Goodbye paper mountain!!!!

Well, as some of you know, I have been trying to incorporate the Flylady system into our life. I have to admit, the kids are having an easier time accomplishing this than I am. Like the Flylady says, babysteps. Anyhow, there has been one area in the schoolroom that has always bugged me. The 2 year paper trail. I have always kept 2 years worth of work for the 3 kids just in case social worker Florida came knocking on our door wanting to see portfolios, records, schoolwork examples and the such. Now here lies my problem, I never knew which schoolwork, lesson plans, projects, etc. to keep, so I kept EVERYTHING! So 3 kids X 2 years of paperwork X 45 weeks of school X 6 subjects =......... Hey maybe I can have the kids figure this out, print this page and add it to my math portfolio! Ok so you see my problem.

Well, I found a solution. They are called umbrella or 600 schools. Essentially, the kids are taken out of the State of Florida homeschool education program, enrolled in a private school that handles all their records, and I get to throw away all that paperwork. How liberating it is to toss it all in the trash. Of course, I'm holding onto special things such as journals. I think it would be neat to give those back to the kids in future years. Unless you homeschool, you probably won't understand the freedom of not having to look over your shoulder just in case the state decides you needed to be audited. Just imagine the IRS only instead of auditing your bank account, their auditing your parenting.

The less the government is in my home, the better!