Homeschool Record Keeping & Documentation

Record keeping and documentation are important facets of effective homeschooling.  Not only does it help you, as the teacher, to track your child's progress, it provides a visual framework of your year's work at a glance.

Regardless of the type of curriculum being implemented, it is vital to check its merits against state mandated standards to ensure that your child is always at or above the current educational standards of their peers in public school.

Not all curricula are created equal.  Just because it is labeled as "Christian" or "advanced" doesn't mean that it necessarily lines up with what your state requires of public education.  The last thing we want as homeschool parents is to make the decision to reintegrate our children into the public school system only to find that they are actually behind their peers - despite the fancy and expensive curriculum that was used.  Click here for a sample of the Oklahoma State Board of Education C3 Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS) requirements.

Keeping track of your students' grades on a report card similar to that of public schools in your state will not only ensure an easy transition if you are led to enroll your children in public school at a future time, it will also provide a valuable safety net if you are ever asked to validate your homeschooling practices.  Even if your current curriculum provides their own report card or reporting system, it is advisable to take a few extra moments a few times during the year to evaluate their progress in this way.  Having more than one document detailing your child's progress will only strengthen your confidence in your skills as a teacher and their confidence in their own progress.  Click here for sample Oklahoma report cards for Pre-K - 5th Grade.

NW OK Summer Bucket List

Summer time is here... along with the words every parent dreads.... "I'm bored!"

Find the perfect balance between downtime and fun in Northwest Oklahoma... and share your ideas in the comments section so that we can make this list a great one!

Seedtime and Harvest

Looking at this old photo got me to thinking... Something that folks on a farm think about often is the concept of seedtime and harvest.
You put seeds in the ground, you water them, you keep the weeds and pests away and when the time is right, you reap a bountiful harvest from your patience and hard work.

Our Great Grandparents on the left, our Grandparents on the right, the little girl in the chair is Aunt Virginia and the baby is our dad.  Harvesting wheat about 70 years ago - and yes, the concept of seedtime and harvest worked the same then as it does now - both in the field and in life.

The funny thing about seedtime and harvest is that it applies to every aspect of our lives - not just crops.

The Bible says that the principle of seedtime and harvest will never cease, the same way that the concepts of seasons and day and night will never cease.

"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." Genesis 8:22 (NIV)

Makes me stop and wonder - are we planting seeds of encouragement in those around us?  Are we going to reap a harvest of the sweet fruits of our labor?  Or are we sowing seeds of bitterness and condemnation and will painfully reap a harvest of stickers and sand burrs?

Daily we sew seeds with our words.  Think about your words - are you sarcastic?  Are you short or gruff?  Or are you kind and helpful and pleasant?

I don't know about you, but as someone who doesn't like to wear shoes, I don't like stickers - or sand burrs.  As we say around here, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all."  (But c'mon - say or do something nice once in a while and reap a harvest of good things in your life!)

Welcome to the farm!

This freshly harvested wheat field is nestled Northwest Oklahoma.

Belewville Gallery

 

 

Our Oklahoma Heritage Runs Deep

The first and second Generation of Phillips Pioneers in Oklahoma.

In this day and age, folks are more likely to pack up and move every couple of years than they are to stay put, which makes the notion of "roots" a thing of the past.

Our story is a little different.  The Phillips family has been a group of proud Oklahoma land owners since just before the land run of 1889. That makes us Sooners rather than Boomers because we slipped in before we were supposed to - oops!


Today, our parents and our grandma live on the very same piece of dusty real estate that these amazing folks above traveled across the country to claim.  They started families here and planted their roots here.  They grew wheat and turned out cattle in the pastures.  They cultivated a lifestyle based on hard work and reliant on each other.


When helping my dad mend fence, I came across a fallen and half-burried row of old fence that was clearly comprised of large tree branches rather than iron T posts. It filled me with a warm feeling because I know that one of these pioneers sought out this branch and held it in their hands while building this fence so many years ago.  When they couldn't afford store-bought things, they made do with something else - and probably didn't complain about it, as we do today!


Someday I will make my own "homestead" on this land as well.  Instead of imparting in my children a love of a fast-paced and harried lifestyle, I hope to leave them the legacy of their heritage, which was "free for the taking," yet purchased with the blood sweat and tears of a generation who helped shape our family into who we are today.

Part of our property simply known as "The Old Thomas Place".

Prairie Tempest

I watch as the clouds billow and rumble overhead. The oppression of the sun's ominous fury has been squelched by these merciful pewter masses.  Leaves scorched by drought and sun swirl slowly to the ground as a soft breeze begins to ripple over the prairie grass and through the Honey Locust trees.

The farm is eerily quiet - not a bellowing cow or a chirping cricket - just the sound of the wind.  The sweet smell of impending rain is muddled by the acrid stench and sage brush and ripe vines full of gourds.  Though half devoured by this summer's plague of ravenous grasshoppers, they still manage to perfume the air with their strange familiarity.

As the windmill at the old Thomas place creaks and groans back to life in the wind, I wonder what early settlers on this prairie thought when these thunderheads rolled across the plains.  Today, this late afternoon prairie tempest has stirred the drought stricken prairie to life. Against the slate colored sky, the golden grasses of the dry fields almost seem green.  The barn cats have began to mingle in the yard and the pasture cows are now grazing up against the fence nearest the house.  They know what is coming.

I look at the row of mangled trees just across the dirt road from our farm house and consider, with reverent respect, the potential fury that I know exists in the Oklahoma sky.  The booming clouds draw nearer and speak louder and I am reminded of the security of our storm cellar.  As the plains interact with the wind and the rumbling sky, it paints a picture of a much younger prairie.  From my seat on the porch, all I can see is sage brush and love grass whipping and nodding in the breeze.  I see a trail that the cattle have tromped that slinks and wanders into a large thicket.

A wall of clay colored dust  rises from the thirsty road and pings and scuttles as it hits our prairie home and metal outbuildings with stinging force and at this moment, I know what my great grandfather felt as he looked out on this very same rugged piece of land almost 100 years ago.  I connect with this land in the same way you connect with an old friend.  No matter how long you are away, when you finally meet again, it feels like you never left.  I am comforted and reassured that just as the storms and and tempests of life may bring destruction and desolation, in this moment, this prairie tempest reminds me of where I came from and who I really am.