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A is for ATTENDANCE!
What does attendance mean in your state?
In our nearly thirty years of homeschooling in Indiana, we have had laws that have read something like this: "A student between the ages of seven and sixteen (not sure what age this is now) must attend public school or have equivalent instruction" and equivalent instruction has usually meant 180 days of "instruction."
More on this later--such as attendance keeping AND what constitutes a day of school--if our child is home, isn't he "in school"?
A is for ATTENDANCE!
If you live in a state where you are mandated to keep track of your days (your kids' "attendance"), I recommend keeping it simple!
Even if you use an elaborate lesson plan or other tracking system, I would still get a dollar pocket calendar and write the days on it. It can be as simple as putting in the corner of each school day 4/180 (day four of attendance out of 180 total).
The reason for this is that if all you really HAVE to have is 180 days recorded somewhere, then do that in a simple, non -fussy way so that you can be sure that it gets done. Then if you want to record it i your lesson plan, tracker, etc., as well, that is fine.
However, even if your more elaborate system breaks down somewhere mid-year (or your computer loses it!), you will still have your pocket calendar with the minimum that you are required taken care of.
More on WHAT to count as a homeschool day later!
A is for ATTENDANCE!
How do you know when something should be counted as a full day or half day or no day?
There are plenty of ways to look at this: (1) must complete all regular daily work to be a day; (2) schools take half days all the time for movies, inservice, etc., so it won't make that much difference; (3) a certain number of hours equals a full day; (4) field trips count/field trips don't count; (5) other!
The point of this isn't to solve your "what do I count" dilemma but rather to make us all aware of the need to give our children the best we can and the need to be above reproach at all times.
We personally have decided what to "count" as a day in different ways during different seasons: (1) as long as language arts and math were done, we would count a half day of art and gym or library and cooking along with that for a day; (2) a certain amount of time. We used an hour counting approach (hours worked on academics or training-only non academics (PE, art, home ec, etc.--not daily/routine activities) that went something like this:
a. 2 hours for K-2nd grade
b. 3 hours for 3rd-5th
c. 3.5 hours for 6th-8th
d. 4 to 5 hours for high school
Regardless of how you count your days of ATTENDANCE, please consider the following:
1. Always be above reproach
2. Always do more, not less--and teach your children to go the extra mile while doing this
3. Consider the non-book learning as long as it is true training including audio, video, hands on, etc. (again, not routine, like regular daily chores or skills that are already full developed like making breakfast, etc.)
4. Be consistent. Either count time or count books or count classes, etc. Or count field trips all the time or do not count field trips
5. Keep your system simple--just a simple calendar marking system or tick mark/running day total in your daytimer, etc.
6. Be excited for each day that you complete!
