Tag Archives: Starting Homeschool

Disappointed and Excited With Starting Homeschool

Posted on by

I have to be honest and say that I am disappointed in our #ButterflyHomeschool blog on one hand, and totally excited about starting homeschool on the other. Read on to learn why, and to see a tip to help you help your children more.

So, we didn’t achieve our monthly goal of posting here on the Butterfly Homeschool blog in August. I admit that August was totally a blur. I barely remember last month from the first day until the last because it went by so very fast.

WHY EXCITED ABOUT STARTING HOMESCHOOL

Part of why August went so fast is because I was writing, for someone else’s blog (and for my book, but I digress). That is what I am totally excited about. I have been making a shift in how I do business, with more of a focus on providing trainings and on writing than ever before. I also have shifted how I flow business part-time while homeschooling more intensely during the Fall, Winter and Spring seasons.

So, starting homeschool by writing to help others has gotten me pretty excited. I also know that my writing and the other team member’s writing on the blog I contribute to will help you. This great blog will especially help you get excited if you are new to homeschooling, or have been struggling to get\ re-started this year.

HOW TO HELP YOUR CHILDREN MORE

I have been writing more than I’ve written all year long. And, yes, again, I am excited. My flood gates finally opened up more after choosing to open my heart more and let God work on me more.

Frequently and regularly, when you teach and write for other people’s benefit, you also need to take time out to refill your own tank. My prayer for you is that, as you start this Fall season of schooling, that you’ll do that for yourself. Your children will benefit so much more from you with your tank overflowing than from you just barely squeezing out drops for them.

QUESTION FOR YOU: How do you keep your tank full? When do you set aside time for your own learning and growth?

ABOUT BEING EXCITED AGAIN

So, the other blog that I am writing for is very encouraging for moms who school their children at home, no matter how you choose to do it. I posted a page here on this blog about it. You’ll see the page listed above in the menu bar.

The page is called “Encouragement“. Please have a look there to see a preview. My first article will post in mid-September. The topic for my first series of articles is one that is familiar to me. It may help you avoid an unhealthy big mistake that homeschool families sometimes make. It is a mistake we have made and started overcoming after we understood it better. I will share our lessons and our journey to help you avoid or correct it.

The blog that I am contributing to can be a great source to help you with keeping your tank full, too. I pray that you will check it out and be very blessed by it.

YOUR ANSWER?

So, if you are going to share your answer to my question about keeping your tank full, please use the comments area below to share. When you do, this helps others who are reading to join the discussion with us all in the future.

Thank you for reading. 🙂

~Donna Marie

P.S. If you find this helpful, please use the social sharing buttons and tools on this page to pass on the link to your friends and family.

Starting Homeschool in Georgia

Posted on by

This archived blog post will be updated soon, but for now, I wanted to re-post it so that those who are looking for help will have a resource start them off.

Starting homeschool in Georgia is now a little easier to understand.

link to Georgia DOE Homeschool Website

Visit Site For Dept of Education – State of Georgia – doe.k12.ga.us

If you live in Georgia, you can now find a more clear outline of state mandated legal requirements for your homeschool at this link:

As usual when it comes to bureaucracy, completing these forms can be very time consuming and tedious. So, here is what we have done to help make the process a bit easier on the Mommy.

WHAT WE DID TO MAKE FORM FILLING EASIER

We turned it into a homeschool project. Here is our process:

  1. Mom created an attendance spreadsheet for our own files/records.
    • (no longer available) download spreadsheet template, if you think it might help you (in 2014 and beyond, attendance is no longer required by State of Georgia to be turned in, now just keep for your records)
      • It includes 12 monthly worksheets for July 2012 – June 2013.
      • Spaces for entering 3 children’s attendance. (You can insert new rows, as needed.)
      • Totals for Monthly and Year To Date Attendance on Each Monthly Attendance sheet (formula automatically adds it up for you)
      • Complimentary for those who join our mailing list.
  2. Mom completed the official parts of the online forms
    • submitted the Declaration of Intent form myself (very simple)
    • assigned each child to complete their own online attendance form on the State’s website using information from our attendance spreadsheet
    • Mom double checked that each child’s form was correct and that all totals on the spreadsheet and on the online form matched; and then submitted the attendance forms online for each child.

SEE HOW WE DID IT

Here is our picture slideshow so you can see what we did:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

WAS THIS INFORMATION HELPFUL?

Please leave a comment and let us know.

~The Butterfly Homeschool Family

P.S. This is an archived post. I plan to post some updated homeschool start-up articles in the near future. For now, know that your best resource is to use the DOE link I gave at the top of this article.