how do you know you did a day of school?

[khall]

I know that's an odd question! :lol:

Reading the thread about how many days everyone does and I realized that all year I was stressed out about counting the days. This was our first year at home and so many activities that we did are things that I know most people would definitely count as "school", but they were things we had always done when the kids were in ps. The local museum has hands on activities on Sat. mornings, both kids have always done children's chorus at church, and we've always gone to programs at the Audubon Society, and lots of other things.

 

I felt like counting these activities as school was sort of like cheating because we've always done those things, and I felt like school had to be something else that involved specific curriculum and lesson plans. For our state (Maine) we must do 175 days and I really didn't end up counting the days we did field trips or activities.

 

So are the extra fun things that are part of life anyway really counted as school? And if I'm counting those activities as school, then are the kids actually doing less than when they were at ps all day and we did the same things at home that we're doing now? :confused:

[imhim]

Well, here in MO I have to count the HOURS! (in 1/2 hours if I don't complete a full hour) - I always thought it is much easier counting days than hours.

[Guest]

It doesn't have to occur at a desk or table, or be written in a workbook, to be school -- for your kids to be actively learning either in subject areas or about the wider world. Singing, hands-on science, and birding are all activities that lots of schools have offered (well-off schools continue to offer them), if that makes you feel more confident about "counting" it. Learning out in the community is wonderful; kids get less and less of it as they get older when they should be expanding their knowledge of its workings, finding mentors, listening to people talk about their work or their field of study, experiencing first-hand how government works, all kinds of things. Very fancy private schools in our area make a big deal out of the fact that they offer this sort of activity or variation on desk-learning.

 

And these otehr things don't necessarily crowd out more conventional learning, either. Remember, you're teaching just a few kids, not a classroom of thirty with all the inevitable time lost to school routines, disruptive kids, the logistics of getting everybody ready to work at the same time, going over homework, etc. You're giving efficient (more or less -- sometimes it can feel like a lot less) tutorials.

[GoVanGogh]

I count all field trips as school. We normally do 30+ field trips a year, so I do shoot for a few more days than the traditional 180 school days. (We don't have to report days or hours, I only count for my own sense of peace.) Last year, we had 192 or so "school" days.

 

Three hours seems to be my min for what I count as a school day, at this age/level.

Outside activities, like attending a lecture or small activity, I record but may or may not consider it as school.

Ex: If we have 2 hours of school in the morning, then attend an hour lecture on meteorology, those three hours are a full day of school. But if we attended the lecture by didn't do school (math or LA) then I wouldn't count it toward school.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I am strict when it comes to this. We do all our subjects, its a day of school. If it takes us 2 days (or more) for some weird reason to get through all our subjects (one lesson), its one day of school- no matter how many actual calendar days it takes us. Though it very rarely takes us one day to do it, it has before do to one reason or another. I do not count museum days, zoo days, vacations-- nothing. (unless we also do all our subjects) One day is when we get through a lesson in each subject of our book work.

[FO4UR]

We do short days on Friday to go to the zoo or museum or just play at a park. I count that as a full day.

 

My dc make up the time by NOT standing in line at lunch, or at the bathroom, or at the pencil sharpener, or sitting at their desk with their hand in the air...:tongue_smilie: Seriously though, as long as my dc are progressing healthily along, I meet the requirements of the law but don't get nit-picky about what kinds of activities constitute "school."

[Farrar]

Did the sun come up? Yep. That must have been a day of homeschooling.

 

But... we don't have to count days or hours here. So, it's a moot point from a legal perspective. To me it's not about a schedule, it's just about working toward the goals we set and learning all the time. But then... I feel like that's a minority viewpoint on this board. I know a lot of people need their schedules.

[lovetobehome]

We have to count days in my state. I actually just counted up our days so far this summer. 5 academic days. 5 days of some academics and some extras and reading. And then 5 days of fun things we did....attending a bird banding demo, visiting botanical gardens while on vacation, going to environmental ed centers and hiking Mt Mitchell on vacation, staying at a monastery for 2 days (4 hours of church services each day, plus time with the nuns). Then I counted 5 days of boy scout camp. Plus, we did 1.5 hours of swimming instruction for 10 days, that is 15 hours. I counted all of that!

