After "modge-podging" many curriculums over the years, I was really excited to come across
The Checklist by Cindy Downes, and absolutely thrilled after I began using it!
The Checklist is a K-12 Scope and Sequence/Recordkeeper for Christian Home Educators. Cindy Downes has taking her experience and knowledge from homeschooling her own children and done a wonderful job in putting this together. I haven't found anything as complete as
The Checklist, and won't look for anything else now that I've found this.
The Checklist is easy to use, and because it's Christian based, it has the biblical aspects that I desired in keeping track of my children's education woven into
every subject. There are explicit guidelines, as well as step-by-step directions and a few sample curriculum plans to help you decide how to make
The Checklist work best for you.
There are a few different ways of buying
The Checklist, but I would recommend just getting
The Checklist in the PDF format, saving you shipping and handling costs. I made copies that I bound for each child (permission is granted for your family) and the soft cover really serves no purpose if you're planning on making a book for each child. You could keep track of a few of your children with one book, but I thought that might get confusing (since I have three in school now with 3 more up and coming)! It will take a little more time to make sure I record what I do with each child, but I feel it will be worth the confusion in the end. I have a friend who has a book binder, so I was able to use that, however, I'm told that Office Max also can spiral bound materials (as I'm sure other places as well) for very little cost.
You can view a large number of sample pages in PDF form before buying it. I would highly recommend reading pages 1 - 16 if you're unsure if
The Checklist is right for you. What Cindy has written on those pages convinced me not only of the wonderful asset it would be to keeping record of my childrens' progress academically, but
spiritually as well. Her wisdom is remarkable and heart for God revealed as she speaks of our children's spiritual knowledge with the utmost importance. In reading her words, I knew that this was going to be invaluable to me. I'm so thankful for finding
The Checklist and to Cindy for writing such a wonderful resource as I strive to do what the Lord has called me to do as homeschool mom.
(Parts of this post were taken from Cindy Downes website, Oklahoma Homeschool with her permission. I also highly recommend her site for the
MANY other great things she offers there!)
•Friday, March 10, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Michelle