An excerpt of the sections of the education law pertaining to homeschool recordkeeping are cited below. Following that is an explanation, in plain English, of what is required of you. To read the entire law click here. To learn about recordkeeping systems (click here) for use by hand or on computer, that you can purchase or download from the internet, scroll to the bottom of this page. The best source of information about recordkeeping according to Missouri Law is the booklet, "First Things First" (click to order), published by FHE.
167.031:
2.
(2) As evidence that a
child is receiving regular instruction, the parent shall
(a) maintain the following records:
(1) a plan book, diary, or other written record indicating subjects
taught and activities engaged in; and
(2) a portfolio of samples of the child's academic work; and
(3) a record of evaluations of the child's academic progress;
or
(4) other written, credible evidence equivalent to subdivisions
(1), (2), and (3); and
(b) offer at least one thousand hours of instruction, at least
six hundred hours of which will be in reading, language arts,
mathematics, social studies and science or academic courses that
are related to the aforementioned subject areas and consonant
with the pupil’s age and ability. At least four hundred of
the six hundred hours shall occur at the regular home school location.
3. Nothing in this section shall require a private, parochial,
parish or home school to include in its curriculum any concept,
topic, or practice in conflict with the school’s religious
doctrines or to exclude from its curriculum any concept, topic,
or practice consistent with the school’s religious doctrines.
Any other provision of the law to the contrary notwithstanding,
all departments or agencies of the state of Missouri shall be
prohibited from dictating through rule, regulation or other device
any statewide curriculum for private, parochial, parish or home
schools.
4. A school year begins on the first day of July and ends on the thirtieth day of June following. [THIS REQUIREMENT WAS CHANGED IN 2001, SO THAT YOU MAY CHOSE TO START YOUR SCHOOL YEAR ON WHAT EVER DAY YOU WISH -- CONTACT FHE OR HSLDA FOR MORE INFORMATION, IF YOU NEED IT]
5. The production by a parent
of a daily log showing that a home school has a course of instruction
which satisfies the requirements of this section shall be a defense
to any prosecution under this section and to any change of action
brought pursuant to chapter 210, RSMo.
167.061:
Any parent, guardian or other person having charge, control or
custody of a child, who violates the provisions of section 167.031
is guilty of a class C misdemeanor. Upon conviction and pending
any judicial appeal, the defendant shall be required to enroll
the child in a public, private, parochial, parish or home school
within three public school days, after which each successive school
day shall constitute a separate violation of section 167.031.
The fine or imprisonment, or both, may be suspended and finally
remitted by the court, with or without the payment of costs, at
the discretion of the court, if the child is immediately placed
and kept in regular attendance at a public, private, parochial,
parish or home school and if the fact of regular attendance in
proved subsequently to the satisfaction of the court. A certificate
stating that the child is regularly attending a public, private,
parochial or parish school and properly attested by the superintendent,
principal or person in charge of the school is prima facie evidence
of regular attendance by the child.
So, what does that mean for YOU, in plain English.
1. You
will need to teach each student a total of 1000 hours, within
the school year.
2. You may choose when your school
year will begin & end. (But, no over lapping years.)
3. 600 of your 1000 hours must be
in subjects in the "core course" areas described:
--Reading
--Language
Arts
--Math
--Science
--Social
Studies
4. Of those 600 hours in the core
catagories, 400 hours must be taught in the usual school location.
5. Non-core courses can be taught in any
subject or catagory that you choose. Examples of non-core
course catagories would be: Bible, Music, Art, Crafts, Living
Arts, Physical Education. Within those catagories, for example,
you might have subjects like: Piano, Oil Painting, Carpentry,
Cooking or Soccer.
6. Bible is not considered a core
course, unless it is being used in that particular lesson
to teach a core subject such as spelling (Language Arts core catagory)
or history (Social Studies core catagory) or literature (Reading
core catagory).
7. Although the law determines the
core course catagories, they do not tell you specifically WHAT
CONTENT to teach or WHEN. You are free to make those decisions.
--For
example, you may teach Creation Science in the Science Catagory.