I used to teach in a public school. The number of hours those kids watched movies, travelled on buses for field trips, had assemblies that were meaningless, did coloring pages to waste time....or were just plain UNENGAGED even in classtime...honestly, even a day that we don't do ANY school, our time is filled with 'education' because it is a way of life here. We are always discussing, always reading, etc. Kids in public school honestly don't get as much of that because their parents often are not able to be engaged in their education.

My kids are learning, excelling...I will count up these days and give myself a break. But I also decide how much I want to get through in a year. I like to finish out our books, but somedays we do more than a day's work, sometimes we skip lessons if they seem repetitive. Keep in mind, most schools don't use the whole textbook, either. I went to an elite private school, and we never ONCE in any subject, completed the text. In my homeschool, we always complete our texts.

Don't be enslaved to the system, I am ultimately accountable to the Lord, the school system is there to help us with guidelines, but I refuse to let that dictate our education or our lives.

[Ellie]

Everything counts as school. Any day there are children in the house who get out of bed is a school day.

 

Why on earth wouldn't you count a field trip as a school day? Don't you think public schools count field trips as school days??? Why wouldn't you count chorus at church? Don't children in public schools have music classes? Why wouldn't you count Audubon Society activities? Aren't they educational?

 

You don't have to *prove* what you did to make up those 175 days. Don't make things harder on yourself!

[Joyofsixreboot]

I count everything. My kids probably learn more from a day at camp than a day of our "regular" school. If you think they benefitted I say count it. Now on the other hand we've had some days along about Feb where we did our work but I wasn't sure it counted for much.:001_huh:

[mcconnellboys]

We "do school" from about 8 - 3 or 3:30 each day. That said, we have activities out of the house most days. These may be lessons, group classes, we used to do coop, theatre, or we may be doing field trips that are related to our school work. I count all those things as school.

 

I don't count vacations or things we do on the weekend. We sometimes do field trip activities that are in the evenings and I record those as part of our school, but I don't take time off from our regular hours because of that.

 

So, basically, the things we do between 8-3:30 are school related and counted as school. I don't go grocery shopping or run around town during those hours though. We really do school during that time frame.

[khall]

Wow, thanks for your responses! It sounds like almost everybody has a different method of deciding what is actually school.

 

I do not count museum days, zoo days, vacations-- nothing. (unless we also do all our subjects) One day is when we get through a lesson in each subject of our book work.

This is what I did this year also, and it was EXHAUSTING, because we did do so many outside activities. I was always scrambling to get the bookwork in so I could say we did a day of school. I think I need to be more like the person who said that if the sun came up, then it counts as a day of homeschooling. Love it! :lol:

 

Somebody asked why in the world I don't count our extra activities as school and it's because they are things we always did anyway. For example, I don't feel like I can count chorus at church as music class because they always had music class at school and also did chorus at church on top of that. I feel like if I now count chorus as their music instruction, that it is less music instruction than they had previously and they are now being shortchanged in some way. Does that make sense? Or am I losing my mind?!

[teachermom2834]

Legal reporting and actual schooling are two different things for me.

 

Legal reporting - yes, count all of those things. The public schools count everything. They count orientation days, field trips, days before vacation when everyone is going crazy, clean out your desk days, standardized testing for a couple hours then watch Goosebumps videos days (that is from my local school system).

 

What I have in mind that I want to accomplish is a different matter. I keep a running total of "real" school days for myself. Sometimes field trips count, sometimes they do not. Sometimes they count for the dc they are most appropriate for. This is really just a matter of what I want the kids to accomplish in a year and to make sure I'm on track and doing "enough" This "enough" is for my family and our goals, not anyone else.

[ChicoryChick]

I also live in a state where we have to count 180 days OR 900 hours (I think I remember reading that 170 of them have to be academic). I count days and I count it a day if we have done at least 3-4 subjects (depending on their age) and that can include PE (playing in the park, roller blading, biking etc as long as they have done it for a certain amount of time), health & safety etc. Public schools take field trips, they used to have choir in my PS growing up so definitely count these things. If the field trip is only a couple of hours then I make sure that we get at least 2 other subjects done, if it is longer I count it as a full day of school.

