bdroberts1998 Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I was so happy when I found this forum. As a newbie I have a few questions. This is my first full year homeschooling. My dd is in 3rd grade and ds in kindergarten. This year for them I chose the clp curriculum. I am just learning all the home school laws. We live in Missouri. I know that we have to log hours. I have been doing a lot of reading and really can't find much on how to and what all we can log. I know that we have to have 1000 hours, 600 core and 400 non core. Well we have our curriculum to log those hours on. On spelling and voc work do I log those under language arts? Sometimes we do work on the computer. Such as games for math, reading and so on. What do I log these under. Core or non core. To me they could be used as both. Computer skills could be used as non core and the math games could be used as core. If I think about it we could log hours most of the day. When I cook my little girl helps. Well she learns math by using measuring and she learns home eco too. At night before we go to bed we always watch Animal planet. Can I log that as science. If this is the case I could well have over 1000 hours. Most of the things I do consist of learning. You can even log going to the store as math by teaching your child price comparison. I am just way overwhelmed with all this and what to log and how to log it. Can somebody please help with the way you log hours and such things. I'm sorry this is so long. I have searched the internet but just can't find what I'm looking for. Thank you guys for any help. My e-mail address is bdroberts1998@yahoo.com God Bless, Doniell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tutor Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Welcome! I'm sorry - I can't help you on your Missouri homeschooling questions, but I wanted to say hi and welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Welcome to the boards! I'm a newbie too, and have found this place to be a treasure! Sorry, don't know anything about logging hours. Guess we got in good in AZ:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Welcome to the boards. I don't think you can edit the title of your post, but I think you should post another note with something like 'homeschooling in Missouri?' in the title. You might get answers more quickly from people experienced with the homeschool laws in Missouri. State laws will vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Welcome to the boards. I don't think you can edit the title of your post, but I think you should post another note with something like 'homeschooling in Missouri?' in the title. You might get answers more quickly from people experienced with the homeschool laws in Missouri. State laws will vary. Yes, you can edit titles by clicking on your original post and looking for a button in the lower right corner of the post marked Edit. Once you click on that you can click another button marked something like Advanced. That will open a screen that allows for changing the title. As for hours, I'm not familiar with MO laws, but I would be pretty generous in marking hours. Active help in the kitchen could be life skills or practical math. Time reading to your kid counts. Field trips count. I would count many types of educational games. I might or might not count movies. A movie that I selected because it was related to what we were studying, sure. A science fiction series, probably not. Interesting educational stuff that you would watch regardless of school status - that's a toss up. Computer use would be similar. But even if you go with a notional 180 days in a school year that is less than 6 hours a day. Not that I want a government school to be my yard stick, but recess and lunch get included in their school day. A field trip that includes an hour on the bus each way and a half hour before and after of lining up and counting heads might count for the full day. I don't think that you have to worry about giving yourself and your kid the benefit of the doubt when counting hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) Welcome! I'm from Texas... we don't log hours... but hopefully someone on here can help. Have you looked at the HSLDA website for your state? http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp Just to be safe... count the Animal Planet Channel as supplemental to your unit in Science. Or do a Pop Quiz based on what they watched. A movie or tv show usually offers great material but you want to have your child demonstrate what they've learned basically. WTM suggests many ideas for science! Edited August 5, 2009 by tex-mex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I'm not in Missouri (this seems to be a theme, doesn't it? ;)) and don't have to count hours, but I would look at your examples and say you should absolutely count those things as both. In a classroom setting, they would be called cross-curricular or multidisciplinary activities. I just went on a supply finding expedition and ended up at an education supply store; most of the resources in there mentioned multiple national standards covered by each unit. For instance, a science unit that had a writing response would be counted as standards for both science and language arts. If there is measurement, they would add math. Not that we need to be concerned with national standards, but the public education (the stick we're measured against) standard is to count activities by their components. Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I also am not in MO, but wanted to welcome you. I would not limit yourself on counting ANYTHING. The chance that something is NOT educational is slim. We were part of a virtual academy last year and had to log an average of 30 hours per week. EVERYTHING counted as education though, as it should. Seriously, if you're watching a documentary on animals, you ARE learningscience! IF you're programming using Alice (.org), then you're learning some computer skills. If you're reading a book or the Bible, it's language arts (and/or the subject of the reading, like history or science). Don't forget P.E. related things also! A couple more thoughts on logging. I was uncomfortable with double dipping especially because the chance that you aren't going to find 30 hours is slim unless your kid plays some online game all the time. However, some people will count certain things for more than one subject. Another one I was uncomfy with but definitely understand, especially with an advanced FAST student is to count the amount of time something would take an average student. For example, if your materials suggest that Lang Arts (phonics, reading, literature, vocab, spelling, grammar, composition) should take 2 hours per day, but your daughter is extra fast and gets it done in an hour, you might give your daughter credit anyway. There are a couple reasons for this. In a classroom, your daughter would finish early also and then doodle, read, etc but she would still get full credit for the class. Also, why should fast students be penalized with more school work. I wouldn't judge someone for this, but I was uncomfy with the idea. We logged to the minute. Primarily, I would aim for being reasonable. 1000 hours comes out to 5.5 hours over 180 school days. Again, the chances your kid isn't doing something that would count at least that is slim to none. Don't forget her music practice, discussing a book she's reading, art practice, museums you visit, and the list goes on. Seriously, what IS she doing from 8am (or 9am) to 2 (or 3 or 4)pm? Probably one thing after another that has some educational value. Some looks like school and some doesn't but the majority will have educational value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdroberts1998 Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 Thank you guys soooo much! I think I will try to change my title. You guys are awesome. I'm really glad I found this place. Hugs, Doniell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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