S/O Helpful Hints: Tibbie Dunbar! How did you ADD proof your homeschool???

[Mommyfaithe]

You said ask!ðŸ˜

I think it deserves and needs its own thread!

Please! Tell me!!

[Mimm]

Yes please!

[kroe1]

I am obviously not the poster requested. I am really anxious to hear other things I could have done. But some things that helped us was wheels everywhere (Rollerblades and scooting stools), less than 15 minute lessons before changing subjects, basketballs and other things to bounce during flashcards and explanations, and me sitting there the entire school day, I wish I had figured out how to proof the day such that it was less time consuming for me.

[73349]

Also not the right person, but I make sure absolutely everything we need is at hand, because if I have to go and get/look for something, we're off track. Art supplies, math manipulatives, Proclicked all-in-one workbook, read-alouds--everything--is where I can reach it before we get started.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

I'm sorry, I forgot!! (Ironic, huh.)

I'm actually spending part of this weekend setting up next year's schoolroom and materials, so I will take some pics and tell more about this ASAP.

In a nutshell, I set up beforehand so that as the crazy year takes over and I can't pay attention, I have very simple procedures in place that organize everything by default. It's a combination of KISS (keep it simple, stupid) and pre-loading systems for success.

So many little things to keep track of, as a mother and a homeschooling parent. Especially with a houseful of teens; I think even if you don't have ADD you probably start to wonder if you do, during this phase...this past year was the WORST for me, because we were at that magical stage between when three teens start doing a million activities and jobs and when they are able to drive themselves.

Argh. I keep trying to explain but it's really going to take pictures. I shall return! We have a cookout when the big boys get home from work but I should be here late this evening.

[Angie in VA]

*Waiting for pix*

 

No ADD here, but I bet these ideas will help anyway!

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Change of plans for the holiday weekend so I can't do the pics and details right now. I'm sorry for being a flake about this! Let me at least try to describe, real quick. I'll use my rising fourth grader as my sample student (because the teens' setup is more involved, naturally). To some this is going to sound ridiculously school-at-homey but just please trust that it's administrative and I am still creative yet classical, and flexible yet rigorous. LOL These fixes don't really affect my child at all. They just make ME able to function.

 

I. The desk. We do have a schoolroom, and ds9 has his own desk even though we usually work at the big table together. In his desk are:

 

     a. School Supplies Box -- #2 pencils and colored pencils, scissors, gluestick, eraser, compass and protractor
     b. Resource Folder -- attached in the tab are a map (world on one side, US on the other) and other study guides for various subjects
     c. Timeline -- he uses Sonlight's Book of Time

     d. Math Workbook -- he uses Horizons math. I have the TM and teaching tools elsewhere but he keeps the student workbook in his desk.

     e. Latin student book and worktext
     f.  Daily Folder -- this is only for works-in-progress that can't be completed in a day.

2. The binder. For grammar and logic stage my students get one 2.5" three ring binder. This is out on my big school table during the school day, and every single paper that he does gets immediately placed in its division of the binder, filed to the back. So even if I haven't graded, even if I haven't sorted, even if I've figuratively or literally fallen asleep on my recordkeeping duties, his work is all collected, sorted, and filed in order. At the end of the year I can cull out all but the very best papers as samples, place the workbooks and timeline in the back of the binder, and my portfolio of their work is done.This binder also has an administrative section. (More on that in a minute.) Here are the divisions in the binder. I buy a pkg of 8 divider tabs:

 

    a. Admin

    b. Bible/Religion

    c. History

    d. Geography

    e. Lit & Comp

    f.  Grammar

    g. Science

    h. Fine Arts

3. The Admin section (divider a.) of the binder. Because this binder never leaves my school table (or at least the room) I keep his records for the year in it, along with his papers. Here's what I put in this section, in the order I use:

 

    a. Cover page -- School name, child's name, grade, school year, course titles, and list of extra-curricular activities

    b. Course descriptions (only necessary in some states, or for high school sometimes -- I do them for 4th grade so I remember what I meant to do!)
    c. Booklist -- (here I differ from experts on homeschool portfolios. I only record his required books. Part of ADD for me is that I cannot do the penny-ante recordkeeping every time he goes to the library, which for our family is about three times per week. The required list is impressive enough, IMO. I give myself permission to only count school for school, for my recordkeeping purposes.)

    d. Attendance Record. I go to donnayoung.org and print the calendar that can be checked off each day and place it in this section of his binder. (True confessions: I sometimes go all week or even a month or two without checking this thing off. In that case I have to go back to my assignment sheets and count days. It's a pain to even bother, no matter how simply I do it, but an attendance record is a requirement in my state.)

     e. A copy of his Vax Record. This comes up so often, for sports and activities, that I keep a copy here. Again, nobody is going to see this binder but me. If you show a binder to someone according to your state laws, you might want to handle sensitive documents differently.

