Ideas for finding HS accountability

[tristangrace]

I think my homeschooling goals and standards are really reasonable for me and my kids (i.e., not too rigorous or structured and not too easy or unstructured) . . . yet I get into phases where I'm really unmotivated/distracted/plain lazy and it's hard to follow through on my own commitments. I'll do kind of sloppy schooling for a couple of weeks until greater motivation kicks in. My first grader is reading/writing above grade level and her math is at grade level, so it's not that her progress is greatly suffering, but I'd like to correct my habits now, both because I crave better self-discipline for its own sake and because I think as my kids get older it will be harder to recover from these lazy phases.

 

I'd like to get another person to help me out--not with the actual schooling of the kids, but with holding me accountable. Do any of you guys check in regularly with a spouse or another homeschooling friends or even a non-homeschooling friend on what you're accomplishing? What does that look like? How often do you do it? If it's helped you, what was it specifically that proved helpful?

 

Thanks,

Susan

[Ria]

I'm not sure if this suggestion will help or not, but what I did was to plan my entire year during the summer months. I figured out exactly what I expected to cover each week of the school year, and that "master plan" helped keep me accountable. Yes, sometimes I slipped, but I knew where I needed to be and would catch up quickly in that subject.

 

Planning over the summer required about 3 days of work for me; I approached it subject by subject. Sometimes the kids were all doing the same thing (history, for example), but certain subjects had to be planned for each child individually (math, grammar). Still, once I had the plan written, I knew where I needed to be each week of the school year.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Ria

[Sasharowan]

What helped me the most, was as my kids got older, I found that maintaining a routine of school kept the I'm bored fights down to a minimum. If we take off for too long without something planned like a campout or going somewhere, then the picking and fights and whining starts back. That plus with 3 kids actually schooling and one coming up, I need a routine to maintain sanity.

[RegularMom]

Yes, this happens with us too. One of the primary reasons we school year-round is that the kids need the routine of it. I officially start the academic year in August, and we work fairly steadily through the year. As things finish up, I either end the subject until the next August, or I buy bridging books or find online worksheets and games for the girls to do to keep their skills up. By the time July rolls around, we're still schooling, but it's schooling-lite. Then in July, I place my major curriculum order for the next year, and we get rolling again in August.

 

I plan out the year during the summer, and I also keep a binder of checklists for each week of the year. This is so that I can see and check-off that subjects were done.

 

During the summer, I set larger goals for each subject, like: finish Saxon 2, complete grammar program, etc. During the academic year, I keep a weekly eye on where we're at and usually, we're on track. This year, we'll finish Saxon 2 well before the next academic year starts, even with the odd week off here and there for illness, so I'll buy a "bridging" math book for her to work through until it's time to start the next level of math. As for grammar, by keeping an eye on it weekly, I'm able to determine how many days per week we need to do grammar, so that when I roll into 3rd grade, I'm on track and able to stay in sync with the writing program.

 

This is the sort of thing that is often running through my head when I'm checking papers, filing papers, cooking dinner, etc etc.

 

I also talk fairly regularly with RegularDad about where we're at, frustrations I might be experiencing, places where I feel I'm dropping the ball maybe.... all of that I bounce off of him and find ways to improve. It's almost like a trouble-shooting staff meeting.

 

Accountability is something that happens in my head, on a daily basis I guess.

 

HTH.

Edited May 5, 2009 by RegularMom

[HeatherInWI]

I guess in some ways I'm blessed that in Wisconsin, we're supposed to keep a record of hours -- not that anyone ever asks to see it. I keep a plan book with what we've accomplished and the hours we spent "schooling" each day, and that helps to keep us motivated and on track.

[asta]

I created my own curriculum when DS was in grade school, and constantly felt off track. I figured "it's High School - time for a curriculum to hold myself accountable" and bought one.

 

We're worse than we were before. :lol:

 

So, like Ria said, I'm sitting down to write out everything before 10th grade. And I'm back to piecing together my own curriculum. I've found the booklists and schedules in TWTM and LCC to be very helpful in this regard.

 

 

asta

[Amber in AUS]

To the OP i so understand where you are at. I feel like this too, want to be e-mail buddies? Even with a fully laid out plan i get so off track i shelve the plan and just make do anyway. I NEED someone to say what did you do today or this week? Well that isn't good enough, i think you should really pull your socks up and buckle down tomorrow/next week to get through XY & Z. I NEED someone to make me stay on track to get the work done. I just don't seem to have the self discipline to do this myself! If i am bad now i can imagine what i will be like as they get older and we maybe have more kiddos.

