OK - the hunting thread piqued my curiousity here... I will be the first to admit I'm pretty clueless about a lot of homeschooling stuff, but "counting it as school" sounds bizarre to me. I kind of look at homeschooling as a lifestyle - we surround ourselves with "educational" pursuits and are learning all the time. It's not like we have a specific time set aside every day for "school". Sure, we do math workbooks occasionally, and we write in journals, and we read bedtime stories... But those things are just kinda worked in throughout the day. I am now teaching high school and I "go to school" in the morning, and I "come home from school" in the afternoon. I have specific hours that are "school" - and the rest of the day is not. When I'm homeschooling, that's exactly what I want to get away from! I want my kids to know that learning is just something we do - it's something that we never stop doing. We learn all day everyday. So - how do you view homeschooling? Do you sit down for a certain number of hours each day for "school"? Do you treat it like public school where it is compartmentalized and something that isn't a part of the normal routine? I'm confused. Why would something have to "count"?
In my state, by law I have to track the hours spent on each subject. I have to have a certain number of hours in "core" subjects and another number of 'elective' hours. So for me, counting something as school is important. However, I don't sit at the table for a certain number of hours doing individual subjects like a public school. If we go to the grocery store and Eli helps me, I can count that as Home Ec. If we play certain games, that can count as math. If we are doing certain things that could count in more than one category (i.e. reading a historical novel) then I can split the time between reading and history or I can count all of the hours towards whichever subject I'm lacking hours in. I hope that made sense. (FYI, in Missouri at no point in time do I ever have to turn in those time tracking sheets. However, if I were ever to be called to court for neglect or something, a judge can demand to see my records)
Are you serious?!?! Holy cow! I just can't even imagine having to do that - seems crazy to me! Here in Idaho, all I have to do is tell their local school that I'm homeschooling. That's it. OK - now I understand the "counting it as school" stuff.
See, what's funny is that I don't have to tell the local school that I'm homeschooling. lol. The only reason my records would ever been looked at would be if a judge ordered me to show them to him. I've yet to meet anyone who ever had to do so. But we track away anyhow, just in case. Now, some states do require you to turn in your records yearly (or more often). And even in open states, like Idaho, many parents still keep detailed records just in case they were ever called into question.
The only reason we have to tell them is because Idaho keeps very detailed records on dropouts. they want to know how many kids actually drop out of school versus how many haven't actually dropped out, but aren't attending public school. And now NCLB has added even more demands on the tracking stuff - I'm very surprised you don't have to tell them. I wonder how they are reporting your kids to the feds??
If my children had ever attended public school, then I'd have to send a letter of withdrawal. But it's just for those who have active files with the school district. Having never sent my children to school, I don't have to do anything. And as far as reporting my kids to the feds, they don't. As far as our School district is concerned, my children don't exist.
I hear the moms at Jeannie's classes talk and they will 'count as school' - going to the library for story time or to pick up books grocery shopping ( they can read the labels or talk about food groups, etc) cooking or other household stuff In short, to me it sounded like Mom trying to get her stuff done and not bother with legitimate school work later. I'm sorry, but that's how it sounded to me. Everything I heard named was an errand or something a Mom was responsible for.
The problem that most of us run into (here in MO) is that we are able to cover a whole school year in a lot less hours than they want us to. So either we cover and recover the same stuff over and over, push on through everything that our children aren't ready for yet, or count things like grocery shopping. In truth, counting shopping is usually the best option.
BTW, Both districts I sub for send all elementary and jr. high kids to the library for at least 3 hours a week. If that counts as school for the public schools, why wouldn't it count for a home school? And kids need to have home ec in public schools here, too. So why wouldn't we count cooking and sewing in our home school, too?
We have a certain number of days per year and an average per day. We have our curriculum and there is so much time in which to complete it for the entire year but we get it done.
I wish we had days instead of hours. It would make it so much easier. I could easily do 180 days, but if it only takes me 2-4 hours on those days to get our work done, we're hosed on hours.
How many hours are you required to provide? It just seems strange to me because some of our "best" homeschooling moments have been those times when we are sitting around a campfire in the evening shooting the breeze and the kids ask us some wonderful question. We have plenty of time to really "answer" it, so we go into lots of detail and spend hours talking about it! One night when we were at the Grand Canyon we were all tucked into our sleeping bags and Daryl didn't want to go to sleep yet so he asked, "What do 'ya wanna talk about now?" I was tired and didn't want to talk, so I responded, "Nuclear physics." thinking that would shut him up (he was 8 years old!). "What's nuclear physics?" So anyway, we spent the next hour or so explaining the mechanics of splitting atoms and releasing energy and all that stuff - and about how dangerous it can be if it gets out of control, blah, blah, blah. the next morning, Daryl asked me a question about it all - "Why don't we use nuclear energy if it is so efficient?" That led to a huge discussion about Chernobyl and conserving energy and possible alternatives and blah blah blah... It was such a neat experience for all of us - but was it "school"? I suppose if I had to record hours, I would record it, but it would look pretty strange to record, "Bedtime conversation in tent at Grand Canyon."
:lol: No you just jot down "Science 1 hour" or however long you think it was. We have to do 180 days for our umbrella school, so I always count Saturdays when Sarah does 1 1/2 of dance as 'school' If I had to write down a subject I would say P.E (Physical Education) you probably call it gym.
Hmmm... so I could just log 8 hours each day as "school" since we were on our bikes exercising for that time? That kind of seems... I dunno... pointless?!
I am a bit confused. You ride bikes for 8 hours a day?? Also what do you mean by pointless? The point of putting an hour and a half of dance lessons (balette, jazz and tap) down is to make sure we cover that 180 days. It involves following instructions, learning the steps, excersise, and being part of a group. Why shouldn't all that count as school. School isn't just about maths and English. Once that 180 days is filled we can relax. meaning not keep track so much, nor worry we wont make it. In reality we ended up doing more then 180 last year, but I am still going to count it.
Me too! I see a lot of threads about "counting something as school" and that may be that in their state they must complete a certain number of days. I dunno. To me it is all a learning experience. I learn something new almost everyday and I am not "in school". Sounds bizarre to me but we all "school" differently I suppose.
Jo, You should go check out Nancy sv's site. Then you will understand why she stated they are on bikes for 8 hours a day. Also it is a VERY awesome thing that they do.
I don't mean your dance lessons are pointless!! Heavens no!! It's just the reporting the time seems pointless. I just don't see how X amount of minutes will insure that kids learn - seems silly to me! Yes, in the public schools we have to set some kind of arbitrary number because a lot of our kids won't actually learn. But it seems like for those who homeschool, the LEARNING is what is important. If it takes 5 hours, then it takes 5 hours. If it takes 50 hours, then it takes 50 hours. Seems pointless for a state to mandate a certain number of hours. Sorry if I sounded like I was judging your dance classes -t hat was not my intention AT ALL!!! And yes - we do bike all day. Or we did last year anyway, and we will again next year. We will be taking off in June to ride our bikes from Alaska to Argentina. It seems silly to me that I could put down "bike 8 hours" and that is "school" according to the state.
In Idaho you do not have to tell the local district if your kids have never been enrolled in that district.
