Homeschool Attendance Forms: When Are They Not Present?

In my state, Georgia, and many others, homeschool parents must fill out an attendance form each month. We are supposed to record what days we do “school work” and what days we do not. Considering that life is a learning experience, sometimes I just feel like I should put an “X” on the box of each, and every day. In fact, I know some people who do just that.

It is quite foolish, in my opinion, to have to fill out attendance forms for someone who actually lives in your home. I guess in some situations like custody sharing, or prolonged vacations that one might not be “present” in the homeschool, but there is never a time when my homeschooled children are not learning. For instance, consider a recent road trip my family and I took:

âÂ?¢ We borrowed a 15-passenger van to take extended family to NY for Grandma’s birthday party. We traded our very nice luxury car with a family who was going to a wedding and taking only one of their six kids. My children learned to be creative with finances and resources. By trading cars, we saved 1000.00.
� One of the passengers in our van was an uncle who is a Spanish teacher. My daughter took advantage of his presence and learned the Spanish alphabet, which was followed by another lesson before the trip was over.
� We always carry learning games when we travel. We had the Leapfrog and Iquest with us, and the children worked on their spelling, and math skills on the trip.
� Once we were there, the children had to entertain themselves with their cousins, as the adults were busy making preparations. They decided to write and act out plays. When personality conflicts arose, my children decided to have the actors sign contacts. They learned to negotiate effectively, and taught others as well.
� At the celebration, the children discovered legions of extended family and learned the difference between first, second, third cousins, etc.
� Upon returning home, the children calculated the dog boarding charge, accurately.

Therefore, after this road trip, how could I not count these days as homeschooling days? The children were certainly present (as they were with me, and actively learning). From new lessons to self directed learning, and discoveries I would say we all received an excellent education that weekend. It is unfortunate that I have to go through the gyrations of separating learning time from non-learning time.

Technically, although it was a long weekend, the children were learning Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, However, to relieve myself from any possibility of having to prove this fact, I just left out the weekend days, when I filled out the homeschool attendance forms.

When filling out your homeschool attendance forms, you need to be aware of the minimum standards required. For example, in Georgia, the records need to show that the children had at least 180 days of schooling. If you chose, you can just record 180 straight days including weekends and never turn in another form that year, but for myself. I follow the public school calendar for the most part, as it would be difficult for anyone to argue with what I have recorded.