Updated: November 5th, 2007
You have landed at the about page for Donna Young. Donna keeps rewriting this page even though not much has changed.
I wouldn’t know what to tell you about myself, except that if you are a wife and mother then you might be interested to know this much: My husband and I have been married since 1978 and we live in Tennessee. We have two children and I have home schooled them since 1995.
Some moms like to count from the beginning and like those who do, I did make a conscience point of teaching my children from the beginning, so if one looks at it that way; 
I’ve been homeschooling since 1987.
This year (2007-08) is our last year as homeschoolers. This time next year will be different for me! I am not planning to do anything drastic to donnayoung.org. Donnayoung.org will stay where it is and I plan to keep it for a very long time.
Donna Young
Philippians 4:13
I could help and post some things about you.
But, would you REALLY want me to do that?
She probably doesn’t want our help.
I might need help, it just depends on what you are going to say.
Hey! You’re a real person! With a quirky sense of humor just like me!! I love it! I have been so blessed by your web page so imagine my delight to find a blog. Love your VitaMix!!
I will be back to read your ramblings! You’re a lady after my own heart! Hee hee!
I am real!
I’ve been confused with some sort of an organization more times than I can count. It’s even been suggested that Donna Young is not my real name. 
First, I must thank you for sparing us re-inventing the wheel so to speak. I wanted to email you but couldn’t find an address.
I am wondering if you have seen the new WWW 3000. I am seriously considering them but am hopeing they are an improvement over the dull ones you mentioned.
God Bless You and Your Family
Hello Cheryl,
I didn’t know there was a new version of WWW 3000.
“I am real!” We still think you are computer generated.
It is hard to believe your computer is already four years old. I remember when you bought it. That is one geeky computer.
I also like your blue computer; seeing as how I have benefited greatly from it’s ‘output’.
I really love all that you share on your website and blog. My biggest question is what curriculum/books did you use with your children when they were in the early grades like first and second and third. What would you reccomend for those grades? thanks again, for everything
amy
There just isn`t enough I can say to thank you for all the work you have done to help organize me, Donna. My children will thank you also when they see how much school can be done in a shorter amount of time if we are organized.
Hello, I am a stahm of 7 with one on the way. We also have two who have flew the coop
You, have no idea how much your website has blessed me this year in particular. Money is extremely tight this year and I was able to use so much. Thank you for all the hard work. Your blog page is geat too. You seem to have a great sense of humor. I finally looked at your link for the CD. Plan on learning more when it isn’t so late in the evening. Have a great weekend. 
Thank you. Your website is a blessing.
Well I am glad to read that you will keep things up and running even after your baby is out of the nest. We all depend on your fabulous stuff and appreciate you!!!!!!
Shelley
Just a quick thank you for the wonderful resources on your site! I am homeschooling my 4 children (we are expecting #5 in April!), and we travel ALOT> Your site is a blessing for making lessons on the road, as well as for supplementing our curriculum.
Ijust discovered your art lessons and am rather enthused about introducing them to my 8-year old daughter, who loves art! Thank you!
Donna,
I’ve really loved your website – especially the handwriting section. I do have a question: do you have any suggestions for teaching a left-handed child to write?
Thanks again!
Brenda
Hi Donna…
I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for all the printable sheets.
Karen
You’re the best.
THANKYOU DONNA….IS..ALLLLL..I CAN SAY …(and I’m glad I stumbled upon this site to GET THE CHANCE..to say it!!..from homeschooling on down ..I MEAN..THANKYOU…Michele S. Murfreesboro TN (transplanted from NYC)
I just wanted to say Thanks..
You are welcome Michele!
I’m in TN also. 
I just want to say thanks. I am an american up in Canada, cut off from most homeschoolers, so this is great. You have helped us so much, my daughter’s handwriting is improoving! You and your husband have put so much time and we appreciate it so much. There is not too much out there where people give without wanting back. You are a tremendous blessing. We are on such a tight budget.
Hi Donna
I accidentally stumbled upon your website thru a google search for homeschool helps. I was specifically looking for book report forms. I was pleasantly surprised to find several forms that I can use. This is the first year for homeschooling for me and my oldest son. I’m hoping that it goes well and that I can keep doing it. Thanks for the wonderful information.
Mimz (from KY)
I found your website as I was looking for some new ideas that would be appropriate for my K-4 classroom. I teach in one of the larger urban cities and have a great need for any help as my class size grows larger every year (30 this year) and the children seem to have fewer skills. Many of my children haven’t held a crayon, do not know colors, and cannot recognize any letters or numbers nor differentiate them. Your website gave me some great ideas. Thanks! Joanne
Thank you for your site. I just found it so I will not say I have used it yet.
God Bless,
Emmett
Thank YOU BIG TIME!!!!
I have visited your site numerous times, and refered it. But just stumbled upon my problem solver by starting from scratch. Approaching your site like I had never been here before. Found my answer, never saw it before, or I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. The quarter planner checklist, THANK YOU, IS Brilliant! Just absolutely BRILLIANT.
