Getting organized has been a work in progress for me; The beauty of homeschooling is that nothing is set in stone and it’s about adapting to your child’s learning style and needs and you can change and work with different teaching methods.
After trial and error, I’m finding that I”m slowly finding a method that works for me and my household, but like all things, open to adaption as the kids grow older and our learning needs and methods grow and change.
Right now, here is a pic of the current system(s) we are using…all laid out on the counter each Monday through Friday (or Saturday) and then put away on the weekends.
As you can tell, it’s a combonation of several systems.
First, there is the file crate system.
Each child has their own file crate (the youngest one isn’t pictured). In the front of the file crate, are a set of folders for Monday through Friday and this is where I place workbooks, manuals, examples, manipulatives, if we are going on a field trip, I place information to be retrieve (directions, what to bring, etc.) on the corresponding day.
After those files, there is a color folder for the specific child. In that file, are the following folders:
- Certificates-If they completed something that is rewarded with a certificate it goes here so we can have a record of their accomplishment; A new folder is made for each year
- Field trip folder-To keep track of field trips we go for the year; I normally just file what I have printed off with the date we went on the field trip written on the paper
- Progress Folder-This is for any tests, progress notes to be filed
- Membership Info-This is for groups we have joined, extracurricular activities we’ve joined for this year, subscriptions, etc.
After that, any books that we use on a daily basis such as the kid’s bible, any textbooks, or books we are currently reading get place behind the folders. This keeps them within reach and makes it easier for the kids to just reach in and get them, or if Daddy takes over, they are there for him to get without searching.
Behind the books, I keep our watercolor pads within easy reach.
When I was looking at file crate organization, I found the following sites a HUGE help in helping me figure out what to do with mine. As the kids get older, I expect the file crates to get a little bit more tweak with what we are doing with each school year.
- Heart of Wisdom-Organizing our Homeschool Area
- Three Plus Two: File Crate vs. Filing Cabinent
- By Sun and Candlelight (This is the BEST resource for file organization; I love her site)-My File Folder System
- By Sun and Candlelight-Lesson Planning with the File Crate
- By Sun and Candlelight-Refreshing the Files
- Blog,She Wrote-The New Homeschool Filing System
- JennyMaine’s Hummingbirds and Pinecones-Organizing WinterPromise American Story II
I followed this with what you see in the above picture with binders-My notebook system.
Each child has two notebooks. One is a working notebook and the other is a 3″ notebook to keep their completed work for the year; This is really geared more for the oldest right now.
In the working notebook, there are 5 binders for each day (Monday through Friday) and every Sunday night, they are filled with “consumables” for that week.
The advantage of this, is this can be taken on the road, so to speak, if something comes up and we have to run an errand, go to the doctor’s, etc. or if Daddy takes over, it will have that week’s work already in there, ready to be worked on, without Daddy worrying what to do.
Each of the kids have their own Nature Study binders which are portable 8.5 x 5.5 but sometimes they just take a portable art book with them and we just tear out the page they work on that day, hole punch it and place it in their “Field books”.
The other binders are really more for me.
There are different binders for subjects that are more specific such as “Nature Study” where anything related to Nature Study such as the “Outdoor Hour Challenge”, photocopy chapters from the “Handbook of Nature Study”, printable field guides, etc. will go in.
I also have a binder for Art History/Art Appreciation to keep art prints, I printed out “Questions to ask about art” that I found at this link, artmuseums.com/questions.htm, to keep on hand to use with the kids when looking at art work.
An idea that I got from,Trivium Academy, was to use quarter binders to ease lesson planning for the year. Since we are schooling year round, the quarter binders, make it easier to just break down what we will be learning more specifically and help me feel less overwhelmed.
Each quarter binder has:
- Calendar
- Quarter Planner sheet
- Curriculum list
- Schedule
- Each binder uses number tab dividers. I keep 9 tabs in each binder to break it down into 9 weeks; Behind each week, I place whatever workbook pages, readings, copywork, etc. we need to do in that specific week. If I don’t want it hole punched yet, or just plain to get it bind another method, I use sheet protectors instead.
Here are really great sources on how to get ideas for creating your own binder system:
- JennyMaine’s Hummingbirds and Pinecones-Completed Work Binder
- Trivium Academy-Quarterly Binders
- Avilian Method
- Broad Horizons-My Household Organization/Notebook System
Then there is the last item in the picture….my purple teacher file storage box.
I use this to keep my lesson plans, either written by me or printed and other school items.
The files are broken down basically
- First by months. I have 4 different color tab dividers. I use one color for the months of the first term, another color for the months in the second term, etc. Basically, for example, our school year starts in September-November; That’s one color; I then offset the tab divider how it is arrange and using another set of color, have 3 tabs for December-February; and so on.
- In each months, I keep seasonal information (i.e. Easter is filed under April, Dental Health Month is filed in February, etc.)
- After the months, I have tabs for the subjects that we study and I keep lessons plans, manipulatives, etc. filed under each respective study. Right now with the kids being young, we are barely touching on the subjects, but there are certain topics, I know we will revisit each year and expand on and material that can be re-use.
- After the subject folders, we have a specific folder for unit studies or say if we do a study on a book, I create a folder just for that book to keep material in. This is helpful for the next child if we revisit the book later on, or maybe I know someone who can use this and I can “pass it on” to help a fellow homeschooling mom.
- General file folders, these folders contain continuing information, such as homeschooling laws, membership information of groups I’m a part of, if there is material relevant to a subject or homeschooling, I have a “General Homeschool Info” file that I can file the article in and maybe revisit later.
For now this file storage box has been of great use though I foresee as the kids get bigger, a need for something bigger than what I have.
Then there are the banker storage boxes.
Yes… a little bit more.
Each child has their own.
In these boxes, I keep
- Their completed work binder-This is their whole years work; It’s divided into subjects study;If we do specific studies, say a handwriting workbook, I file all the handwriting workbook together in the binder to show progress.
- Move their certificate folders, progress notes, art portofolio into this box to be stored (I find it helpful to use the box that the file folder comes in for this, so each year just place the folders in this to protect the folders and it’s recycling the file folder box versus just throwing it away).
This isn’t a perfect system and one I know will change as the years (and maybe even just months) go by, but coming up with an organization system that works good for you and your family helps make homeschooling a lot smoothing.
It cuts down on looking for books, workbooks and a lot of paperwork and helps you feel more relax and really enjoy homeschooling more.
The added plus is being able to have a place to store your child’s work to go back in later years to see how they have progressed.
Hope this helps!
What happens on Sunflower Faith?
