When I first heard about Homeschool Tracker’s free Basic Program, I downloaded it and checked it out. This was a year or so ago, maybe more.
I decided that it was way too school-like for my taste. I mean, who wants to input all of the materials, assignments and grades… and attendance? Who takes attendance in their homeschool?!?
But the other day, I was filing away some papers, thinking about how I am trying to be more organized this year, and I decided to take another look at Homeschool Tracker.
I plugged in the dates that I had sketched out for quarters (just to make sure we stay on track to finish the curriculum I submitted to the state and don’t have to do book work in the summer, if we don’t want to). Then I put in the materials we were using and recorded the grades from the tests they have taken.
By this time, the D came over to see what I was doing. I was playing around with the reporting function and ran a report card for him. “Cool!“
The one thing the kids miss about school is having a piece of paper that proves how smart they are!
Now, he wants me to record all of their grades and print out quarterly report cards.
Recently, Bob suggested that I sit down once a week and journal what we did that week, so the annual reporting won’t be so much work. It just so happens that HS Tracker does that, too. It has a place for me to record journal entries and another one to record field trips.
I have always leaned toward the idea that homeschool should not be school at home. As a result, I tend to not like to do things that are too school like, I guess.
I am beginning to realize, though, that being organized makes my life run a lot smoother. And living in a state that requires me to demonstrate annually that my children are making academic progress requires me to be organized about my homeschool record keeping, or else face hours upon hours of hassle when it comes time to file my enrollment.
If that means doing some things that are like school, then so be it.
So, I am going to give Homeschool Tracker a try for a while. I’ll let you know how it goes.