--For
example, you may place you child at whatever grade level you think
is most appropriate for him or her, AND you may put him or her
in different grade levels in every subject to match his
or her developmental level. Wow -- now that's a custom-designed
private education!
8. You will need to maintain a "plan book,
diary, or other written record indicating subjects taught
and activities engaged in", here you will track who studied what
subject
in what core or non-core catagory for
how long each day. It is safest to refer to a
specific book or activity in this record, which most Missouri
homeschoolers call a "Log". Click on light blue link
above to learn about different systems you can use to meet this
requirement.
9. You will need to keep a running
total of the times throughout the school year, so that you can
prove, if called into court (to prove you are homeschooling according
to the law), that your students have each accomplished the required
hours by the end of your designated school year. If this sounds
WAY confusing, talk to a seasoned homeschooler or to your support
group leader or to an FHE Regional Director for help. While in
theory this "daily log of hours" is supposed to be an
adequate defense in court, in reality some families have been
asked by judges to produce more information. So, be prepared in
case you should be asked by a judge to produce any of the items
described in #8 - 12.
While the statistical likelihood of your being called to court
is slight, it can be a very unpleasant experience if you are "caught
with your pants down", that can result and has resulted
in child/ren being forcibly placed in public school in this state.
10. You will need to keep "a portfolio
of samples of the child's academic work", which could be
a folder, a box, or a three-ring binder for each student for each
subject for each school year. You don't have to keep all their
work, just representative examples (like their best! (-; ).
While there is only an outside chance that this portfolio would
ever be called in as evidence in a court case, this collection
is a wonderful slice of life that your children will enjoy looking
back upon, especially the drawings, original compostions, and
journals, throughout their lives.
11. You will need to make & keep some
sort of "a record of evaluations of the child's academic
progress". Different families accomplish this in different
ways, depending on their style of schooling and the style of their
curriculum, if they are using one.
--Some
curriculums have long distance teachers who provide grades.
--Some
curriculums include testing automatically, making it easy to develop
a grade card.
--Other
families choose not to grade, but rather to record progress
subjectively
in a written paragraph describing progress relative to their goals
for each student.
--My
family does not grade (grading
is NOT required by Missouri Law),
but does administer a nationally recognized achievement test (testing is NOT required
by Missouri Law) at the end
of each school year to meet this obligation, and to help us assess
in what areas we can celebrate and in what areas we need more
work. If you are not sure how to accomplish this evaluation in
a way that best fits your family, talk to your curriculum provider
and/or your local support group leader for suggestions.
12. OR, you can maintain "other written,
credible evidence equivalent to subdivisions (1), (2), and (3)",
and if you know what THAT really means, give me a call, because
I know a few lawyers who would like to know, as well! While
this might sound like "an escape clause", trust me,
there is no escape if you ever find yourself defending the authenticity
of your homeschool in a courtroom in the "Show Me State".
The proof is in this
article, about a homeschooled child whose family was pressured
to return him to public school, where he is still today. You can
read more about Missouri
cases in which HSLDA was involved on their website.
13. What is "an hour of instruction"? As of Fall, 2000, FHE has revised its description of how to log time according to Missouri Law. Please check their website, or contact your FHE Regional Director or HSLDA or your own Lawyer for more information. In FHE’s booklet, “First Things First” (a booklet that every family homeschooling or contemplating homeschooling in Missouri should have on their bookshelf -- click here for an order form), they now say:
...the bottom line is that the responsibility of recording accurately the hours of instruction lies with the parents. Remember that this documentation is designed to serve as your defense, so it is to your advantage to be cautious in the recording of your hours. Keep in mind that in the event of a legal challenge, a judge may ask you to explain how many minutes are in one recorded hour in your log. In a formal classroom setting, an hour of instruction is a typical classroom session, a unit of educational instruction or activity. An hour in the typical classroom does not constitute 60 minutes on the clock. In most classrooms, it is between 45 - 50 minutes. Instruction away from home for field trips, choir practices, private lessons, etc. certainly may be added to your diary and log.