Edited July 23, 2010 by kayinpa

[DawnM]

Apparently I am supposed to record my children being present. I am about 2 years behind. Guess I should fill in the calendars in case someone shows up at my door.

 

I am a former public school teacher.....there is no way you can convince me that ps offers 180 days of actual instruction! I taught for 16 years!

 

Also, I worked in year round schools. We had 163 days of school but our day was an hour longer to make up the hours. We had 2/3 of the students at the school at a time and 1/3 on vacation.

 

I just can't get into the "you must have 180 days of actual instruction" stuff.....if they are in my presence, they are learning! :lol:

[NanceXToo]

Everything counts as school. Any day there are children in the house who get out of bed is a school day.

 

Why on earth wouldn't you count a field trip as a school day? Don't you think public schools count field trips as school days??? Why wouldn't you count chorus at church? Don't children in public schools have music classes? Why wouldn't you count Audubon Society activities? Aren't they educational?

 

You don't have to *prove* what you did to make up those 175 days. Don't make things harder on yourself!

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

We are using the Oak Meadow curriculum which is 36 weeks worth of lesson plans, so if I needed "proof" that I was completing the 180 days PA requires (well, it's that OR X number of hours), there it is- but with that said, I never stress over "counting" days or hours. We do our subjects- but we also do tons of other things that are educational. Every day. She might be playing educational games, reading on her own, going on field trips, listening to bedtime stories, doing arts and crafts, going to Girl Scouts or a camp program or a library program or a tour of a local place or riding her bike or whatever the case may be- it's all educational and you can bet it's covering some "subject" or other the schools want you to cover- just because it might be done in a hands-on or out-of-the-house type of way rather than a sit at your desk and open a textbook kind of way doesn't mean it can't be considered "school!"

Edited July 23, 2010 by NanceXToo

[ALB]

For example, I don't feel like I can count chorus at church as music class because they always had music class at school and also did chorus at church on top of that. I feel like if I now count chorus as their music instruction, that it is less music instruction than they had previously and they are now being shortchanged in some way. Does that make sense? Or am I losing my mind?!

Your reasoning makes complete sense and I've wondered that before, too. But, keep in mind that MOST kids in ps are NOT doing church choir in addition to their school music class, or especially educational activities with their parents during their free time. I really think many church related activities (like going on mission trips, learning to do ministry as a teenager, choir, etc.) taught me way more that my classes in ps did. I would definitely count those things. And your field trips sound more memorable than the ones we did in school, too. All I remember about field trips was the extra goofing off and gossip sessions on the bus on the way to/from. My focus was not on the material at hand, but was totally on what everyone was wearing/ saying/ doing, etc. I think that by going as a family, you have a much better chance of making it a genuinely beneficial experience.

[Tracy]

I felt like counting these activities as school was sort of like cheating because we've always done those things, and I felt like school had to be something else that involved specific curriculum and lesson plans. For our state (Maine) we must do 175 days and I really didn't end up counting the days we did field trips or activities.

 

My dh is a high school physics teacher, and you can bet that all of those things count. It counts when they go on a field trip to Great America. It counts when they spend two weeks doing nothing but making miniature bridges for a competition. It counts when they go outside and throw water balloons at the teacher. It counts when they throw eggs at a tarp at the end of the hallway. It counts

. It counts

. You can count anything remotely educational.

[SquirrellyMama]

Apparently I am supposed to record my children being present. I am about 2 years behind. Guess I should fill in the calendars in case someone shows up at my door.

 

 

I hear you on this one. I start out with very good intentions of putting down their attendance but... Maybe I'll start walking around the house each morning calling their names so they can say "here". That might be a fun way to wake them up :001_smile:

[AudreyTN]

Legal reporting and actual schooling are two different things for me.

 

Legal reporting - yes, count all of those things. The public schools count everything. They count orientation days, field trips, days before vacation when everyone is going crazy, clean out your desk days, standardized testing for a couple hours then watch Goosebumps videos days (that is from my local school system).

 

What I have in mind that I want to accomplish is a different matter. I keep a running total of "real" school days for myself. Sometimes field trips count, sometimes they do not. Sometimes they count for the dc they are most appropriate for. This is really just a matter of what I want the kids to accomplish in a year and to make sure I'm on track and doing "enough" This "enough" is for my family and our goals, not anyone else.

