Today I am reviewing
HomeSchool Office from
Lord Heritage.
HomeSchool Office is an online homeschool management tool. I found that it does SO much more than just help in the organization of one's homeschool, but their home, as well.
There is the record keeping and transcript features, which are invaluable to homeschool parents (especially those with children in high school), but the teacher/parent can also schedule courses, lessons, doctor's appointments, sports practices, music lessons, field trips and more!
HomeSchool Office uses a format called
P-O-W-E-R which stands for
Plan,
Order,
Work,
Evaluate and
Report.
Under the
Plan tab, you can add all of the subjects your child is taking, assign them work, create a master schedule, keep track of special projects and create a budget. I did not use the Master Schedule feature because each of our days is so very different. I do know people who like to keep to a more strict schedule, so this feature would be very helpful for them. Perfect for those of us who are in PA (who must document at least 180 school days), there is also a school day total at the top of the page.
Order is where a calendar can be made for a day, week or month.
Under the
Work tab, you can assign your child chores and they can actually be incorporated into your calendar. They have not missed a thing!
The
Evaluate option is where a student's grades and attendance is recorded
and
Report is where you can generate report cards and/ or transcripts.
Time is a homeschool family's most precious resource. School work, housework, sports, church activities and time for the family crowd our calendars. It is SO important to have good time management skills. A calendar or planner, whether it be on paper, or an online program like HomeSchool office is invaluable and very much needed. Also, the older one's children become (and the many demands of high school come upon them), the more important scheduling becomes.
I have always been an old fashioned pen and paper kind of gal, so it was an adjustment for me to rely on an online program. HomeSchool Office was so very flexible and had an option for everything. I could enter every class, every book, every project. It averaged grades and even helped us with our budget (and with 4 kids to homeschool, that is definitely an important feature!) I could have a visual of what our week would look like with our many responsibilities-- school work, volunteer work at church, 4-H activities, music lessons and more. I am a visual person, so seeing our calendar is absolutely a non-negotiable for me. And, although every week may look a little different in terms of work or volunteer responsibilities, it was there in black and white, so to speak for me to see, print out (I am still a paper kind of gal!) and put up on the refrigerator.
The cost for the program is $79 annually, no matter the size of your family and includes all updates and unlimited support.
You can try HomeSchool Office for
free for 30 days to see if it is a good fit for your family and homeschool.
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