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1996-09-12
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THE HOME SCHOOLING PROGRAM version #591001
A BASIC PROGRAM OUTLINE:
This program is designed to simplify the ASSIGNMENT form, involved with
the task of record keeping, for your home schooling efforts. This includes
any weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, test, summary, behavior, or other
records. Actually, you can create records for any specific need, simply
because of the very nature of the HOME SCHOOL program.
It is a snap to master, and with its simplicity and versatility, you will
find that creating and maintaining data, is a simple and rapid function.
Also, the feature that allows you to RETAIN DATA, from one childs form to
the other, greatly reduces the need to RE-TYPE forms for one child, that
are almost identical to the forms of another child. If the differences
are only minor, you can RETAIN the data, and alter ONLY THE DIFFERENCES.
The ZAP feature allows you to MOVE and REPEAT selective data, from one
form to ANY other previously created form, or to any form for a different
student, as well. There is extreme versatility built into this program.
You will find that the retrieve and print routines are very simple, and
very fast. You are not able to retrieve by CLASS NAME, but only to
retrieve by STUDENT NAME. Because of the simple way that you can flip
from retrieving one childs name to a different childs name, you will not
find that it is a problem at all, if you wish to print out or browse thru
selected material from each child, rather than to print or browse thru
all of the material for just one certain child.
CAUTION: The program automatically puts you in the UPPER CASE. (capital
letters). If, during you entering of data, you kick the computer OUT OF
THE UPPER CASE, you may find that your retrieval of names will not work.
You MUST retrieve NAMES using the same case in which they were entered, and
spelled identically. If there's problem, and you do not seem to be able to
retrieve a name that you are certain does exist, try changing the CASE or
check your spelling. If CASE and spelling are correct, you WILL retrieve.
Most, if not all, of the other commands to SAVE, PRINT, QUIT, GO TO THE
MENU, etc ARE NOT case sensitive.
THE ASSIGNMENT SHEETS:
This form is a TOTALLY PRE-ESTABLISHED FORM, because everyone will need
it. This single form allows you to be as innovative as you want to be.
The ASSIGNMENT SHEETS allow the input of Name, Class Type, Lesson
Assignments, and Grades for each student. You can enter 34 different
day assignments and 34 pertinent grades, on each form, before you have to
save it. It is very important that you do not type in data that extends
past the last dash ( _ ) that is provide for data entry. Anything that is
typed BEYOND the last dash mark will NOT save to file, and will remain as
white letters on a RED background, instead of changing to a BLUE background
when the enter key is pressed for that line. The unwanted retention will
vanish, when the form is saved, and other than the fact that the extended
letters or characters will not be saved to file, or be able to be printed,
it does not harm the program, or affect any future entries. Each forms
SAVE OPTIONS MENU gives you the option to REDO the form, if you realize,
after accessing the SAVE OPTIONS MENU, that you have made an error. Once
you correct your error, you can immediately SAVE the form, without ever
having to RE-TYPE any other data, and without having to continue to the
END of the form, before SAVING it. The same thing is true, if you have
Page #1
cause to BACKUP to correct an entry, before having accessed the SAVE
OPTIONS MENU. Typing BU and pressing ENTER, in ANY form, will back you
up 1 line at a time. Typing BU will not affect the data on any line that
you backup over, or its ability to be SAVED ACCURATELY, from any line on
the form. Pressing S and ENTER, anytime you are done making your original
entries, or any alterations in the RETRIEVE mode, will access the SAVE
OPTIONS MENU, and you can SAVE the entire displayed form, just as it
appears on the screen. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU SAVE, at all times. Just
as WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU PRINT, if you press P, (in the retrieve mode
only) to print a displayed form. Pressing C accesses a form, in the
RETRIEVAL mode, so that you can Change or modify it. The S key is only
active AFTER you have accessed the form, and the P key, to print the form,
is only active BEFORE you access the form to modify or alter it. All of
these KEY FUNCTIONS are shown at the top of each forms screen, as a ready
reference, and they are discussed in more detail, later on in this manual.
ASSIGNMENT SHEET:
The ASSIGNMENT form prints out the words, LESSON, GRADE, ASSIGNMENTS, etc,
as a part of the printed form. Therefore it identifies specific lines as
being that particular type of recorded data. This printing is fixed, and
can not be altered.
GROUPING YOUR RETRIEVED RECORDS: (SELECTIVE RETRIEVALS)
If you wish to form groups of recorded data, so that you can make selective
retrievals, there are different ways you can accomplish this. Bear in mind
the following list of guidelines, in order to more clearly understand the
HOW'S and WHY's of creating RETRIEVAL GROUPS.
1 - There is ONE criteria, by which you can RETRIEVE a form. That is via
the data on the STUDENT NAME LINE.
2 - Any records that you create, that have the identical DATA on the NAME
LINE, will be retrieve when you enter that DATA, as the retrieval
criteria.
3 - The records mentioned in line 2 above, that have identical DATA on the
NAME LINE, will be retrieved and displayed on your monitor screen, in
the same order as they were originally created. In other words it is
a FIRST IN, FIRST OUT, situation.
4 - Because of the FIRST IN, FIRST OUT situation, you can not create, let's
say, 10 forms, all with the identical NAME LINE DATA of MARY, and then
later create another form, also with the NAME LINE DATA of MARY, and
have the latter form be retrieved BEFORE the first 10 forms would be
retrieved and displayed for you. To get to the 11th record for MARY,
you would simply use the RIGHT ARROW KEY, and browse to it, in seconds.
5 - Retrieving records, of any type, is very rapid, and browsing through the
retrieved forms (all that match your entered retrieval criteria), and
printing them, is a breeze.
PRINTING FEATURES: To also be considered, regarding GROUPING retrievals.
6 - The print routine allows the printing out of forms in a screen by
screen manner. Printing can ONLY be done, in the retrieval mode, and
a form can not be printed out, at the time of its creation. Once it
Page #2
is saved to file, simply go to the menu, press 2 for the retrieval
mode, retrieve, browse, display the form you want, and press the P
key to print it. You can immediately browse, while one form is still
printing, viewing any and all files that match your retrieval criteria,
find another form you wish to print, press P again, and browse again.
You may in fact have pressed the P key 10 times, before the 1st or 2nd
requested form is done printing, which means you have requested the
printing of 10 forms. While the printing is going on, you can leave
the RETRIEVAL mode, go to the menu, re-enter the CREATION mode, and be
creating more records, while the printing is still going on. It all
depends upon the size of the memory cache in your individual printer.
7 - Because of the selective printing feature, it IS possible to PRINT forms
in any order, regardless of the order in which the forms were originally
CREATED. But, when you RETRIEVED the forms, to view and select for
printing, they will RETRIEVE in the order entered, which is FIRST IN,
FIRST OUT. So you can see that creating forms somewhat OUT OF ORDER,
will not affect the ability to PRINT them IN ORDER. If all forms,
matching your retrieval criteria, were to be printed out via ONE print
command, the result would be that your forms would be printed in the
order in which they were entered. This COULD mean that they would not
be in the order you desire, unless they were ORIGINALLY ENTERED in the
absolutely correct order. That is why this program has the INDIVIDUAL
record printing feature, where you simply browse to the records, in the
order that you want them printed, and press the P key to print them.