 

:iagree: Very well put!! Here is a post of our "Spring Break." Each day was filled with educational activities, so I counted them toward our school days.

[TheCoffeeChick]

Somebody asked why in the world I don't count our extra activities as school and it's because they are things we always did anyway. For example, I don't feel like I can count chorus at church as music class because they always had music class at school and also did chorus at church on top of that. I feel like if I now count chorus as their music instruction, that it is less music instruction than they had previously and they are now being shortchanged in some way. Does that make sense? Or am I losing my mind?!

 

 

This just means your are a natural homeschooler! :tongue_smilie:

 

I agree with farrarwilliams - Did the sun come up? It's a day of homeschooling. I've always said we've homeschooled from birth - everyday we learn something new or do something educational.

 

Just about EVERY parent homeschools on some level - trips to the museum, church choir, piano lessons, read alouds, teaching their children how to cook and take care of their home, etc... - some just send their kids to a building to get the basics, while we decide we can do it more efficiently at home. ;)

[MerryAtHope]

So are the extra fun things that are part of life anyway really counted as school? And if I'm counting those activities as school, then are the kids actually doing less than when they were at ps all day and we did the same things at home that we're doing now? :confused:

 

PS also has parties, assemblies, and sometimes even field trips, and those all count for "school" time. It also includes standing in line, busy work, waiting for others, taking attendance...these count as "school time" too.

 

Which did your kids get more out of--the museum trips your family took, or a day at ps?

 

And, does 1 hour of PS instruction equal (in depth, individualized attention, and tailoring of curriculum to your child's needs) 1 hour of HS curriculum?

 

Just some questions to ponder when you are evaluating what you count as "school." If something is educational, I think it's worth counting.

 

Merry :-)

[TracyP]

I'm just basically agreeing with everyone here. Think of it this way. Let's assume you count everything remotely educational as a day of school. Now it is April and you have your 180 days. Will you tell the kids okay put away your math books, we are done for the year? Or sorry, we can't go to the zoo until September we are done with school. Of course not!:001_smile: Count everything, make the "system" happy and then go on with your regularly scheduled programming.

[Capt_Uhura]

I haven't read all the responses so forgive me if I"m repeated what has been said previously....but I've had kids in public schools. Do you know how many days are counted as school days when virtually no "learning" took place? There are field days, Halloween parties, Winter Holiday parties, assemblies, and holidays (we/PS get all Jewish holidays off but not being Jewish we HS those days as well) and then add up all the wasted time waiting in line 30min for lunch, waiting for other kids to finish their work, test prep days, testing days. My one son watched a movie every. single. Friday. The last two weeks of school was mainly hanging out w/ your friends all day. Then there are all the days off for teacher in-service day, Superintendent day, half days for this and that. We school all those days that PS kids have off for teacher in-service and for Superintendent days. Not much gets done in PS when there is a substitute. I've never taken a sick day. Even when I"m sick, I push through and we do school.

 

If it was a learning day, it counts as school. We may do school for 2hrs, go very deep in a topic, completely expand our horizons, make connections w/ other things....that's a school day. I don't care if it took 2hrs or 5hrs.

 

My teacher friend tells me all the wasted time in school and distilled the actual learning down to about 3hrs maybe 4hrs on good days.

 

When my DS was in 2nd grade in PS, the teacher said the kids had accomplished most of the goals for 2nd grade by March so she was winding down..... OUr school year goes until the very last week of June....she's winding down in March? That's when my son was complaining about school! NOt much learning, just hanging out w/ kids all day long.

Edited July 23, 2010 by Capt_Uhura

[AuntPol]

I don't have to log a certain amount of days but I have to keep attendence. I just mark the calendar according to whatever the local school calendar is.

 

My lesson plans cover 36 weeks. There are 4 days of "formal" instruction. That day will have 5 hours of formal school and about 2 hours of personal goal learning (do what you want as long as it is not tv/computer games). The 5th day is when we do field trips, co-ops, park days, American Heritage girls, field day, etc.