4. My school table. This is where we do most of our work. His binder is here, along with my planner, a big school supplies tote, three-hole punch, and stapler. I have room to lay out IGs and TMs while we work so that eliminates extra copying and filing of lessons.

5. My school cupboard. All the extra supplies are here. Math manipulatives, science kits, art and craft supplies, etc. This is the only place they go, so if they're not on the desk or table IN USE they are in the cupboard. Also the IGs and TMs are stored here.

6. Organized bookshelves. Some people get to use the good stuff from Ikea. Others of us have cheap bookcases from Menards (raises hand). My books are arranged by year in the 4yr cycle and then by stage (early grammar to rhetoric). I only have books on these shelves so there is no clutter, because I need to be able to see the titles or I forget I have them.

7. The weekly assignment sheet. 100% of this student's curricula are of the open-and-go variety this coming year (hallelujah) so I don't really need to create lesson plans and get those organized. Still, I will use my customary system of creating a weekly assignment sheet for each of my students. Again, I go to Donna Young's website and print out a weekly schedule that I have customized with our subjects and activities. While I'm writing out the assignments for the week, I also print any SOTW or MapTrek maps we'll need, make a note of science experiment and art supplies so I'll buy them before the day we need them, and also jot down upcoming appointments or extra activities. I might also create something cute for notebooking or elementary lab sheet pages.

    a. The student gets a copy of the assignment sheet on a clipboard, along with his lab sheets, notebooking pages, and maps.
    b. I get a copy of each student's weekly assignment sheet for my planner (one tab for each student) so as we go through the day I can just flip to each child's section and mark off his work as we go. *This part of my planner serves as my record of our lessons, and as a backup attendance record.
    c. I also record their grades on my copy of their assignment sheet, which will live in my planner all year.

8. Grades. I keep a very simple system of grading.

    a. Math and science aren't all that subjective -- I use test scores only, averaged, for math grades. For science, I count tests 65% and labs 35%. All the other work they have to do in order to score well on tests and labs is not done for a grade. They know they have to do it if they want a good test score.

    b. Until high school, because I have very bright students who do their work well, the default grade is an A. The student gets an A if he does all or very nearly all that is asked of him WITH excellence and precision. It makes more sense (and takes less time) to start deducting if there's a problem than to tabulate endless scores for every little thing all the time. I am constantly assessing my students, carefully looking at their work, discussing their lessons with them, summing up quarters/semesters/years with oral and written exams. But I only feel responsible for marking down the overall grade or final exam scores until we get to high school. My high schoolers have more exams and rubrics to evaluate their work as objectively as possible.
    c. For several years I tried to keep a Grades section in the admin. division of the binder but I would always forget to use it. Finally I wised up and began marking the grades right on my copy of their weekly assignment sheets! Then, when I do remember to average grades and work on transcripts, I can go through and collect the scores. It's all right there.

So that's it in a nutshell. KISS, use binders for everything, and don't feel you have to record EVERY SINGLE THING they ever do that can be counted as "learning." Record two categories:

 

1. What is required in your state or for your circumstance, and
2. What YOU want to be sure you remember.

I hope this helps. I have a feeling it's not all that clear without pics...it is a lot to set up but then I can forget about it and just file as I go through the year.

 

p.s. You might want a division for field trips and another for outsourced classes, if you do a lot of those things.




 

[Snow]

Thank you so much for typing that all out!!

[fraidycat]

:bigear:

 

This sounds awesome!

[LifeLovePassion]

Thanks for sharing!

[Mommyfaithe]

Wow, I just saw this!!! I am so scatterbrained I forgot I posted. Thank you so much for taking the time to type this all out. I really appreciate this!

[Lieutenant Stranger]

I have adult ADD (diagnosed and everything, ooh fancy) but am unable to take medicine due to side-effects.

 

I'd say having everything located together is a must for us. Never, ever go by the "Oh, I'll just print/photocopy when I need it" rule. Do it all ahead of time, and get it all wire-bound.

 

Keep things simple. Keep a routine. Don't try to micromanage every minute of your time/lesson plans, because when I do-- it all goes to hell in a handbasket. 

[Angie in VA]

Thank you, Tibbie! If you ever feel like posting pix, I'm all eyes. :)