THE QUANTITY OF RECORDS PRINTED `PER PAGE', AND COMMENTS FOR ORGANIZING.
8 - Regardless of the form containing data on just ONE line, or on all of
its lines, you will find that 2 records can be printed to a page, and
the page will then be in the correct position to start printing a third
record, etc. This means that YOU CAN press the P key multiple times, to
print a selected variety of forms, and rest assured that each page will
be layed out with header spacing, identical to the previous page. If
it is your desire to terminate your printing at mid page, and then to
start a NEW page, you can still press the P key many times, for multiple
printing, as long as YOU KNOW that your POINT OF TERMINATION, for one
GROUP, STUDENT, FORM TYPE, etc, is an EVEN NUMBER. That is to say that
each ODD NUMBERED pressing of the P key, will be a record that will
print at the TOP of the printed page, while EVEN NUMBERED pressings of
the P key will print that form at the BOTTOM of the page. So, if you
DO NOT wish to INTERMIX either the FORM TYPES, or STUDENT NAMES, on the
same page, bear in mind that ODD NUMBERED pressings of the P key will
start a NEW printed page. Therefore, if you press the P key 5 times to
print records for MARY, and then want to print forms for BILLY, by
starting a NEW page, you must wait until MARY's records are done, then
manually advance the paper position, in your printer, to its normal
starting position, and then continue with the printing of BILLY's
records.
IF THE PROGRAM DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO CONTINUE TO BROWSE OR LEAVE THE
SCREEN, WHILE YOU ARE PRINTING:
If, due to the memory cache size of your printer, it can not accept all
the data that you have sent it, (via the pressing of the P key), before
it became FULL, the program will sense this and not allow you to browse
or leave the screen, until the printer has captured all of the pertinent
data. So, as long as the program WILL ALLOW YOU to leave the screen, or
browse, etc, then you are free to do so, without affecting your printing.
Page #3
THE `CHECK PRINTER' ERROR PROMPT:
If your printer should run out of paper, during your printing process,
or if you try to print without having first turned your printer on, the
program will sense this. It will BEEP and then display flashing white
letters on a red background that state "CHECK PRINTER". Solve your
problem, by turning on the printer, or installing more paper, and then
press any key to continue from where you left off.
HOW TO GROUP YOUR RETRIEVED DATA:
METHOD #1:
The first method, and the most obvious and simple to understand, is
simply to create sufficient forms, in advance of needing them, and
SAVE them to file, even if they are VOID OF DATA, other than the
STUDENT NAME line, and the FORM NAME line. In some cases, you may wish
to simply enter the FORM NAME with nothing else. Being able to easily
REPEAT FORMS, is a very handy feature of this program. This is fully
outlined in the section of this manual entitled REPEATING FORMS. If
you can fairly well judge the number of each form, that you may need
for a predetermined school year period, after which you will CLOSE
OUT that particular period, you can simply create that number of
forms, or copies of the forms, for each student, for that particular
shool year time period. You can therefore create them, for each
student, in the order in which you want to be able to retrieve and
browse through them. The WHYS and HOWS of CLOSING OUT are detailed
further on in this manual.
METHOD #2:
The second method, of GROUPING your retrievals, is to establish and
make a list, of YOUR OWN CODES. For instance, knowing that you can
RETRIEVE by whatever data you enter on the student NAME line, you
can introduce your own CODE on that line, to control retrievals. Let's
say that you have three children that you are HOME SCHOOLING. They are
named Tom, Mary and Bill. While it is imperative that you NEVER type
in data that extends beyond the dashed lines provided for each line,
you nevertheless have 20 character entry spaces provided on the NAME
line. This is more than sufficient for a NAME and a CODE. If you
wish to ignore the idea of PRE-CREATING sufficient forms records to
accomodate a specific period of the school year, and want to just make
them up as you progress through the year, you can use the CODE method.
Assume that you have created WRITTEN TEST, VERBAL TEST, and SUMMARY
TEST forms, and that these forms contain data from a variety, possibly
all, of the different classes being taught. If you wish to be able to
RETRIEVE each of these types of forms, for each different child, and
be able to keep them GROUPED together, so you do not have to browse
through other forms that may have been created intermittantly during
the creation of these particular forms, use a CODE.
On Tom's written tests form, enter the following, for student NAME.
TOM - WRITTEN. On Mary's written tests form and Bill's written test
form, do the same thing, using their names, of course, instead of
Tom's.
On all of the kids VERBAL and SUMMARY test forms, follow the same
example, by using those words, following the childs individual name.
Now, if you want to RETRIEVE Tom's written tests forms only, just type
Page #4
TOM - WRITTEN, for the retrieval criteria in the RETRIEVAL NAME
SCREEN, and press the ENTER key. ALL you will retrieve is Tom's
written tests forms, and you can browse through them. The same holds
true for retrieving the childrens VERBAL tests, or SUMMARY tests. It
is a simple way to GROUP your records, but there is one drawback. The
drawback is that you can not, therefore, retrieve and browse through
ALL of a specific childs school records, by simply using that childs
name, as your retrieval criteria. Instead, you would have to retrieve
by all of the different CODES that you established. The retrieval
mode is so simple that doing that does not present any problem, and
the ease of the printing routine also makes it no problem. Naturally
it would be imperative that you have some sort of written record, for
all of your different CODES. If you forget a CODE, you will not be
able to RETRIEVE the record. Remember that the RETRIEVAL CRITERIA
MUST BE IDENTICAL to the original entry made on the NAME line. If you
use a dash (-) between the NAME and the word WRITTEN, you must always
type that same dash when you enter the RETRIEAL CRITERIA. Even a
blank space must be repeated as RETRIEVAL CRITERIA, if it was there on
the original forms entry, for the NAME line.
METHOD #3:
From the main menu screen, you will see that you can press the 2 key, to
access the LESSONS program. This is a program that allows you to quickly
produce weekly records for each child. Here is how it works.
1 - You are asked to enter the childs name, for whom you wish to create
the records. Do so, and press ENTER.
2 - You are now asked to enter a figure that represents the number of
weeks worth of records, that you wish to create. Do so, and press
ENTER.
3 - You are now shown a blank record on the screen, that contains the
childs NAME, that you entered, and it has the word MONDAY on the
1st data entry line of the form, as well as the wording WEEK 1, on
the CLASS line (the right topmost line). Your cursor will rest on
the line beneath the word MONDAY. The text on the initial screen
explains to you that you will, as you go to these records to enter
data in the future, have to type above the word MONDAY, (as well as
the rest of the days of each week), to add the date, if you wish
to have that as a part of each record. If not then you can just
leave it as it is, if the data of WEEK 1, the childs NAME, and the
word MONDAY, will suffice.
4 - Any data that you enter on this displayed MONDAY, WEEK 1, form, will
be repeated on all of the forms that you are creating. You make any
entries desired, understanding that you will be making entries to
this displayed record ONLY, and that whatever you enter, and then
SAVE, will be duplicated on all of the other records, for each day,
for each week that you are creating.
For instance, If I enter the name MARY and press ENTER, and then I
enter the figure of 36 and press ENTER, and then I type in the
schedule for the day, showing times, class types such as:
8:30 AM - MATH 3 etc.
and then I press S for the SAVE menu, and then press S again to SAVE
the form, I will have created the following.
