Homeschool Tracker Online

I was a little uncertain about writing a review for this software because I am prone to changing my mind. I have now been using it for one complete term, so even if I do decide that I don't like it anymore, this information might help someone out there.

I must admit that learning it was very frustrating for me. I almost gave up. It would have been so helpful to have someone standing over my shoulder giving me tips on how to use it.  Now that I have figured it out, I think it is worth the effort that I put into learning it.  I made lots of mistakes and unnecessary input of data. I am glad that I decided to learn it over our summer break otherwise I would not have stuck with it.

It is true that you can use it in multiple ways depending on how you tend to plan, and weather or not you stick with your plans.  I, for one, tend to switch constantly between resources so, I think that I probably use it differently than many people.

The thing I like best is the end of the term "Scope and Sequence" Report I was able to print.  I input everything into the in one of 8 categories/subjects

Bible
Math
Language Arts
History & Geography
Science & Nature Study
Fine Arts
Foreign Languages
Life Skills & Exercise

I use multiple resources for each subject.

When the report is printed It is divided by subjects, then further by resources listed by date order with a description of what we did. The description comes from the "Topic" field, so I try to put as much information in this field as I can.

This is the best organized year I've ever had. This is my 15th year homeschooling and I have always considered myself a failure when it comes to record keeping.  This year I have a neat little report which I am able to print at any point in time and lets me know at a glance all that we have accomplished.

I admit that it takes me about 30-40 minutes to schedule everything each week,  and about 15 minutes daily to add more details and corrections to what we did that day. This is not counting the hours it takes to input all the plans.  I would say that once you know what you are doing, it will probably take you about 8 hrs or so to get everything just the way you want it.  I spent this week inputting everything for term two, and I'm guessing that this is how much time it took me spread over several days. Now all I have to do each week is schedule my plans which like I said takes me 30-40 minutes each week.  You could schedule the whole year, but that is definitely not for me. I've learned my lesson.

I almost forgot to say something very important.  I do not consider all this record keeping necessary especially at my kids current age, and especially not in Texas.  However, because I know myself, I feel that I need to practice while they are still little. I need to figure out now what I will use when they get into the High School Years.  I was pretty unorganized with my oldest two. When I was getting them ready to start college, I was completely stressed over how unorganized I was, and I constantly worried about what the colleges were going to require of us as far as paper work.  Fortunately they did not require anything but a Transcript and SAT scores. Things are constantly changing, and I don't know what will be required of my youngest three. I plan to be ready and not to go through all that stress again.

Where we are now.

K-Age 20
Studying a semester abroad in Spain. Having the time of her life.

M-Age 19
Busy as a sophomore in college, taking 17 hours, participating in two choirs, trying to keep up her classical guitar practice, and having to learn piano.

J-Age 11
Just completed Ambleside Online Y5 term 1

A-Age 7  & D-Age 6
Just completed Ambleside Online Year 1 Term 1


Overall we had a good term.  J was the only one who did exams. I did tweak the exam some, because of some substitutions I made, but I tried to stay with the same format.  For some reason he enjoys the exams.  I think it lets him see all that he has learned, and brings closure to the term.  I have decided that  next term we we alternate between written and oral narrations for exam questions. It was a lot of writing for him.  His narrations would have probably been better, more thorough, if it hadn't been so much writing.

History Timeline

This is my son's timeline. He, age 9,  and I have been working on it for about 3 years now. It is a visual of what we have been learning about in history. I use images printed from the internet, or from History Through the Ages, Historical Timeline Figures. Since we don't have a school room, it hangs in a small hallway between the kitchen and bathroom.

Once we get done with the first term of Ambleside Online Year 6. I plan on starting a Book of Centuries instead of a timeline for going through history the second time around.

My youngest two have not started a study of history yet. I'll have to find more wall space when they are ready. My older two daughters, one in college and one a senior, also had a wall timeline when they were younger.

I found a great article which I can't find anymore, with a link to photographs of an actual Book of Centuries used in a PNEU school. I was struck by it's simplicity. I will try to describe it:

Basically, it was a composition style notebook, with the left side ligned and the right side blank. The top of the right page would be labeled with the century. They would then number the right side from bottom to top by 5's, so that each line equalled 5 years.  The right side would be used for recording important names or events.  The left side would be used for careful line drawings of artifacts from that time period.

I think this would work well for an older student, because in order for it to be effective, it would have to be kept very neatly. The student would then have an uncluttered one page visual of what a century looked like in both words, and pictures.

Music Study

I've decided not to follow Ambleside Online's suggestions in studying Hymns and Folksongs.
I feel my children are exposed to a variety of music in our regular life. With church, choir, their dad singing to them in spanish, and many other musical opportunities we encounter in our daily lives, I find it unnecessary.

