September 10, 2007 - First visit of the year with our Supervising Teacher...
Tonight we had our first of eight visits with our homeschool Supervising teacher. This is one option of following the law in Iowa. We choose to work with a supervising teacher because for me it is the least stressful route and the cheapest route of keeping accountability.
Our visit went well. I was about 10 minutes late. Just alot to do today. I had gone to an orthodontist appointment with my 12yo and run to the grocery store, run home, prepared supper and out the door I had to run. Other than being late, it was a good meeting. We set a date for our next visit (phone visit). I paid my fees. And then we just discussed school plans for the coming year.
To make it easier, I handed her my form that I handed in to the local school district. She jotted a couple more notes about the extras that we are not required to submit to the school district. We discussed goals, our summer projects and exchanged some sharing about mission trips.
I have a better plan with time management for this year and so far it is working a bit better than in past years. I made some priorities about our extras in life and simply put... they come last!
My two current projects that are on the forefront of "my" list are decluttering and finding a way to organize school record keeping that is easier to use for me! The decluttering process is slow going, but it is working. I have been selling some stuff on ebay and had a garage sale this summer and hope to have another in a couple weeks during the city wide garage sale. The record keeping has been trial and error for the past 8-9 years and I am hoping to come up with a better way this year. I want something that works for ME, that works for making a transcript, that works for easy planning, I've tried other homeschool programs and record keeping planners and they work to a point, but not totally for me. I will probably make my own Homeschool Record Book with all the things "I" feel are necessary, instead of things that don't apply. You know each state has their own things that must be kept track of, each college has their own standards... and it just would be nice to have one that fits my needs. Instead of keeping track of the stuff others think is important... I will keep track of the things I have found that ARE important. Having one that is graduating in a month or two... I have found out MANY things that are important... that NO ONE told me about! And it is really hard to try and think back... so I want to have it recorded from the start with my next couple of kiddos.
So, that was all discussed at our meeting as well. We went a bit over on time, but we have been friends for years and it is good to have a chance to catch up, too.
Now, that first meeting is officially over... it is time to hit the books and set some goals for this year and really make it happen. (I have big goals, but I find little goals are easier to meet and great boosters to keep us actively accomplishing the bigger goals!)
Warmly,
Melissa
Comments
September 13, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Ruth
Sounds like all went well. I have a daughter beginning high school and am really unsure of what she needs for high school transcripts. I find it very confusing.
Ruth
September 18, 2007 - Uggh..
Posted by FaithfulGrace
That keeping track of records is a bummer!
I meet with our supervising teacher for the first time tomorrow. I liked reading your post, it validated what she/we will be doing to be the norm.
Hope your school year is off to a great start,
Linda