Page #5
180 records, consisting of a MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, &
FRIDAY, record, for each of the 36 weeks. Each of these 180 records
would have the SAME DATA on them, that I entered above, where I used
the example of 8:30 AM - MATH 3. If each day of the week IS NOT to
have the same schedule, then, as you go to that day, you can use the
C key to Change or Modify the record as you see fit. Of course, you
could also just make sure that you enter ONLY what you DO WANT to
repeat on every days record, for every week.
OPTIONS IN ESTABLISHING CODES:
Now understanding the theory behind GROUPING WITH CODES, you can
evolve your own method. You could simply use the letter W, instead of
the word WRITTEN, or the letter V, instead of the word VERBAL, etc.
You could type WBILLY, WTOM, and WMARY, or BILLYW, TOMW and MARYW.
But one thing that you should remember is that WHATEVER YOU ENTER,
THAT is what will print to the NAME line, when you printout the form.
So if you wish to, or are required to, present copies of these records
to a HOME SCHOOLING organization, for proof of accomplishments, etc,
you may want to consider that fact, when you establish the exact
wording of your CODES. Maybe you would want to put ALL of the WRITTEN
tests, for all three children, on one type of a form called WRITTEN
TESTS. Then you could simply type WRITTEN TESTS or the word
WRITTEN in the NAME line, when you created the form, instead of a childs
NAME. Then anytime that you wish to look at the SUMMARY of all of the
childrens WRITTEN tests, you could type the word WRITTEN etc, as the
RETRIEVAL CRITERIA, press ENTER, and browse through however many saved
records were required (to date), to record that particular data.
There is an endless variety of ways that you can both CREATE and CODE
your forms and records, for grouping your retrievals. It is a feature
that makes this program valuable, and is also something that is worth
spending a bit of time in considering, before you just JUMP INTO the
creating of your forms, etc. Remember though, that you CAN alter
ANY part of ANY form, even after you have created, saved, and entered
future data on it, as the year progressed. So, if you get a BETTER
IDEA later, you can RETRIEVE and CHANGE any part of the form, in any
manner you wish, and re-estblish your grouping and methods for
retrieving. In regards to changing the previously entered data on
the NAME line, please read the portion of this manual entitled `A
CURIOUS THING ABOUT ALTERING THE NAME LINE'. Read that portion so
that you are not suprised or confused, the first time that you do it.
A CURIOUS THING ABOUT ALTERING THE NAME LINE:
Because of the manner in which this program is written, a curious, yet
very understandable variation can take place, if you alter the NAME
line, once you have estabished and retrieved a form.
When you ALTER a NAME, and then save it, you will have 2 ways of
SAVING the form. These are explained later. Either of these 2 ways
will result in the form, that you have just SAVED, still being displayed
on the monitor screen. At that point you can continue to browse, print,
or go to the retrieve menu. When the SAVING is completed by the program,
it will display the form, as was mention, but because you have CHANGED
the data on the NAME line, the program basically changes from the
original RETRIEVAL CRITERIA (that you originally entered to retrieve
that form), to the CHANGED data on the NAME LINE. IF you retrieved with
the retrieval criteria BILLY, you could browse through all records that
Page #6
had been saved under the name of BILLY. If you then desire to change
the name on one of the forms to MARY, because you had made an error
on the original entry, you would press the C key, to access the CHANGE
mode (alter mode), and the cursor would start flashing on the NAME line,
where you would simply type in the word MARY, over the top of the word
BILLY, and press ENTER. The cursor would move to the next line, and you
could then simply press S, to access the SAVE OPTIONS MENU, and then
press S or K to save the altered record back to the file. The S and K
keys for SAVING, are explained later. ALTERING a record never CREATES a
NEW record, it justs saves the same OLD record, with the alterations
that you have made. Once you have SAVED your altered record it will
still be displayed on the screen, as we mentioned earlier. But, because
you CHANGED the data on the NAME line, which is the retrieval line, and
because the program changed ITS retrieval criteria to match your CHANGE,
if you now begin to browse, you will find that you are no longer able
to browse through BILLY'S records, but that you are now browsing through
MARY'S records. This is because the program has RE-ESTABLISHED the
RETRIEVAL CRITERIA to match your change. If you wished to do more
browsing through BILLY'S records, you would just press the N key, type
BILLY, as the RETRIEVAL CRITERIA, and press ENTER. Now, as you browse
through BILLY'S records, you will find that the one you CHANGED from
BILLY to MARY no longer exists as a record of BILLY'S. Browsing through
MARY'S, you would find it. Remember this CURIOUS feature, so you do not
become confused, if you have a need to alter a NAME entry.
CLOSING OUT YOUR FILES PERIODICALLY: WHY AND HOW:
You have probably already decided how often you may wish to perform a
CLOSING of your HOME SCHOOLING records. This may be monthly, every 6
weeks, every quarter, or maybe only once a year. This is entirely up to
you. Regardless of what this time period might be, a common practice is
to SAVE your created records on a BACKUP FLOPPY DISK, for safe keeping,
and in case you have a bad computer crash, which could cause you to lose
all of your data permanently. Batch files, which are a part of this
program, and are fully explained further on in this manual, are provided
to make BACKUP, and other desirable funtions very simple to do. There
are 2 reasons for CLOSING OUT your records, other than just at the end
of a school YEAR.
#1 - As you accumulate records, the file ASSIGN.REC, that will contain
all your records of saved data, the file could grow to such a size that
you can no longer BACKUP all of your records to a single floppy disk.
Being that the program will allow you to backup in the neighborhood
of 1400 individual forms full of your entered record data, this is
not probable, but it is possible. Note that a saved form, whether it
be empty, partially full, or completely full, will take up the same
amount of Hard Drive or Floppy Disk space. So, if you do create a
sufficient amount of each form, even if they are blank, to accomodate
a specific portion of the year, or even the entire year, you will know
exactly how much space will be required to BACKUP all of those records
because they will already be taking up the MAXIMUM amount of space
that that quantity of records will ever take up. Each form takes up
exactly 1037 bytes of hard drive, or floppy disk space.
If you CLOSE OUT intermittently, at specific intervals, you will then
CLEAR the program of all existing records, (having saved them on
BACKUP disks), and therefore you will be able to have a BACKUP disk,
for EACH INTERVAL of time, clearly labeled and identified. This will
mean that the quantity of records, and therefore the space required to
Page #7
back them up, can be reduced greatly, when compared to the space that
would be required closing yearly. Batch files, within this program,
are provided to make CLEARING, SAVING, GETTING, and PRESERVING your
records, a simple task, and AUTOMATIC. They are all explained in detail,
later on, in this manual. However, there may be records that you would
not want to CLOSE OUT, because they can be used for the entire year.
This would mean that you would have to RE-CREATE records that you
ALREADY had in your file. This is an added task, therefore. That is
why the DELETE program, that is a part of this program, came into
existence. It is extremely likely that you will be able to create all
the records required, for an entire year, and not exceed the 1,440,000
byte capacity of a DOUBLE SIDE, HIGH DENSITY 1.44 MEG floppy disk.