 

I know life happens and things get in the way but if you are going to HS then you need to actually do it hey.

[MamaT]

I do what Ria suggested. I get EVERYTHING ready in the summer and that has helped keep us on track better than anything else I've ever done.

[JudoMom]

I'm not sure if this suggestion will help or not, but what I did was to plan my entire year during the summer months. I figured out exactly what I expected to cover each week of the school year, and that "master plan" helped keep me accountable. Yes, sometimes I slipped, but I knew where I needed to be and would catch up quickly in that subject.

 

Planning over the summer required about 3 days of work for me; I approached it subject by subject. Sometimes the kids were all doing the same thing (history, for example), but certain subjects had to be planned for each child individually (math, grammar). Still, once I had the plan written, I knew where I needed to be each week of the school year.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Ria

 

How did you keep track of these plans? How did you plan? Help :D!

[FO4UR]

I have been writing "week-in-review"'s to send off to friends and family who support us in HSing. I got the idea from a friend who started sending me hers.

 

TBH - it keeps me accountable to make sure I have some good things to write about...and some good pictures taken. It's also motivating to look back, like a journal, and see how far we've come.

[Melinda]

This year, I have been feeling my way around figuring out what works best for all of us and what clearly does. not. work. at. all.

 

Last summer, I spent quite a bit of time (like the whole summer) looking through catalogs, going to curriculum fairs, planning out our year (multiple times), planning what our day and week should look like (again, multiple times) and on and on and on. I have continued to look at curricula throughout the year, but not so much the rest of it.

 

My problem with not making an actual plan of what is expected is that then I tend to be inconsistent...sometimes, I am exhausted and we don't do school that day (maybe once a month), but usually I expect *way* too much. I need a schedule to keep me from assigning more than is developmentally appropriate.

 

So...

 

About a month ago, I sat down with my husband and we decided what our goals are for the kids. We also talked about what age would be the earliest they would be allowed to graduate. Neither of us had a good answer, so we (I) made up a course of study for our school, including researching and choosing programs to cover each subject area in each grade (I'm sure some of this will change over the years, though)...things that will have to be mastered before moving on to the next grade, and what will have to be finished before they graduate. I made up a checklist of skills to master, books to read, programs to complete, etc. They can move through as quickly as they are able to and/or want to. It has been a heck of a lot of work to do this, but now I feel like I know where I am going.

 

Now that I have my PK-graduation master plan put together, we work on something until it is completed and see what comes next. I still plan what is going to be assigned each day for that week, but I feel like I have a much better handle on things and don't feel under the gun to finish everything as quickly as possible anymore. It ended up being about 200 pages of 12-point font altogether.

 

Good luck and I hope you quickly and easily (and cheaply) find what is most helpful to you!

[phathui5]

3blessingmom,

 

Can I see what your week-in-review looks like?

[MamaT]

As far as how I personally plan out the year, I have a weekly overview done in Word that shows what subjects are done when during the week.

 

I make student planners for each child that is broken down by day of the week. These are for me to pencil in their daily assignments in each subject. I do this during the summer.

 

I would be glad to email you these if you pm me.

[calandalsmom]

This sounds like a lot of reinventing the wheel to me. I buy SL to use for history. We read all the books. We do a grammar program and a science program and a writing/ handwriting program. We do math. We finish what we start. We read about 5 books a week of our own choosing from the library. voila.

[JudoMom]

As far as how I personally plan out the year, I have a weekly overview done in Word that shows what subjects are done when during the week.

 

I make student planners for each child that is broken down by day of the week. These are for me to pencil in their daily assignments in each subject. I do this during the summer.

 

I would be glad to email you these if you pm me.

 

I sent you a PM :001_smile:.

 

How many weeks do you pencil in at a time? Or do you do the whole year?

[Wildiris]

I agree with the suggestions so far. Having a good plan is invaluable.

 

Another aspect of accountability I struggle with is getting my DD and myself to stick to deadlines. It is just too easy at home to say, "Oh, you not done yet. Take a few more days." My son who goes to PS high school does not enjoy that luxury of extra time. I am considering a point system for projects so they get done in a timely fashion.

