Speaking of Family Videos...

My husband interviews my children formally on the first Sunday of every month. Occasionally like last Sunday during interviews, he turns the video camera on and taped their answers to his questions. My two-year old was so serious as he shared his thoughts. I love it! I enjoy their thoughtful answers and see how important they feel to be the star of the show. I find that as I have more children, I forget to record as much as I did when I only had one or two so I'm so grateful to my husband for capturing their different stages of growth and development. Thanks sweetheart!

Accountability

Just wanted to share a quick suggestion my husband made during our weekly planning meeting on Sunday. He interviews the children regularly and asks them about what they have learned. To help him in this discussion, he recommended I make a chart where the children could keep track of what they did each day. So (after some grumbling ; ) I made an Excel spreadsheet titled "This is What I Did Today!" with 3 columns with the headings--date, subject, and activity.

Wow, I can't tell you how that simple spreadsheet has enhanced our home school! It helps me to remember to follow-up with them at the end of the day and they proudly show me all of their work (previously I didn't have a system to encourage accountability). The children are more excited to do their different activities (even hard ones!) because they know Dad is going to ask them about it. Recording their progress each day sets good habits that will benefit them especially when they want to go to college and have to prove their home school achievements and studies. The spreadsheet goes in the front of their binder.

Thanks honey for the great idea! What do you do at home to encourage accountability? I would love to hear your comments.