Note that, even at the end of a year, you may find that it would
somehow be to your advantage to be able to save ALL of your records to
a floppy disk, mark it for the correct year, and yet NOT CLOSE OUT.
By this I mean that there may be schedules, or other records, that you
would be able to use for the next year, with little or no modification
required to them. If this is the case, then you should use the DELETE
portion of the program, which allows you to SELECTIVELY delete ANY or
ALL records. This is explained in the following paragraphs. If, on the
other hand, you wish to totally CLOSE OUT, and start the new year by
RE-CREATING all of your new years records, then use the CLOSE OUT
proceedure described later in these DOCS.
#2 - The second reason for CLOSING OUT your records, at pre-determined
time periods of the school year, is to eliminate the requirement to
have to BROWSE THROUGH a gradually accumulating number of records, or
to simply be able to have a physical separation of the school year, on
your backup disks, for future reference. For instance, if you break up
the school year, by CLOSING OUT every 6 weeks period, because you have
set up your classes on a six weeks basis, with a 6 weeks final test, etc,
you will have backup disks that you could label, 1ST 6 WEEKS - 1995, 2ND
6 WEEKS - 1995, and so on. Then, in the future, if you need to refer
back, and you know the period that the data you want to look at may
exist in, you can simply refer to the backup disk for that particular
period of your school year. How to REFER BACK, and methods for creating
SPECIAL backup disks, are explained later in this manual. Of course
you should always remember that, every time you use the CLOSE OUT
routine, it forces you to RE-CREATE all of your records, for the next
time period. Because of this, you may find that the DELETE program is
the best answer, but it is, of course, your option.
THE DELETE PROGRAM:
From the main menu, you can press the 3 key, to access the DELETE
portion of the program. This allows you to SELECTIVELY delete ANY
or ALL records. You do so ONE AT A TIME, by retrieving a group of
records, and viewing them. They will be presented to you IN THE
ORDER IN WHICH THEY WERE ORIGINALLY ENTERED. As you are viewing a
record, you are prompted to press the D key to DELETE it, press the
K key to KEEP it. Which every you choose, the next record matching
your retrieval criteria will be displayed to you. You repeat this
action, until you hear a beep, which says that you have reached the
last record entered, that matches your retrieval criteria. You will
then be shown on the screen (for 3 seconds), the total number of
records that MATCHED your retrieval criteria, and the total number
of these records that you DELETED. Then the MAIN screen for the
DELETE program is redisplayed, and you can enter new retrieval
criteria, if you so desire.
Page #8
Note: If you were to observe the total byte size of your ASSIGN.REC
file, BEFORE and AFTER you did some DELETING, you would find that the
byte size DID NOT REDUCE. This is normal. However, all of the space
that was taken up the the records you DELETED, is now available for
any NEW records that you create. SO, if you DELETED 50 records, you
would see NO CHANGE in the files BYTE SIZE. AND you would also see
that you could create 50 NEW records, and also see no increase in the
files BYTE SIZE. In this case you would simply have created space by
DELETING, and then USED IT AGAIN, by creating 50 NEW records. From
that point on, however, any new records created WOULD add to the BYTE
SIZE of the file, by the amount of 1037 bytes for each record.
As you are viewing a displayed record, in the DELETE mode, you can
press the Q key to QUIT the DELETE program, which will return you to
the original entry screen, or press the N key, to make a NEW criteria
entry, corresponding to other records that you want to DELETE, in
addition to the D to DELETE, or K to KEEP, the displayed record.
CAUTIONS IN MAKING RETRIEVAL LINE (NAME LINE) ENTRIES:
Of course, it goes without saying that you should make it a common
practice to ALWAYS use the same name for a student, and not type RICK
for one entry, and RICKY for another, etc. If you have more than one
way that you choose to spell a students name, you then must make more
than 1 entry to retrieve all of that students records. Be consistent.
Using variations in the way a students name is typed in, however, could
be useful if it is done intentionally. This was explained in the CODES
discussion.(If you FORGET a spelling or a code, you can type ? for the
retrieval data, browse through `ALL' records, and view your spelling.
Once you alter and save a record, you will only browse in that group.)
REFERING BACK TO PREVIOUSLY CLOSED OUT RECORDS:
The entire program takes up less than 300,000 bytes in its initial
program installation. The records that you create and save, will add
to the space required to `house' the overall contents of the program.
This is mentioned here because these facts play a part in choosing the
method to BACKUP your records, which will also affect HOW you will
REFER BACK to them, in the future.
The FILENAME for any and all of the saved records is ASSIGN.REC. This
file does not exist, until you actually create it, by SAVING one or
more of your CREATED records. Bearing in mind that a DOUBLE SIDED HIGH
DENSITY disk can store 1.44 meg (1,440,000 bytes approximately), you can
store around 1400 saved records, on 1 floppy disk. To be certain that
you have adequate space on your floppy disk, to store ALL of your files,
use the DIR dos command, while you are in the directory containing your
records, to look at the programs files. You will see the ASSIGN.REC
file. The DIR command will tell you what BYTES are being taken up, and
and if you do not exceed 1,440,000 BYTES then you have adequate space on
1 floppy disk, to store them. This is usually more than enough space
for the average home schooling needs. If it IS NOT, you will have to
CLOSE OUT at shorter time intervals, and label your backup disks
accordingly.
We home school 5 children, with a very full schedule of classes, & have
found more than sufficient room, on one floppy disk, to store an entire
years saved records. However, there are advantages in closing out at
shorter intervals, such as then being able to zero in better, on a
Page #9
specific timer period, if you wish to refer back to records, from that
time period. It means that you would not have to browse through as many
saved records, to find what you were looking for, but as was mentioned,
there is also the DISADVANTAGE, of being forced to re-create records,
unless you use the DELETE program to SELECTIVELY delete your records,
after you have backed them all up on a disk, and labeled it accurately.
NOTE: NEVER save records for ONE period, to a disk containing your
backed up records for a PREVIOUS period, or the first records saved will
be written over by the second saving, as the filename of ASSIGN.REC is
the same, in both cases.
When you use the Batch File Option SAVE, to BACKUP your records, they
are saved to a floppy disk, in the A:DRIVE. If something happens to the
records on your Hard Drive, you can use the GET Batch File Option, to
update your Hard Drives records from the floppy disk backup.
Although operating the HOME SCHOOL program from a floppy disk is a bit
jerky, and slower, it isn't all that bad. Here are some suggestions
that you may want to consider. You could make a backup disk for each
CLOSE OUT period, and label it accordingly. Then put the entire program
for the HOME SCHOOLING program, on each of these disks. Considering
that the program takes up less than 300 kilobytes of space, that still
leaves you over 1 million bytes of space, on the floppy disk, in which
you can backup your records. This is sufficient room for around 1000
records. It may be a good idea to make 2 of these backup disks for
each period so that you can back up your files on both of them, for the
same time period, just in case you should have an accident with one of
them, so you would not loose your Data. Now, during the first period,
however you may break up your school year, use the disks labeled for
that period to maintain the backups of your records. Yes, you will
have less room, being that the program takes up slightly more than 1/5th
of the disk. But you will only be saving records to that disk, from a
much smaller portion of the year, and you will most likely not need that
much space to accomodate your needs. Then, if you have need to `refer
back' to records from a specific time period, you can find the disk that
corresponds with that time period, put it in your A:DRIVE, go to the
A:DRIVE type GO and press ENTER, and browse as needed. Every feature of
the program, except for the SAVE, and GET batch files, will be fully
functional, while in the Floppy drive, including the print routines.
