For the past several weeks, I have been reviewing HomeSchool Office from Lord Heritage. For this review, I received access for one year to HomeSchool Office, a web based planning program that integrates homeschool and family life.
Plan: (Based on Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.) This is where you plan your school year with goals and objectives, build a master schedule, determine your homeschool budget.
On the Master Schedule, each student is a different color so you can quickly see who needs to be doing what.
Order: (Based on 1 Corinthians 14:40 But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.) In the Order section, this is where you schedule lessons, coordinate activities inside and outside the home, set up reminders and create lists.
Work: (Based on John 17:4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.) Within the Work section students have access to see what they need to complete and are able to check it off when they finish. From this point, you can also print/view individual schedules.
Evaluate: (Based on Matthew 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.) Here you can have a record of state compliance whether it be for hours completed, attendance or grades.
Report: (Based on Romans 14:12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.) It is within this section that you can create transcripts and customized reports.
I have to admit I have struggled with using planner effectively. At first, I was having trouble getting things put into it like I thought they needed to be. However, HSO has several Knowledge Based Articles that have made navigation easier to understand.
I would really like to be this organized but this is certainly an area that I struggle in. As we are learning, I like to allow the kids time to delve deeper into subjects they become interested in. For example, two years ago, we took advantage of the Homeschool Week Activities at Crown Center, Kansas City, which included the World War I Museum. The kids (and I) loved the museum so we launched into a full blown study of WWI. This creates a problem for my schedule because then we don’t move on to the next subject as quickly as I had planned. This leads to me becoming frustrated. Obviously they are still learning (and probably retaining more because they are interested) but it wrecks havoc on my planning!
I am going to continue using HSO and will hopefully will become more efficient with it. As we transition from junior high to high school, I am going to need to have a good way of recording the classes the kids take/complete for their transcripts.
To find out what other members of the Crew of HSO check out their reviews.
Jennifer