Keeping track of how we are progressing versus where I thought we were going to be, or seeing that we are ahead. When I read how to use it.. my light bulb went off like a spotlight. Bless you, bless you, bless you! It never occurred to me to track the progress in this way, were I can see each subject comparatively.
Am even thinking of adapting the concept to my household- cleaning of rooms, versus cleaning closets, washing windows… etc.. when was the last time I had done what. Not sure how.. but it’s an idea will be turning over in my head. Thanks again.
dear donna,
i just wanted to thank you for all the work you have put into your site for homeschoolers. most of us are on tight budgets and it is a huge blessing to be able to get already designed forms and pages for free. it is greatly appreciated. people like you make the world a better place!
c.g.
Donna,
I have been so blessed by your website. I cannot even begin to tell you. I hope you will keep it around for a long time. It was so good to find your blog and see your face. If I could I would give you a hug. Thanks for giving of yourself to do this for free. By the way, my name is Amber, I live in Mississippi and this is our 6th year homeschooling. I have a son in the 10th grade and your high school pages are terrific!! Also, I am now looking at your home management pages. We were hit by Katrina in 2005 and are still repairing our home, while we live in it. So, your pages are a big help to me in making some kind of organization out of this. Thanks so much. May the Lord richly bless you and your family. Amber
Thank you Amber and it is very nice to meet you.
Hi Lisa,
That is nice! Getting one given to you.
I wish I could remember what year I bought mine, but I can\\\’t. I’ve had it a long time, probably over 10 years.
Have fun with it! I used to make coffee slushies with mine. It was easy, freeze double-strength coffee in ice cube trays. Then once use the frozen cubes with whatever ingredients that you like to make the coffee slushies. (such as: milk, cream, water, sugar, flavoring) It’s been a while since I made any, so I can’t remember exactly how much of what.
None of the pdf calendars can be typed on in the way that you want. I have typeable pdf lesson planners in “Sets” here:
http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/portfolio.htm
Edit: I had several requests for a typeable calendar, so now I have them. A caveat – they are in doc format which requires software that opens doc. (such as Microsoft Word)
http://donnayoung.org/calendars/dated/index.htm
Donna,
Do you have any grade programs for a 9 week course? I love your excel grade program but it’s set up for 6 weeks.
Stacey, I emailed you.
Donna
Hi Donna,
I have been considering full-time home schooling for 2 years and am about to take the plunge. I have had your page book marked for a long long time. I am anxious to get a plan laid out for next year so I am thankful to you for doing so much of the leg work for me. I plan on utilizing a lot of what you seem to have poured your heart and soul into and can’t wait. I will keep you posted as I begin this journey!
Denise M. (Austin, TX)
Hi Denise, welcome to homeschooling!
I found your sites today and I am just in awe. We are homeschooling a first grader (and a pre-schooler) and knowing I will be so blessed by your sites, I pray that you are blessed in return!
Hi Donna,
I just wanted to say a great big thank you for your site. I’ve only been home-schooling for a few months, and it was all a bit chaotic till I stumbled across your forms through a Google search! It has been a life saver! I have 5 children, and your site has inspired me in more ways than you can imagine! THANK YOU!
Rita, from London, UK
Rita, you’re welcome!
It’s nice to meet you!
Hi Donna,
I stopped by your site today – it’s the first time I’ve seen it with its new look! I think it looks fantastic! Thank you so much for everything you’ve done over the years. You’ve definitely helped me teach my four girls by reading your site, and using some of your resources, and I’m very grateful!
God Bless,
Michelle K.
Hi Donna –
!! I have used your site several times over the past school year and want to say THANK YOU!
Our first year of home school is almost over
Our children, 7th and 8th grade, have been enrolled in an home school academy this year. Because of expense, we will be “going it on our own” this year. In the academy we used primarily the ACE curriculum. I added Apologia Science and Wordly Wise Vocab. I am currently trying to make choices for next year. I wonder what your opinion (and any one else reading this) is of the ACE curriculum? The kids like it, but it’s been their only experience with home school curriculum. I have read some good things in my research, but also some not-so-good comments.
I would be very interested in what you have to say!
Thanks for your time and for your web site!
J.D.
Hi Jeanette
Congratulations on your first year! Homeschooling is pretty awesome isn’t it
Like you, I have heard mixed reviews of ACE. I have never personally used it, so I can’t say anything from experience. Best wishes to you in your curriculum search!
Blessings,
Donna
I just wanted to say, “THANK YOU”. What a wonderful service you provide to homeschoolers. May the Lord richly bless you!
Hi Donna,
My name is Tammy and I am a single mother of three beautiful, smart, and talented children. I am interested in a charter school of some sort for one of the daughters. She is an honor student and a gymnast who trains 25 hours a week. I work 36 hours a week, so homeschooling doesn’t work for us. She is usually up very late doing her homework and managing to get by, but I’d like so try and make it a bit easier for her. Gymnstics is a very important part of her life; and she hopes to earn a gymnastics / academic scholarship is UCLA. It is her goal to major is education and minor in fashion design. I know she is still young (only 12), but she’s got it going on. We live in Corona, California, and I was hoping you could suggest a charter school that may work for us. Thanks for your help.