This means that once you have a specific period `backed up' on your
floppy disks, and are ready to start the next school period, you can use
the CLEAR or PRESERVE option, from the SCHOOL1 directory on your Hard
Drive, and start fresh for the new period. This means many less records
to browse through, as you update grades, etc, while at the same time
giving you an easy way to assure that you will have sufficient space on
your floppy disks for `backup' purposes, and also gives you a decent way
to REFER BACK to a specific period of time, by selecting the appropriate
backup disk, and running it, from your floppy drive.
If you do not use the method outline above, and instead just SAVE your
records to a BLANK floppy disk, that does NOT contain the HOME SCHOOLING
program, REFERING BACK would be done in the following manner.
Much depends upon just how often you CLOSE OUT your records, during the
school year. As will be explained in the PRESERVE BATCH FILE explanation
that follows shortly, there is already an established way to CLEAR your
records after PRESERVING them, which will automatically create a simple
way to REFER BACK to the records that existed at the point in time where
you last CLOSED out (cleared) your files. But what if you wanted to take
a look at something in a CLOSE OUT PERIOD that occurred prior to that?
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You may want to look ahead, in this manual, at this point, and read the
description of the GET BATCH FILE and the SAVE BATCH FILE. To look back
at BACKED UP RECORDS for a particular time perid, find the backup disk
that contains those records. Put that backup disk in the A:DRIVE, and
then go to the directory containing the HOME SCHOOLING program. While in
DOS, in that directory, type GET and press ENTER. Before you ever use
the GET BATCH FILE, always make certain that you have used the SAVE BATCH
FILE to backup your present records. IF you don't they will be lost, as
the GET BATCH FILE will replace your present records with those from the
backup disk in the A:DRIVE.
Once you type GET and press ENTER, prompts on the screen will explain
what is about to happen, warn you about saving your present records,
and tell you when to insert and remove your floppy backup disk.
When the GET BATCH FILE has done its job, your present records will
have been replaced with those on the backup disk in the A:DRIVE, and
you can now run the program, in the normal manner, use browse, print,
etc, and view, alter, or print the data you were referring back to.
Once you are done, you can place the backup disk containing your
most recently backed up records, into the A:DRIVE, and do the same
routine again. Now your present records will replace the last backup
disks records, and you will be back where you started. Because of the
BATCH FILES, this is not a difficult routine, but there is something to
be said for backing up your records on floppies that contain the entire
HOME SCHOOLING program. It is your decision.
BATCH FILE OPTIONS:
There are many Batch Files, that allow you to do a variety of important
things, in a very easy manner. Each Batch File is complete with on
screen instructions, in regards to what is about to happen, when to put in
and take out your floppy disk, how to abort without taking any action, etc.
The available Batch files are all operable while you are in the directory
containing the HOME SCHOOLING program. This directory, if you install from
the program disk using its default directory name, will be named SCHOOL1.
When you QUIT the program, you will be in that directory, unless you have
created some sort of a menu program, (using your own batch files), where you
will return to a menu. It is advisable, if you do use a MENU of sorts, that
you make it so that QUITTING the HOME SCHOOL program will leave you in the
SCHOOL1 directory. This is because you MUST be there to take advantage of
the programs existing BATCH files, to SAVE, GET, CLEAR, PRESERVE, PRINTDOC,
etc.
Whenever you use one of the programs Batch files, you type in the following
command, and then press the ENTER key.
NOTE - With ALL batch file commands, you can abort
the completion of the batch file, and back out of
it without taking any action. This is explained on
the screen, for each Batch file.
The files are as follows:
IF YOU TYPE THIS WILL HAPPEN
SAVEA You will be prompted on the screen that you are about
or to SAVE your existing records, to a floppy disk in
SAVEB the A or B DRIVE. It is a good idea to SAVE your records,
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everytime you have changed them in any way. It is
also a good idea to have 2 backup disks, and use the
SAVEA or B command twice, (once for each backup disk), just
in case one backup disk gets damaged, etc. If one
does get damaged, then immediately create another, so
that you are always maintaining 2 backup disks.
GETA You are prompted that you are about to UPDATE the
or files, in your present directory of the Hard Drive,
GETB by accessing a floppy disk in your A or B DRIVE, which
we will assume has been updated by the use of the
HOME SCHOOLING program, in a different computer.
This is a simple way to be able to make entries on
one computer, use the SAVEA or SAVEB Batch File command,
to back up the files, and then transfer that updated
data to the HOME SCHOOLING program in a different
computer, where you would insert the UPDATED disk in
the A or B DRIVE, go to the directory on the 2nd computer
containing the HOME SCHOOLING program, and there use
the GETA or GETB command to UPDATE the records in that
computers HOME SCHOOLING program. Use caution with these
types of BATCH FILES, so that you do not OVERWRITE
data that is more recent then that on the floppy disk.
Remember that the GETA or B and SAVEA or B Batch files do
NOT COMBINE files. When you use a SAVEA or B Batch file,
what was previously on the floppy disk under the
filenames of ASSIGN.REC and FORM.REC, will be lost,
and the data from the HARD DRIVE will replace it.
When you use the GETA, or B Batch file, the ASSIGN.REC
files, on the HARD DRIVE, will be OVERWRITTEN by those on
the FLOPPY DISK.
In other words, if you have the program on 2
different computers, and two people were both working
on the program, updating school records, etc, there
would be no way to combine one persons updating, with
the other persons updating, on the same backup disk.
Saving the second persons data would OVERWRITE the first
persons data, and not ADD TO IT or COMBINE WITH IT.
CLEAR You are prompted that you are about to erase all of
your existing records, in your present directory. It
means that the ASSIGN.REC file is going to be deleted
from the directory. It warns you about making certain
that you have already SAVED them to a backup disk, and
also suggests that you might want to consider using the
PRESERVE Batch FIle. It tells you when to insert and
remove your floppy disk.
NOTE: The A or B, at the end of the SAVE, GET & MAKDISK
Batch files, is just an indication of the Drive that you
will SAVE TO, GET FROM, or MAKE A DISK. Some computers have
different size drives, and this gives you a choice.
PRESERVE You are prompted that you are about to create a
directory, on your C:DRIVE named SCHOOL2. The name
of your present directory (if you accepted the default
directory name, when you installed HOME SCHOOLING), is
named SCHOOL1. You are imformed that the entire HOME
SCHOOL program, and all of your created RECORDS, are
going to be copied into the SCHOOL2 directory, and
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that THEN all of your records, in your present SCHOOL1
directory, will be erased. You will then have a source
of reference (for your present group of records) by
going to the SCHOOL2 directory, where you can type GO
and everything will operate exactly as it does in the
SCHOOL1 directory. It is handy to have a quick way
to reference files from a preceeding period of time,
once you have basically cleared your present directory
of all records, and are starting from a clean slate.