 

 

In addition to those days, I have a testing week in the Spring for our required testing (3 half days). I use the other two days of that week for make up anything we are behind on (from taking time off earlier). I also use the 3 days before Thanksgiving for same reason. Those are not counted for in my 36 week. If school is not finished in those 36 weeks, they are making it up on weekends, vacation, and summer. What is done is more imporant than the number of days.

 

I do not count things my kids would do outside of school if in public school as school w/ exception of Scout badges. I do let them do them for school when they correlate with what we are learning. I see that has doing school and happening to get a badge for it. I would let them count ps school projects do double duty too. Our field trips usually have a purpose (go with history or science lesson and we usually usually do a bit more than just going -we will do a badge for the site or write up the trip for newsletter). I count Co-op as a school day because that is "socialization" class and they usually learn some skill -juggling, scrapbooking, strategy games. I see it as a day w/ a "substitute" teacher lol.

 

However, I do keep a log of everything they do and put in appropriate section in my learning journal (this is self-inflicted). When my daughter took musical theatre class I put that under drama and dance. They had musical theatre classes at her old school and we do not teach it formally at home, so I could count it. However, she would have probably taken it anyway. I log junior ranger badges done at national parks, family vacations, every movie we watch, family discussions, etc. Then I can see if we are basically meeting what they need to know. In overall knowledge, it doesn't matter whether they watched Robinson Crusoe and compared it to the book they read at school or as family time. It just matters what got done. Also, I put in the knowledge they learned (or reviewed) from a science themed magic show at Dollywood in the knowledge log but I don't count the trip as a school day.

Edited July 23, 2010 by AuntPol

[HomesteadMommy]

We don't have to do reporting here. But yes I count field trips as school days. I would also count activity, sport and music they were involved in. Its ALL learning and to me that's what is important.

There is so much wasted time in ps. I remember weeks of time doing nothing more then playing and hanging out. Especially near the end of the year. Every month there was a school party/dance, holiday activity's, these were all counted as school days as were field trips.

[khall]

Count everything, make the "system" happy and then go on with your regularly scheduled programming.

 

I think I am going to try to do absolutely that! I appreciate all the thoughts everyone has shared. And now.....I'm going to go mark off all five days this week as school. I haven't taught a single thing but after reading through all your responses I am now convinced that Lego Robotics camp must absolutely be counted as school! :lol: (and we listened to audio books in the car on the way to and from :tongue_smilie:)

[AudreyTN]

I forgot to mention that if I schedule 5 days worth of work and it's completed in 3, I still count it as 5 days.

[Dmmetler]

I record everything in a spreadsheet for me, but for our cover school, I only count 20 days in a 4 week period (usually M-F, but if we've missed days for some reason, I don't hesitate to count a Saturday or Sunday that was very productive educationally). I also don't count field trips that we do multiple times as school days, because while I know the school district counts a day at the Zoo as a field trip, we go to the zoo frequently since we have a membership (especially in the summer, because they have a nice water feature), and I don't think my DD learns all that much from her 10th zoo trip in a school year, much as she likes going!

 

We still have over 40 days recorded this summer alone, so I'm not worried about getting the days required by my cover school.

[Ellie]

Apparently I am supposed to record my children being present. I am about 2 years behind. Guess I should fill in the calendars in case someone shows up at my door.

 

I am a former public school teacher.....there is no way you can convince me that ps offers 180 days of actual instruction! I taught for 16 years!

 

Also, I worked in year round schools. We had 163 days of school but our day was an hour longer to make up the hours. We had 2/3 of the students at the school at a time and 1/3 on vacation.

 

I just can't get into the "you must have 180 days of actual instruction" stuff.....if they are in my presence, they are learning! :lol:

(1) NC doesn't specify what "attendance records" are supposed to look like for homeschoolers. (2) Although you're supposed to keep attendance (and how stupid is that? "Orkie, are you here"? "Yes, Mom." [check off attendance]) the law doesn't require you to show your attendance records to anyone. Ever. I wouldn't worry about it for a nanosecond.:D

[Tam101]

I count everything independent reading, zoo trips, museums, nature walks, library events, piano practice, recitals, team sports. Oh, and actual seat work with curriculum! :tongue_smilie: We have to do 180 days or 1000 hours. I find it easier to count hours since there are times we that we do at least something everyday even if it is just an hour.