Tammy Jerue
pround mother of 3
From Donna:
Tammy I am unfamiliar with California. I hope you can find a charter school for your daughter.
I am so happy to find your site today. I homeschool three of my four boys and needed to get pumped up about this coming year. I think finding your site did just that. Thanks. I hope you don’t leave anytime soon now that your kids are done. I just found you…don’t leave!
Heidi (hi-d)
Newnan, Georgia
Hello Heidi and best wishes this coming year!
I hope to keep the site open as long as possible.
Donna, I found your website while searching and hoping to find a few little spreadsheets…. I wasn’t expecting to find your site. I am thrilled and grateful. You have made my life easier. You are a blessing to many of the younger homeschooling moms like myself. I already had an order ready for CBD, but I’m going to empty my cart and go back to their site using the link from your site. Is there anything else I should do to make sure you get the benefits of the link? Many blessings to you!
Allison
Allison, thank you so much. Going through the CBD link ought to be enough.
Thank you for mentioning the spreadsheets. I need to gather up all of my spreadsheet links and put them on one page for easier access for those who prefer spreadsheets.
Donna,
Just wanted to say thank you for the ruled school calendar page. I have used it for years and I can’t imagine doing my school planning without it. Thanks for sharing all your hard work with homeschoolers.
Here’s to you
Lisa
Yum coffee!
Thank you Lisa!
Donna, we are also involved in CAP – 3 of our children are cadets. How do you keep a transcript record or give them academic credit for the aerospace and leadership curriculums that they complete in the Civil Air Patrol program?
Hello Dana,
I didn’t record my son’s work in CAP for school credit although I could have, he already had enough credits for graduation. What we did do is we kept track of the other things that he did and counted it as extra-curricular activities.
If you want to count the aerospace educational program, I believe that would be one credit in science, but it takes around two years to earn that. Perhaps one of the senior members can confirm that.
My son is a senior member with CAP now. Time flies, enjoy it. 
Best wishes!
Hi there, Donna!
Thank you for the time and effort that you’ve put in to your website. It has been such a blessing to me! Today, I printed out the 2-student lesson planner, as I’m preparing for our upcoming school year. How fun! My one question…..is there a way of typing in some of my copywork on any of your pages? I know there’s a 4-day handwriting page that says “type here”, but I couldn’t figure out how to get it to work. Do you have any tips for a person with limited computer knowledge? Should I be able to type on that handwriting page? Thanks for everything!!
Jamie B.
Home schooling Mom from Montana
Hi Jamie,
The only completely typeable forms that I have are the ones that are made for a word processor. On the download pages, I usually call those doc format or rtf format. I have some spread sheet formats too. Many of my doc formats are on this webpage: http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/rtfforms.htm
Regarding that handwriting paper pdf that says Type here: I have added an image to go along with that file. The image tells how to do it. I’ll link the page: http://donnayoung.org/penmanship/sm-pre-cursive.htm
Donna, I have been using your site for quite a while now and I just wanted to take the opportunity to THANK YOU for providing such wonderful free resources to the homeschooling community.
You are a true saint. Thank you for your time and hard work.
Hi Donna,
This is our first year homeschooling – 7th grade and K4. A friend encouraged me to check out your web site. All I can say is WOW!!! I’m blown away by all the great worksheets and information you have put together for us.
Thank you so much for dedicating your time to benefit all of us newbies and pros alike.
You have truly blessed our family.
Donna I.
Summerville, SC
Donna,
I am a first time homeschooler(my son is starting Kindergarten) your website has helped me feel more at ease with getting started. I want to thank you for all your hard work!
Thank you
Melissa in Germany
Hi Donna-
I just found your website today and I was very impressed! You sure put a lot of work into that. I love some of your grading forms, but I do have some questions on them. I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this,but here I go!:smile: I love your grades and attendance points form under the weighted version. I was wondering is it possible to add more subjects on the information page and then add more sheets to match up with them? I was trying to do this, but I could not make the formulas work out.
Thanks for any help that you can give me.
Shari
Hello Shari, you asked ..”is it possible to add more subjects on the information page and then add more sheets to match up with them?”
It is possible to do that, but it could take some time.
I came across you website due to me trying to find vocabulary words for my now 4th grader. She was moved out of an excellent school, because of us relocating. The school she is in now is not the best. I want her to on track and/or maybe ahead. After viewing different sites, yours had the most helpful words that she could study at home.
I also have a seventh grader. If possible could you post a vocabulary list or anything helpful, that seventh graders should know or learn?
What a surprise to open up this page to find this cute sassy homeschool mom smiling back at me! I am in my (about) 100th year of homeschooling, but because I was following a specific curriculum, I didn’t need any help (HAHA!). Starting this year, we have custody of a 14 year old who we rescued from the public school system in our town… PLUS… I am homeschooling a dear little 11 yr old boy from our church who is a product of a bad homeschool and Christian school experiences (read: very far behind also!). So, these kiddos needed to be hand fed and this tired momma needed planners, schedules, etc. I started making my own and viola! I found you. Thank you ever so much. I (kind of) envy you – your last year. Sigh. I have so long to go! God bless!