Please note the following, in regard to the PRESERVE
batch file usage. Once you have used it, bear in mind
that the next time you use it, you will be OVERWRITING
records that exist in SCHOOL2, with your most recent
records. In this manner, you are always able to access
the last time period PRESERVED, by going to the SCHOOL2
directory. Always be certain that you have used the SAVE
batch file command, so that you have a PERMANENT backup
copy of the records from each period of time that was
closed out, on a backup floppy disk or two.
Assume that it is your method to CLEAR your records
4 times a year, dividing your school year into quarters.
When you are presently working in the 2nd quarter, the
1st qtr records would exist in the SCHOOL2 directory.
When you are working in the 3rd quarter, the 2nd quarter
records would exist in the SCHOOL2 directory, and so on.
If you are in the 3rd quarter, with the 2nd quarter
records existing in the SCHOOL2 directory, and you want
to access the 1st quarter records, for some reason, the
procedure would be as was formerly explained, which is
via the backup disk, for the 1st quarter, and then when
done, using the GET command, to reinstall your 3rd quarter
backup disk records, back onto your active SCHOOL 1
directory of your hard drive.
PRINTDOC You are prompted to turn your printer on, and told
that you are about to print a copy of the HOME SCHOOL
manual, followed by a copy of the ORDER FORM.
INSTALL You are prompted, as to what is about to take place,
such as the directory name that the program is to be
installed to, on your hard drive, etc. Then, if you
decide to continue, the full installation of the
program takes place.
MAKDISKA Once you have installed the HOME SCHOOLING program to
or your Hard Drive, you can go to the SCHOOL1 directory
MAKDISKB and type MAKDISKA or B and press ENTER, to create a backup
disk that will contain the entire HOME SCHOOLING program,
as well as ALL records PRESENTLY EXISTING in the SCHOOL1
directory. Once you have done this, you can just use the
SAVE Batch file, in the future, to BACKUP just your
records, to the backup disk. It is not necessary to
copy the entire program to that disk again. Any time that
you are initially creating a backup disk, and you want
the entire program on the disk, as was explained in the
section on REFERRING BACK, you must use the MAKDISKA or B
file, initially. Then just use the SAVEA or B Batch file,
after that.
Page #13
GETTING STARTED:
Once the program is installed, type GO and press ENTER, when you are in
the directory containing the HOME SCHOOLING files. Normally, this will be
the C:\SCHOOL1 directory. (It is imperative that you type GO to start)
The first screen to display is the MASTER MENU screen, where you press the
1 key and ENTER, to access the ASSIGNMENTS mode, press the 2 key and ENTER
to access the WEEKLY LESSON CREATION program, the 3 key and ENTER to access
the DELETE program or the 4 key to QUIT the program.
DATA ENTRY:
Once you are in the ASSIGNMENTS screen, the entering of any type of your
data indicated is pretty straight forward, and some things are a bit
open for your interpretation, or for you to use in a manner that best
suits your particular need or application, such as NAME, SCHOOL GRADE,
LESSON, CLASS SUBJECT GRADE or FORM NAME, etc.
THE ASSIGNMENTS MENU:
From the MASTER MENU screen, you will choose ASSIGNMENTS, by pressing the
1 key. The menu will then give you three options.
#1 - Enter Data
#2 - Retrieve or modify Data, (also print)
#3 - Quit the program.
FEATURES WHEN ENTERING ASSIGNMENTS OR CREATING FORMS:
#1 - The cursor will reside on the first entry line.
#2 - If you choose to press the ENTER key, without entering Data, on a
specific line, the line will be left blank, and the cursor advances.
The exception to this rule is the NAME line, where you MUST enter
data, to move on to the next line.
#3 - If you type Data and press enter, the typed Data is retained on the
line, and the cursor advances.
#4 - Once you have entered Data on a line, and advanced to the next, you
can BackUp by typing BU and pressing ENTER. The Data that has been
typed on any line that you `BackUp' over, will be left intact, and
your typed letters BU (which you typed to BackUp), will be erased.
You can `BackUp' as far as you want to, without affecting any of the
Data on any of the lines that you BACKUP over.
#5 - Regardless of WHERE YOU ARE AT on the form, if you wish to stop your
Data entering, and SAVE the form, you can do so. As was stated earlier
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU SAVE. In other words, if you typed in 14
lessons, and that was all you wanted to enter on that form, you could
press S and ENTER to access the SAVE OPTIONS MENU and save your form.
OR If you backed up to the grade for line 3 (in order to correct an
error you had made), and then wanted to immediately SAVE it, even
though your cursor now rests on the LESSON 4 line, that is prefectly
OK. All of the Data that you have already typed in on lines 4 through
14, will be saved intact.
#6 - To SAVE any record, simply type S and ENTER, regardless of location.
You will access the SAVE OPTIONS MENU, where you can SAVE the record.
Page #14
As was the case in #5 above, with typing BU to BackUp, typing S to
access the SAVE OPTIONS MENU does not affect the Data alread on the
line where you typed the S.
#7 - If you fill every line of a form, a RED banner with flashing WHITE
letters, will inform you that your form is complete, and tell you to
press ENTER to SAVE your form. This accesses the SAVE OPTIONS MENU.
THE SAVE OPTIONS MENU, WHEN CREATING A NEW RECORD.
#1 - Press S to SAVE the record, and CLEAR the Data from memory. Anytime
that you save with the S key, while CREATING A NEW RECORD, in the
ASSIGNMENTS program, you will see that a blank form will display,
after your form has been SAVED, and you can create another NEW record.
Using the S key, to SAVE, eliminates the possibility of being able to
use the REPEAT FORM feature of the program that is explained in 2
below.
#2 - Press K to SAVE the record and KEEP the Data in memory. When making
an ASSIGNMENT sheet or CREATING a FORM of your own making, saving with
the K key will both SAVE the form and KEEP the Data in memory. The
reason for doing this, is so you can use the REPEAT FORM feature, of
the program. When you SAVE with the K key, the form SAVES and is then
re-displayed on the screen, with all of the Data intact. You now can
use the REPEAT FORM feature, that is explained below.
#3 - Once you have accessed the SAVE OPTIONS MENU, if you realize that you
have made an error, on a line, you can REDO it by pressing the R key
to REDO. When you do this, the original data re-displays to the
screen, with the cursor blinking on the NAME line. You simply press
ENTER, to retain the data on the line, and progress to the next line.
When you are on the line containing the error, re-enter the ENTIRE
line, to correct your error, press ENTER and then SAVE it from that
point. Remember, WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU SAVE, so every line
containing data will save intact. When redoing, or when altering in
the alter mode, ALWAYS retype the ENTIRE line, as what you type in is
all that will SAVE on that line. For instance, if you made an error
and typed SOM and meant to type TOM, on the name line, DO NOT just
type a T in place of the S and SAVE it. If you do it will SAVE with
only the T as the entire entry for the NAME line. Re-type it all.
#4 - Press Q to Quit the program. This will act as though you never
entered the screen in the first place. No changes will occur in your
files.
#5 - Press M to go to the menu. This will act as though you never entered
the screen in the first place. No changes will occur in your files.
REPEATING FORMS: (In the CREATE mode only)
It depends upon your circumstances, desires, the ages of your children, but
usually you will find ample use for this feature.
