SkuleKeeper
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SkuleKeeper
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SkuleKeeper is a program designed to help home-schoolers organize and track their work. It performs two basic functions:
You can use either or both of these functions.
The scheduling function lets you divide the work to be done for each subject into "units", and set a due date for each unit. The program can set due dates automatically, spacing the work to be done evenly over the school year, or you can set due dates yourself. You then get a regular "Week Sheet" showing what is due for each student for each subject each week. You also get a "Progress Report" showing how actual performance compares to the planned schedule. This lets you see in which subjects you are ahead of schedule and in which you are behind, so you can react accordingly.
The grading function lets you identify all graded assignments in each class, and record grades as these assignments are completed. The program calculates the average for each class and assigns a letter grade. You can use a standard grading scale or create your own. You then get a Report Card showing grades in each class for the year, and a Transcript of classes and grades for the student's entire academic career, including cumulative GPA.
For details about the operation of this software, see the Contents. For step-by-step instructions on getting started, see Step-by-Step.
The first step in creating a schedule is to create a calendar. At a minimum you must give the start and end dates of the school year. It is a good idea to also specify any "breaks" -- holidays and vacations. It's not a big deal if you leave out one-day holidays, but you should include anything that's a week or longer.
For each class, specify the number of "units" of work to be done. A "unit" is any convenient measure of work. It might be chapters in a textbook, worksheets to be completed, reports to be turned in, etc. SkuleKeeper then automatically calculates a schedule. Basically, it takes the total number of working days in your calendar, divides by the number of units, and sets a "planned date" for each unit that spreads the units evenly through the school year.
So the minimum amount of work to do to set up a schedule for a class is, (a) select the calendar from a dropdown box; (b) type in the number of units; (c) click "Update". If you don't like the schedule that the program creates automatically, you can change the dates.
As you complete work, you tell the program the "actual date" for each unit, that is, the date it was actually completed. This can be done with as little as two keystokes: type the letter "t" for "today" in the actual date space for the appropriate unit, and click the "Update" button. The program then compares actual dates to planned dates and shows you a display identifying which classes you are ahead of schedule and which behind, with smiley faces for classes where you're ahead and frowning faces for those where you're behind.
SkuleKeeper records grades and classes completed and produces report cards and transcripts.
Tell SkuleKeeper what "grades" you have for each class. That is, gradable assignments. A grade can be a test, a project, a book report, anything where you give the student a grade that contributes to the final grade for the class.
At a minimum, you say how many grades you will have. The program then creates a set of numbered entries for them: #1, #2, #3, etc. If you like you can give names or descriptions to these grades, like "Chapter 2 Test" or "Final Exam" or "Electronics Project".
You can also assign "weights" to your grades, that is, make some grades more important than others. For example, a final exam might counts as half the total grade or some other large percentage.
During the school year, you enter grades for these assignments as they are completed. The program computes the average and, when all assignments are complete, it assigns a final letter grade for the class.
You can print a report card at any time showing grades earned so far. You can print a transcript of all completed years.
Report cards and transcripts can be run in "screen" or "printer" mode. The screen mode is designed for convenient viewing on the screen, which basically means that it has the menu bar at the top. The printer mode is designed for printing. It leaves off the menu and eliminates most use of color, so it should print legibly on any printer.
A subscription to SkuleKeeper costs $30.00 per family per year. Note the price is per family, not per student.
I am a former home-schooler myself, as well as a professional software geek. I started work on this program to help us in our own home-school. Unfortunately, I was a single father trying to work a full-time job, home-school my daughter, and be active in Christian causes. I just didn't have the time to develop this program, too! So I wasn't able to do serious work on it until we finished home-schooling. But, here it is.
This software is provided to help home-schooles with their planning and record-keeping. We are not accredited as a school, so grades assigned through this software and transcript printed from it have no more "official weight" than anything you produce yourself. Fortunately, though, as home-schooling grows, employers and colleges are becoming more and more respectful of home-school documents. And having a neatly printed, well-formatted document might be more impressive than something you scribbled on the back of a shopping list.