This seems to suggest that even if you complete a full day’s math lesson in 15 minutes, that it is not recommended that you log l hour for that lesson. As recommended above, check with your FHE representative, literature or website, OR with HSLDA, OR your lawyer to determine how best to log hours for your school.
Homeschool Recordkeeping Links:
164 Strack Farm Lane
Troy, MO 63379
(636) 338-9218
Four styles of plan books are offered for hand-written recordkeeping:
Missouri LoggerRhythms
(MLR)
This version
of the program and its manual are currently available for free download from the internet, or can be
purchased as a CD-ROM with user's manual for $35.24 including
tax, shipping & handling.
3110 Hwy D
Bourbon, MO 65441
(573) 860-8866
e-mail: hslogger@mo-biz.com
A database program for keeping your records on your computer and according to Missouri Law. It will make logging faster, easier and "purtier". The Template feature allows you to create a model lesson plan once a year (or less) for each student, which can then be instantly copied into a weekly lesson plan (for all or selected students), requiring you to fill in only specific assignments and rapidly changing books. Logging is also a snap, because it already has the information from your lesson plans, requiring you to fill in only time, and if a graded lesson, score. Then, it creates the following reports and more AUTOMATICALLY. You never touch a calculator to determine hours or grades or anything else. It can archive previous years, and handle up to 23,000 students. It is fully customizable. No, it's not too good to be true!
| Lesson Plans (no itty bitty boxes!) |
Assignment Sheet (with the press of a button) |
Monthly Report of Hours (core, non-core, etc.) |
| Daily Log of Hours (your defense in court?) |
Grade Report (letter, % & GPA) |
Transcripts
(grades and/or hours) |
| Book Lists (sorted several ways) |
Field Trip List (impress your in-laws) |
Teachers List (list outside teachers) |
| Week-at-a-Glance (see how it looks) |
Mission Statement (optional) |
Chore Sheets (optional) |
Comes with a 24 page user's manual (included in the price) written in plain English by a computer-phobic housewife. User-friendly technical support provided 24 hours / day, free of charge. You can begin using it any time during the school year.
Edu-Track
Homeschool
Edu-track Home School is a complete
commercial quality home school recordkeepig and lesson planning
system. It provides quick back-dating of records so that you can
begin using the software at any point in your school year.
Accurately tracks student's progress in compliance to state requirements.
Provides user-friendly menus and reports for quick and easy results - keeps keyboard input to a minimum.
Instantly retrieves student's progress with over 60 professionally designed reports. Reports are divided into six different categories and run from a user-friendly form.
Incorporates a powerful unit study module to record every aspect of unit studies completed.
Newly designed 1-click attendance screen - now automatically updates via lesson entry screen.
Includes a comprehensive on-line help system giving step-by-step instructions from any screen (if printed, over 200 pages of examples). Help is fully indexed, searchable, and includes a detailed table of contents.
Comprehensive bound user manual. Over 200 pages - fully indexed by keyword with a structured, multi- chapter table of contents.
Gives you a "1-Click" backup and restore for peace of mind.
20 bonus fill-in forms (book reports, scientist report, lab sheets, animal reports, research reports, history reports, famous people, author reports, and more!) ...and much more.
Costs $59.00 for software, $15.00
for user's manual, $15.00 for technical support and $25.00 for
the Palm up-grade (if desired) plus tax, shipping & handling.
Homeschool Minder
A complete, affordable, and easy-to-use
software solution for organizing your homeschool. Special pricing
available for HSLDA members. 30-Day FREE trial at website.
Produced by Hunter Systems, a producer of recordkeeping software for
public & private schools, which was commissioned by HSLDA to
produce a HS recordkeeping program.
Homeschool
Easy Records
(HER)
This is another database program that has been used successfully all over the world for several years now.
This is another database program that was developed in Illinois. This site (or this program?) also offers some household organizing tools. It has a very cute website!
While any of the programs above can be run on a Macintosh with the help of a software emulator (allows PC programs to be run on a Mac), HomeSchool Planner was designed specifically for a Macintosh computer.
This page on the Homeschool Easy Records website (see above) tells about other programs available.