School papers

I have always had a difficult time keeping track of paper work for the boys school.  We have mostly done the A Beka accredited program, where we send the papers in to them and they sent us a grade card.  I liked that but that was SO FREAKIN' EXPENSIVE.  So, this year, we decided to just "go it alone".  Because really, do you REALLY need to keep track of transcripts until high school?!  I mean, yes, I keep my papers, but I don't think I really needed the accreditation for elementary school.

So, we got our "new to us" file cabinet ~ it is old and heavy.  It was a steal.  Not quite the good deal we got with the one from where Jesse worked in Florida.  Can't beat free.  But, this one was $10.  Definitely a good deal, because a new one would not be as heavy duty.  And a flimsy 2 drawer one at Target is like $45.  So, yeah, a good deal.

Anywho ~ I got caught up on some of my grading.  But the thing I LOVE ~ I found (off of a facebook page ~ oh, how I miss thee, fb) a link to get a free gradebook system ~ it's a homeschool mom who formatted the excel worksheet.  It is awesome ~

It has an attendance record, separate tabs for each subject and grades for those subjects (quiz, test, and daily grades {which I don't use the daily grades} ) and also tabs for extra curriculars {ours are art, music, and pe}, book reports, and field trips.

This excel spreadsheet is such a life saver.  I stressed so much over how to keep my records.  I have to send in reports every 9 weeks to our school district so this is totally helping me.  And it's kinda nifty.  It helps me to keep track of how many days we are in school. 
Oh, and the best part?!  IT WAS FREE!  But, you know, it totally would've been SO worth the (I think) $25 it was going for (I just happened to win a contest or be within the certain number of visitors on a blog, or something like that :D ).  But I am SO glad I followed that link! 

I did notice that I was a few quizzes behind so tomorrow we are going to catch up.  I'm still trying to get the hang of this whole self teach thing.  I'm trying not to over stress it, and I'm trying to not hold myself to some far reaching goal.  I'm trying to stay realistic.  And I haven't been too hard on the guys, which I have to keep telling myself to just go with the flow. 

Do you homeschool?   How do you stay on track, and still keep it fun and make sure your kids are still learning?  Just lookin' for some ideas! 

AND ~ I'm really jonesin' to sign into facebook, so here I am rambling and blogging!  Don't mind me :D