 

Does anyone else have any thoughts on how to cope with this aspect of accountability?

 

Thanks,

[Mad Jenny Flint]

It takes me longer than it takes Ria, but this is what I do. I just take it one subject at a time and plan the year for it. It is not re-inventing the wheel, because breaking down a text, putting in other materials to add in with the various sections (supplements/labs) helps you to see what you need to cover, when, and what size the daily bites need to be. You can adjust this up-front to fit the time you allot per day. If it doesn't appear to be working, you can always cut a few things out later that are your "gravy" items. I like it because we have lazy days, too, sometimes, but I can see where we need to be the following week and play catch-up.

 

One tip: I am an overachiever, so I try to plan a bit less than I WANT to, but enough to count as a full course. I often categorize "gravy" items as extras for the course. This is the key to using the schedule to keep on-track, rather than feeling completely overwhelmed by it.

 

We'll be using Edu-Track for planning this summer. I am nervous about this! It will take some time to ramp up on that program, but I think it will be helpful to have it laid out so clearly and to record our grades, activities and hours for transcripts.

[calandalsmom]

Having a good plan is nice. Following through is where the problems come in.

[Melinda]

My way of doing it probably *is* re-inventing the wheel, but I immerse myself in planning because I feel I am a better teacher when I a) know exactly where we are going and can see the purpose of each activity, and b) know the curriculum thoroughly. For me personally, if I do not plan it all out with something like KONOS, we will not get nearly as much out of it. Maybe that is just me, but I need to go through page by page in order to be the most effective teacher I can be.

[calandalsmom]

My way of doing it probably *is* re-inventing the wheel, but I immerse myself in planning because I feel I am a better teacher when I a) know exactly where we are going and can see the purpose of each activity, and b) know the curriculum thoroughly. For me personally, if I do not plan it all out with something like KONOS, we will not get nearly as much out of it. Maybe that is just me, but I need to go through page by page in order to be the most effective teacher I can be.

I wouldnt do as well without a plan either. That is why SL works so well for me. I feel free to vary things as necessary to suit out needs but by and large I do what I set out to do and that is the key.

[Heather in the Kootenays]

I have a binder that has a sheet for each class. In it, I've written out a rough schedule of where we should be by month. I check it every monthly and adjust accordingly. If we're behind in math, we speed up etc.

[swellmomma]

I'm not sure if this suggestion will help or not, but what I did was to plan my entire year during the summer months. I figured out exactly what I expected to cover each week of the school year, and that "master plan" helped keep me accountable. Yes, sometimes I slipped, but I knew where I needed to be and would catch up quickly in that subject.

 

Planning over the summer required about 3 days of work for me; I approached it subject by subject. Sometimes the kids were all doing the same thing (history, for example), but certain subjects had to be planned for each child individually (math, grammar). Still, once I had the plan written, I knew where I needed to be each week of the school year.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Ria

 

I want to know how you do all your planning in 3 days. I typically plan in the summer months too, BUT it takes me a solid 3 months to finalize all the plans. Part of it is that I line up supp reading, movies etc with the spines we are using and that takes time. But even with out those it takes time to organize lesson plans for all the kids.

 

Of course once we hit this time of year after a year like this and I have to reschedule everything to make sure we complete it, so I have been planning the next 16 weeks lately. But just to do 4 months planning I have already spent a week on it and I have my old lesson plans written up, I am just shuffling things around, etc to make sure it all gets done.

 

I like the idea the pp said about an email buddy. I tried to use my blog as a form of accountability but I rarely get around to blogging. In my prov we do have to register and had meetings with a facilitator a couple times per year, I already had my year end one and they were impressed, though I felt like we did nothing. I do think having someone to compare notes with weekly and get that kick in the pants when you need it is a good idea. I don't have aspouse to report to and if I talk to my mom, her answer for every little hiccup along the way is to stick them back in ps, so I rarely tell her anything about what we are doing.

[dhudson]

DH and I write out goals for each of our kids at the beginning of the school year (3 academic, 3 personal and and 3 spiritual) and then I look at them monthly to see how we are keeping on track. I also have them tested yearly (starting at 3rd grade) to give me a measurement to go by each year.

 

Dh is very involved and wants to know what we are learning as well as their grandparents and like to see their history, science and writing notebooks at the end of the year so that gives us incentive to do a good job. We are planning a "Home school open house" to show family members what we've learned this year so that should as well.