When you have created a form, you may know very well that, you will want to
create that exact same form, or a form almost identical, either for the
same student, or for a different student, with all of the same headings,
weekly assignments, class discriptions, test discriptions, places to enter
behavior patterns or grades, etc. I am talking here about the basic layout
of either an ASSIGNMENT sheet or your CREATED FORM, before you have done
Page #15
any entering of actual grades, etc, that would most likely apply to only
a particular student. You may establish an ASSIGNMENT sheet, for instance,
that lays out all of the assignments for a reading class, for the next
week. You know that another student has those same assignments, or has
assignments almost identical. You would prefer not to be forced to type
all of that data again, if you didn't have to. Well, you don't have to.
By pressing the K key, to save that form, the same form will re-display on
the monitor screen. The cursor will be blinking on the NAME line, and if
you enter a NAME and press ENTER, and then alter the grade identification
line, if necessary and press ENTER, and then press S and ENTER to get the
SAVE OPTIONS MENU, and then again SAVE it with the K key, the same form
will be SAVED, but this time with a new NAME as a part of it. You only
had to type the NEW NAME, and maybe the GRADE change, and then save it, to
REPEAT THE FORM.
If there were lines that you wished to alter, before saving it, because you
did not want the 2nd SAVED form to have that data, then just progress to
those lines, by pressing the ENTER key, and then modify the line. Progress
to the next line that you wish to alter, and do the same thing. When you
are satisfied with the form, and the NEW NAME, then press S to access the
SAVE OPTIONS MENU, and save it with the K key again, (if you wish to repeat
the form again), or save it with the S key, if you have no need to REPEAT
this particular form again, at the moment.
Assume that you wanted to make 10 ASSIGNMENT sheets, that contained only
the name JOHNNY in the NAME line, and READING #1 in the GRADE line. Assume
that you have decided that 10 forms would be just about right for the time
period that you intend to allow to pass, before you CLOSE the period. Your
intentions being that you would go through the forms later, in the ALTER
mode, and add the actual weekly or daily assignments. You would type
JOHNNY in the NAME line, READING #1 in the GRADE line, and your cursor
would be blinking on the top line of the lefthand assignments column. You
would press S to access the SAVE OPTIONS MENU, and then press the K key, to
SAVE the form and KEEP the data. It would SAVE, and the screen would still
be showing the SAVED form. The cursor would be blinking back on the NAME
line now. You would Press S and ENTER, to once again access the SAVE OPTIONS
MENU, and SAVE it with the K key again. You would repeat this routine until
you had saved your 10 forms, for JOHNNY'S reading class. When you SAVED the
10th form, you would SAVE it with the S key, instead of the K key, and a
BLANK screen would then display, and you could create your next form. But if
you wanted to create 10 forms for another students READING class, you could
SAVE the 10th form for JOHNNY'S class, with the K key again, and then just
type the NEW STUDENTS NAME in the NAME line, and then SAVE it with the K
key, and repeat THAT procedure 9 more times, and you would have 10 forms for
the 2nd student as well.
If, when making these ASSIGNMENT sheets, you realize that you could fill
in the actual assignments, because you know that they will repeat for each
child ( or be nearly identical ), then you could do that too. Then follow
the same routine, to make the already filled in ASSIGNMENT sheet forms,
for the other students, by just altering the NAME, and saving it.
THE SAVE OPTIONS MENU, IN THE ALTER MODE:
The S key SAVES and does not keep the data in memory.
The K key SAVES and KEEPS that data in memory.
The R key allows you to REDO your record.
The M key takes you back to the Menu screen.
The Q key Quits the program.
Page #16
All of these are identical to the CREATE mode, but what happens when the
K key is used, is very different. Using the K key, activates the ZAP
feature of the program, which is explained below.
THE ZAP FEATURE:
ZAP is a very unique feature. The ZAP feature is only active in the
ALTER mode, where you have retrieved a previously SAVED form, and are
working with it. You may be adding grades to tests, adding new assignments,
or recording other data to your CREATED forms or ASSIGNMENT sheets.
In a way, you might think of ZAP as being almost the opposite of using the
K key, when you were in the CREATE mode, but it too is activated by SAVING
a form with the K key. When you SAVED with the K key, in the CREATE mode,
the data was retained. In this respect, the same thing happens in the
ALTER mode, when you SAVE with the K key. Also, in the CREATE mode the
screen will RE-DISPLAY the SAVED form, in its entirety. The same is true
in the ALTER mode, but that is not because you SAVED with the K key. In
the ALTER mode, the form would be fully displayed, even if you SAVED with
the S key, and did not retain the data. You must understand that, in the
ALTER mode, you have accessed a record by retrieving it. This gave you the
ability to BROWSE, ALTER, PRINT, etc. When you press the C key, you are
given access to the actual lines of the record being displayed, so you can
modify, alter, or correct it. When you SAVE that record again, after you
have accessed it and modified it in some manner, the program will leave
you in the ALTER mode, but not accessed to that record any longer. You can
re-access it, if you wish, by pressing the C key again, or you can BROWSE
through the other records that match your retrieval criteria, print any
record that you may browse to, press Q to Quit, M to go to the Menu, or
N to return to the RETRIEVAL NAME screen, to enter NEW retrieval criteria.
If you SAVE with the S key or the K key, all of these facts remain the same.
If you SAVE with the S key, ZAP will not be active, unless, during this
session in the alter mode, you have previously SAVED with the K key. Any
time you SAVE with the K key, when in the ALTER mode, you either ACTIVATE
the ZAP feature, or (if it has already been activated), you will change the
DATA that the ZAP feature controls. When you SAVE with the K key, the ZAP
buffer, retains all of the data related to that particular SAVED form. The
ZAP buffer will retain that data, and make it available to you, until you
go back to the menu or quit, OR until you SAVE a different record, using the
K key. The ZAP buffer always retains ALL of the data related to the LAST
record that was SAVED with the K key. The K key LOADS THE ZAP BUFFER. In
order to USE the data in the ZAP buffer, you can Browse to another form, or
go back to the RETRIEVAL NAME screen by pressing N, after saving a record,
and enter different retrieval criteria, and browse through that. If you have
need to use any of the data in the ZAP buffer, you simply press the C key,
to access the displayed record, use the ENTER key to move to the line where
you wish to REPEAT the data that was on that same line, (in the last form
SAVED to the ZAP buffer), press the Z key and then press ENTER. When you do
this, whatever data existed on THAT PARTICULAR LINE, on the last form LOADED
TO THE ZAP BUFFER, will be ZAPPED to that line, on any form that you have
gained access to. The position of the cursor controls what line you ZAP the
BUFFERS DATA to, and data will only be ZAPPED to the CURSOR LINE.
The reason that I said it could be considered almost the opposite of using
the K key in the CREATE mode is this. In the CREATE mode, if you press the
K key, all of the data is retained, and all of the data is re-displayed to
the screen, on the newly displayed form. If there is any data, on any of
the lines, that you DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE, you have to remove it. In the
case of using the K key, in the ALTER mode, ALL of the data is retained, but
Page #17
it will not be displayed on any NEW form that you might browse to, unless you
intentionally put it there, via the ZAP feature & the pressing of the Z key.