Here is a video of the community choir two of my children participate in. I just love this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWogUWoLElQ

Artist and Composer Study

     For Artist Study, I choose a different artist every 3 months or so. I simply introduce the artist to the children by printing a self portrait of the artist, if one exists, and put it up on our refrigerator. I'll introduce one of his paintings every other week. The children will take turns looking at the painting for about a minute. I usually just print off the Internet, unless I can find postcards for sale of that artist. After they look at it carefully I'll take it away, and I'll ask what they remember from it. I'll ask them to describe as much of the painting as they remember. Once we do this, we simply put it up on the refrigerator and enjoy it until we switch artists. If the piece of artwork is inspiring to us, if we find it interesting, we make our own rendition of it with any media we want.

     Composer Study is even simpler at our home.  We choose a composer every 3 months or so. I'll purchase about 6 of his songs on itunes, or we just listen to them on youtube. Purchasing them is easier for me, because I can just have the song repeat in the background as they are doing some quiet work or in the morning while we are getting ready for the day.  If I can I'll print a portrait of the composer and put it up on our refrigerator. We spend most of our day in our kitchen. so we are often reminded of the artist and composer this way. Whenever I play the composer's music, I simply say, "I'm about to put Vivaldi on, and we will be listening to the Four Seasons - Spring." We just go about our day and enjoy the background music.

     We are a family of visual learners, and I have found this method to help the children get to know an artist and composer well and become familiar with their style.

What this Year Looks Like

     Over the years I have always enjoyed blog posts on what other people's plans for the year look like. Some people don't like doing this because they start to feel inadequate, or feel like they are not doing enough. One of the things that I have learned is that everyone who homeschools does something different depending on their circumstances, preferences, and experience. Looking at what other people do gives me new ideas and helps me to see things in a way I had not thought of before. After 12 years of homeschooling, I am still learning.

Here is what our homeschool plans look like this year. 2011-2012
I intend to post later on what each subject looks like.

K-Age-18 Freshman at TLU

Still at home, but I am no longer in charge of her education. Yay!

M-Age-17 Senior

Working through all of this on her own except the dual credit.

British Literature - IEW Excellence in Literature
Greek I & II - Rosetta Stone
Economics - Bluestocking Press Economics
Physics - Apologia Press
Classical Guitar w/Performance
Computer Technology - Home Made Projects
Personal Finace - Dave Ramsey
P.E. - Exercise at home
Choir - TLU Community Youth Choir

College Algebra - Dual Credit at local Community College
English I - Dual Credit at local Community College

J-Age-8 Third Grade

Ambleside Online Year 3
Bible - Veritas Press Chronicles through Malachi
Science - Apologia Exploring Creation through Astronomy 
and Real Science for kids, Chemistry
Math - Right Start Math Book C and Rod & Staff for more drill
Spelling - All About Spelling
Grammar - Rod & Staff English 3
Latin - Latina Christiana I
Handwriting -  Getty & Dubay Italics D
Choir - TLU Community Choir

Classical Guitar - Taking Lessons from big sister

A-Age-5

Phonics - Saxon Phonics K
Reader - Victory Drill Book
Handwriting - Getty & Dubay Italics A
Math - Rod & Staff Beginning Arithmetic 1

Classical Guitar - Taking Lessons from Big Sister

D-Age-4

Phonics - Saxon Phonics K
Handwriting - Getty & Dubay Italics A

A & D Together

Bible - Veritas Press Genesis through Joshua

J, A, & D Together

Artist Study - Charlotte Mason Style / Term 1 Michaelangelo
Art - Artistic Pursuits - Book One
Poetry - Term 1 / William Blake
Geography - Geography Songs
Bible Memory - Sing The Word Great in Counsel Mighty in Deed
Read-A-Louds from Various Sources


This will serve me as a record. I intend to post mid year to see how much has changed.

Fun Fridays

     This Year I am trying something new. I'll see how it goes. I've decided to leave Fridays for the things that we usually run out of time to do like Art, Handicrafts, any unfinished assignments, etc.

     This year for art we are using Artistic Pursuits  Grades K-3 Book One to generate ideas. We also do picture study, Charlotte Mason Style, and try to duplicate the artwork.

     Last Friday D-Age-4 was not interested in the assignment we were working on. It involved using a photograph to inspire your own artwork. All he wanted to do was play with his paint on several pieces of copy paper. This morning I was surprised when he brought me this drawing. I thought J-Age-8 had helped him, but he assured me he hadn't. It might not look like much to you, but if you knew "Hamesh" personally, you would realize that there is a striking resemblence.

Hamesh is Diego's Favorite Toy

by Abby Age 5 using a National Geographic Photograph as inspiration.

by Jorgie Age 8