We have almost finished our first semester, what a learning process - for me! The girls are doing well considering I am constantly changing things up (or at least it seems that way). I am figuring out what I like and what I don't like, what the girls respond to and what they don't respond to and overall what seems possible to accomplish and what I may need to let go of.
One thing that is bugging me is the record keeping, last year I downloaded a spreadsheet form from another blogger, that worked well but I seem to have a hard time filling it in. I joined a free online record keeper this year and am really impressed with it, but am still having a hard time keeping up with filling everything in. Also, because of our slow internet, it takes forever to update each activity and fill in all the subjects each day. I have attempted to just leave the laptop on all day and go back and forth between chores/schooling and filling something in. Keeping track of everything if mainly for my choice to be accountable since our state does not require us to submit records to them. I know that when #1 daughter enters high school next year I will need to keep good records for her transcripts. I figured I should get in the habit now. I am a little torn because of the amount of time it takes and I feel like it takes away from actually teaching time. I am considering just going to a simple form that can be put into their planners or mine to help keep track of everyday activities and just enter graded tests and reports into a record/transcript creator type program.
Another thing I have discovered in the last semester is that we have gotten a good jump on the core subjects but I have really slacked off on the electives. This is bothering me because it is the electives that really set apart our home school from traditional school. Bible, arts, foreign language options etc. So when we start back tomorrow I am going to figure out a schedule for making sure we accomplish ALL that we have committed to learning.
Finally, I am learning that not all curriculum is created equally and that it is ok for me to decide that something isn't working well or to decide to try something new instead. At first I was really hard on myself about what I had chosen and sticking it out. Now it is really getting into my brain that it is ok to say "let's take a break from this" or "lets do this differently." Homeschooling is very forgiving!
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