So in one case, ALL of the data is displayed, and if you don't want some
of it to be there, YOU HAVE TO REMOVE IT. In the other case NONE of it is
displayed to any NEW form browsed to, and if you want it there, you have to
PUT IT THERE.
Whenever the ZAP BUFFER is holding any data, a line at the top of the screen
states that the ZAP IS ACTIVE, tells you both the NAME of the STUDENT, and
the NAME of the CLASS, which identifies the last record LOADED INTO THE
BUFFER. Remember that the ZAP BUFFER will continue to hold data, until you
return to the MENU. Returning to the RETRIEVAL NAME screen, will still let
the BUFFER continue to hold the data. When you return to the forms display
screen, with your NEW retrieval, the BUFFER will still be holding the SAME
data, as when you left. The line, at the top of the screen will indicate
this to you.
If you LOAD THE BUFFER, with a particular record, and you use the buffer to
ZAP data to another record, and you want the present data to remain in the
BUFFER, so you can use another portion of it to ZAP data to a different
record, remember to SAVE the altered form with a S. If you SAVE it with the
K key, it will load THAT forms entire data to the ZAP BUFFER. On the other
hand, if the altered form contains data that you wish to USE from the ZAP
BUFFER, then you can SAVE THAT FORM with the K key, to PUT THAT DATA in the
BUFFER.
RETRIEVING PREVIOUSLY CREATED FORMS:
By pressing the 2 key and ENTER, in the ASSIGNMENTS menu screen, you
access the RETRIEVAL NAME screen where you will type in the name of the
student, or the students name with a CODE, whose records you wish to
retrieve. They will either be ASSIGNMENTS or some other FORM that
you have created.
If you type in a name that does not exist, is spelled wrong, or a name
that is typed in UPPER CASE that was originally entered in LOWER CASE, etc,
you will get NO RETRIEVAL, and WHITE flashing letters on a RED background
will flash the words `NO NAME'. Then the words will vanish, and you
can try again.
Once you have retrieved a form, it will display on the screen. At that
point you are able to BROWSE using the left and right arrow keys, press N
to return to the NAME screen and enter a different students name to
retrieve, press Q to QUIT, press M to go to the MENU, press P to PRINT the
displayed form, or C to enter the CHANGE mode, where you can ADD TO,
SUBTRACT FROM or ALTER, the existing displayed form. Once you press C, to
enter the CHANGE mode, you can not browse again, until you have SAVED the
displayed form, with or without modifications. Even if you selected the
WRONG form, and pressed C, and do not want to do anything with it
at all, you still must access the SAVE OPTIONS MENU, by typing S ( at any
time, and from any line ) and press ENTER, and then SAVE the form. It
really makes no difference, when you are in the CHANGE mode, if you SAVE
the form with S or K, unless you have need to LOAD THE ZAP BUFFER, in which
case you would want to SAVE with the K key. Either the S or K key will
result in the same form, that you just SAVED, being once again displayed
on the screen (after it was SAVED). However, at that point, you are not
accessed to it, and you can browse within your retrieval criteria, and
repeat any of the functions that have been outlined, such as PRINT, typing
N for a NEW student name entry, etc, or browsing, press C again, to access
and CHANGE one of the other saved records, for the same group of records
retrievable via your last entered retrieval criteria.
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Once you have pressed the C key, and are in the CHANGE mode, the options
are exactly the same as they were when you originally CREATED the form,
except that there is already Data on the lines. If you type JUST ENTER,
the line, on which the cursor resides, retains the original Data, and the
cursor moves on to the next line. If you type a SPACE and ENTER, the line
is made BLANK. Anytime you wish to BACKUP you can type BU and press ENTER,
and once again, no Data on a line is affected by the fact that you typed
BU while your cursor was on that line. Typing S, on any line, acts the
same way, and calls up the SAVE OPTIONS MENU, not affecting any Data that
was on the line where you typed the S. Every option, in the SAVE OPTIONS
MENU, responds in exactly the same way as when you originally created the
form. REDO acts the same, in that the form will display, with the cursor
residing on the first line. If you press JUST ENTER, the Data will be
retained on the line, and the cursor will advance to the next line, as
before. Again, if you progress to the very last line of the form
and make an entry, the same prompt appears on the screen, as before, and
you then press JUST ENTER to access the SAVE OPTIONS MENU.
OPERATING FROM A FLOPPY DISK:
This program is not intended to be RUN from a floppy disk, although you
can do so, if you wish. It will run much slower and jerky, and you will
not be able to use the SAVE, GET, or PRESERVE Batch FIles, mentioned above.
The CLEAR Batch File will still perform ok though. Also, being that the
HOME SCHOOLING program itself, takes up 340K, it means that there is that
much LESS SPACE available, for your created records, than a BLANK floppy
disk would have. PLUS, if you operate from the Hard Drive, you will know
that you have plenty of room for your GROWING files, unless you have your
Hard Drive pretty full. These are just some added comments regardin the
floppy disk operation. We discussed before, the value of BACKING up your
records to a disk that contained the entire program. In that case, you
would only be operating from a floppy disk when you had a specific need
to REFER BACK to some previously CLOSED OUT period of the school year.
HINTS ON ORGANIZING YOUR DATA INPUT:
You will evolve your own method and pattern, for entering forms and Data,
but let me tell you what my wife and I found to work quite well.
We went through the various books, that were to be used for each child,
for each subject. We then figured out what the individual class
assignments would be, and named them things such as, LESSON 1, WEEK 1,
PAGES 1 thru 4, VERBAL REVIEW, WEEK 2 TEST, CHAPTERS, CHAPTER 2 WORKSHEET,
ETC. We left off any grades, of course, as this was simply the itinerary
for the upcoming year. We home school 5 children and were able to get
the entire years activities layed out on a number of assignment sheets
that, when saved to the floppy disk, took up about 186 Kilobytes, which is
186,000 BYTES. Even with the entire program also on the floppy disk,
only 530 Kilobytes of space was used. This meant that there was over
900 Kilobytes that were still free to be used. Being that we do not feel
that we will be needing any more ASSIGNMENT sheets for the entire year, it
means that that 900 KiloBytes can be used for CREATED FORMS, if needed.
That amount of space would allow us to create almost 900 form records,
before the disk would be full. Remember, once created, the amount of
space taken up, by the records, does not increase if you only modify them
by adding more information, grades, comments, etc. More space is ONLY
taken up, when you CREATE NEW FORMS (records). So you see that space, on
a single floppy disk, does not seem to represent a problem.
I feel that we will not be performing CLOSE OUTS, at various points in
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the year, because we believe that we could quite easily get the entire
year on a single backup disk.
Once we had all of these ASSIGNMENT sheets made, for each child, for
each subject involved, we simply monitored them, using the CHANGE mode, &
added comments, and grades as required. When there was a specific desire
to have a record of the actual text content of a test, she used the program
in a slightly different way, giving the form a different name, in the CLASS
line, etc.
At the end of a quarter, or other pre-established period of time, we
use a CREATED FORM, for each child, as though it was simply a piece
of paper, on which we wish to write. We make various comments, and we
indicate accumulated scores, test scores, arrive at a grade average (as far
as whether a student passes, etc), and enter all of this on what we call
our SUMMARY SHEET
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