put a mark in that box that looked like this - \ - making it an X with a pencil or blue/black pen. This let me know they had done it, I had graded it and if they wanted to improve their grade after reviewing it by correcting all their mistakes, they could bring it to me and we would then put a RED X in the box showing there was nothing more that could be done and move on. I am not one who cares about GRADES - I care that they LEARN the subject so if they missed something I WANTED them to review it, change it and prove to me that they understood the lesson. If it was carelessness or laziness that made them miss it the first time, then doing it a second time would teach them do it right the first time so they didn't have to waste more time on it.

Then the following week I could QUICKLY see what was not completed the previous week and move it forward. That way I didn't have multiple sheets laying around to work off of. I kept the completed ones for records in case anyone ever questioned me on what they had studied. Good thing I did too because even NOW, this year, one son's CUME folder - his school transcript - was lost by a school and I had to go back and recreate it from scratch. I could NOT have done that without these sheets. I don't keep many samples of work, though I do try to keep 2 or 3 per subject each year in a folder but with these I have a complete display of what they did and can support any claim of educating them.

This one is also easily modified and in fact, I changed the subjects every year to whatever we were doing that year.

Please change the last three letters of this file name to "dot" instead of "doc" after you download it.
weeklyschedule.doc

---

As the boys got older they were able to work at a faster pace in some subjects and would finish a weeks worth of assignments in one day in a particular subject. Then they would drag out the others and it became a struggle to motivate them in those areas because they truly weren't getting it and I was pushing. So we came up with this. I was concerned they would do nothing but in fact, they ended up going through all their studies so fast we did almost a year and a half worth of studies in one year. I never told them until the end of the year that when they set their own pace theywent much further than if I assigned them. They laughed about it and said they thought it was a "reward" when they finished a book and got a new one. What was happening in fact was they were moving on to the next years level in each subject. We didn't fall behind AT ALL that year!!! It was delightful. Plus I think they challenged each other with this one trying to see who could go further fastest.

Anyway - This too needs mods if you're going to use it. We used the same X marking plan that we used in prior years on the other sheet but instead of me telling them what pages to do etc, they wrote what they had done in the time frame they had been given. They never ONCE did less than I would have given them - but I never told them that until the end of the year. It was great.

Please change the last three letters of this file name to "dot" instead of "doc" after you download it.
improvedweeklyassignment.doc

---

These two forms were used at different times in our schooling. One was for an umbrella school that required knowing how many hours were spent and on what days. It was their form that I just put on the computer so I wouldn't have to fill in all the blanks every single time. I hated it!!! But alas accountability is the name of the game with the State so we filled in the blanks and turned it in every month.

The second form is for the same reason - just a different school and they didn't require hours and specific dates - just wanted an evaluation of how the student was doing.

Please change the last three letters of this file name to "dot" instead of "doc" after you download these.
monthlylearningrecord.doc

hcsmontly.doc

These are in Excel format. It is a workbook, with three worksheets in it (use the tabs at the bottom to go to the other sheets). These have been filled in with examples, just change things to suit your way of homeschooling. You may need to add or delete kids, or subjects. Change names to reflect your family and curriculum. This is not a template.

Worksheet 1 is a General Curriculum Form for homeschoolers who are creating their own curriculum and need to be sure they have all the materials for all subjects for multiple kids.

Worksheet 2 is an Individual Schedule listing for multiple kids. Delete sections for extra kids, or copy a section and paste it in below if you need to add a kid. This gives each kid a specific schedule for the week to work from, and check boxes for marking off work completed.

Worksheet 3 is the Teacher Schedule. It is just a list to follow each day to remember to cover each subject. I do not use regular lesson plans, just this outline and make sure something is prepared for each item. Times are optional.

schoolschedules.xls

When you are homeschooling, your jobs go from two to three when you add a business. Setting aside a specific time for school, and occassional days for activities is important. If you have an office or shop where people come in, or call you, you will want to set regular office hours. Doing school early in the morning and holding office hours in the afternoon works for us. If Mom sticks to the schedule, it works. If Mom slacks, the whole thing will fall apart as kids begin to take advantage of the leeway!

Setting Up Space

Finding space for a homeschool is tough, and it gets tougher when you add the business in. A business has to have a little space of its own, and a homeschool home is usually recognizable because decorating takes on an aspect of seeing how many bookcases you can fit in your home! Bare walls are a treasure, and soon filled with yet another set of shelves to hold the ever growing collection of textbooks, workbooks, manuals, paper, novels, biographies, bins with assorted writing impliments and art supplies, and the odds and ends familiar to homeschoolers! As long as you have one spot to do school, and one spot to work on your business, then you will manage. Often the school centers around the dining room table, and the office gets set up in the corner of the livingroom or bedroom. Choosing a business that takes little space could be a wise decision for families with smaller homes.

On the Job Training

A business provides the unique opportunity to train your children on the job as part of their education. You can assign tasks to the older kids and help them learn that a customer is more demanding than Mom, and that this is a standard condition of employment. Specific skills can also be learned that may provide fallback skills for your children in adulthood. Our children each know enough about computers or food storage to pave the way if they want to make a home business out of either one. It is not a substitute for career training, but a supplement to provide additional skills.

Picking the Proper Business

It is more important that you choose something that will be an asset to your way of life. Time management is more critical, and certain businesses have flexibility to schedule on your time, others have to run on the schedule of the customer. Just as you may choose a less demanding educational program if you are combining it with a business, you will want to choose a flexible business to combine it with homeschool.