Organizing!

[Xuzi]

Hi! My very first post here! :001_smile: I'm SO glad to have found this forum! I've been searching for months for a viable (i.e. more than one or two posts a month) Forum for homeschooling, and boy-howdy is this one active! :lol:

 

So anyway... How do you keep your kids' work organized when they're working on it? Meaning, do they have their own binders? I've seen one thread here talking about work boxes? In-boxes and out-boxes? Do your kids have backpacks for doing "on the go" work? How do you set things up for your day?

 

I'm not so worried about the record-keeping organization, just the "Here's your work and don't lose it until you're done with it!" organizing. ;)

 

(if it helps, I'll be starting HS'ing next school year with a 6 year old 1st grader, and possibly a 4 year old - not sure yet if the 4 year old will be continining in PS pre-school or not next year)

[TheCoffeeChick]

Hi! My very first post here! :001_smile: I'm SO glad to have found this forum! I've been searching for months for a viable (i.e. more than one or two posts a month) Forum for homeschooling, and boy-howdy is this one active! :lol:

 

So anyway... How do you keep your kids' work organized when they're working on it? Meaning, do they have their own binders? I've seen one thread here talking about work boxes? In-boxes and out-boxes? Do your kids have backpacks for doing "on the go" work? How do you set things up for your day?

 

I'm not so worried about the record-keeping organization, just the "Here's your work and don't lose it until you're done with it!" organizing. ;)

 

(if it helps, I'll be starting HS'ing next school year with a 6 year old 1st grader, and possibly a 4 year old - not sure yet if the 4 year old will be continining in PS pre-school or not next year)

 

Welcome to the boards Xuzi! :grouphug:

 

I have a 6 yo and a 4yo too. For us, since they are so young, it is easiest for me to have a shelf with all our curriculum on it and to take it down as we use it. When they are done with it or still working on it but will come back to it later I have a box on my desk it goes in. At the end of the week I go through the box and either file it into their respective binders, toss it (if it's not important), or keep it in there for them to work on the next week. Nothing too complicated, but I know if I am looking for a paper, that the box on my desk is where it will be.

 

Hope that helps :)

[Xuzi]

My kids are older but I use a weekly binder. All worksheets go behind a day of the week and at the end of the week I clean out the binder/ re-stuff it with the next weeks' work.

 

Workboxes are a system of small boxes and each little box has an assignment or activity so when your child finished one thing they can just go on to the next work box. The boxes could have a grammar worksheet and the next one math flash cards and the next on a jump rope to get the wiggles out followed by a little card with a trash can on it to remind them to take out the trash, next might be a book to read or a hands on project.

 

The workbox system doesn't work for me but I used something similar when the kids were small. I would set out "stations" for my dd all around the dining table.

 

btw, welcome to the boards. I am fond of saying that we are faster, and more reliable than google. I am pretty sure that's true. You will find a wealth of knowledge here. By all means tell us a bit about yourself too. Have you read WTM and what are your first grade plans for Fall?

Hmm. The workbox system does sound a bit more complicated. I love the stations idea though!

 

A little about myself... um... :lol: I'm a 27 year old SAHM. I live in Washington state, LDS/Mormon, been married for 7 years, 3 kids, oldest child is in PS Kindergarten this year, but only because I didn't even *consider* homeschooling until a month before school started, and was too scared out of my pants to try doing it right away. I'm glad I've had this year to prepare and make the requisite "mental shift" from public school thinking to home school thinking, which was no small feat for me, having been raised by two public school teachers! It also "helps" that my DD's kindy teacher hasn't been all that great, and most of what she's learned this year she's learned from me anyway. (we're after-schooling currently).

 

I *have* read WTM, and love it. I've got my DH reading parts of it now, and he really likes the theory behind it as well. I'm still trying to zero down on curriculum, but I'm leaning towards just sticking with what the book recommends for at least this first year (Math U See for math, FLL for grammer, etc., Story of the World for history) to allow me to get my feet wet, and then maybe branch out to find my own curriculum. This is *very* new territory for me, but I'm really excited. :)

[kalanamak]

Welcome!

 

I have the current books, like Sing math, REAL sci, handwriting, etc in a Desk Apprentice on my desk (if you aren't in the know on these, Staples sells them). Next to my desk I have a small wooden "CD bookcase" that I took some of the shelves out of and my oversized books live there. I have a notebook that I keep my progress noted on, and then a read aloud/kid can pull out anytime and read bookshelf in another room. Old curriculum is in boxes in my closet until I figure out what to do with it, and future curriculum is on a shelf in kiddos room, so he can look up at it and dream.

[TKDmom]

A little about myself... um... :lol: I'm a 27 year old SAHM. I live in Washington state, LDS/Mormon, been married for 7 years, 3 kids, oldest child is in PS Kindergarten this year, but only because I didn't even *consider* homeschooling until a month before school started, and was too scared out of my pants to try doing it right away. I'm glad I've had this year to prepare and make the requisite "mental shift" from public school thinking to home school thinking, <snip>

 

Welcome! I'm LDS, too. I have 4 kids and my oldest is in 3rd grade. It was a big mental shift for me to start hs'ing last year, but it's been great!

 

For my 2 older kids' work, I have a couple of these. Each drawer has a book or worksheet in it. DC open their drawer, do the assignment (or bring the book to me to read), then put it back on top of the cart. DS#2 only has a few things to work on each day, so he just has a canvas bin with his books. When he's done, he lays his books in a pile in a specific place on a bookshelf.

 

I do have binders for them to put their worksheets in, but dc forget to put them in. I've come to the conclusion that it's just easier to have all their stuff in one pile. Then, at the end of the day, I put their papers in the binders.

[2_girls_mommy]

We keep workbook work in the workbooks. Then we use the binders as described in WTM for everything else. For math, which my dd copies out of a book onto notebook paper, she has a regular spiral notebook. She just turns to a clean page each day. For SOTW, I had my A.G's binding cut off, and all of the student pages copied at Kinko's this summer, then had the entire A.G. (my teacher's manual and her copy of the student pages) 3 hole punched by them. Then I put each into a binder for the year. Now she in a way has a workbook for that. I just add in other work she does like the narrations and such. Each child has a shelf on the school shelf of their current texts, binders, folders, and teacher's manuals. Everything gets pulled down as it is used, and put back on the shelf when completed.

[MerryAtHope]

We use a form of workboxes (only ours are in drawers), and it has helped TONS with organizing, keeping books from getting lost, keeping my kids on task and knowing what to do next etc... Wish I had started them years ago! Here's pictures & a description of ours. HTH some, Merry :-)

[2squared]

My 2nd grade dd has a fabric bin where she keeps her RightStart math journal, abacus, dictation/copywork journal, nature journal, pencil box, and art supply bag. She keeps her reading books next to her bed. I keep my manuals and supplies and my Ker's few things in a Lands' End tote bag. I keep my library books in a pretty basket.

[MicheleinMN]

We use crates (like you see for college students) and a shelf each on our school bookshelf.

[mom31257]

Here is how I do workboxes with ours. Below is a picture of our school area, too. I sit at the table with them, so I check their work as we go. Sometimes my older dd works in her room, so she will just stack up her work for me to check. Either way finished work is turned in to me. I handle it from there.

 

The best thing about the workboxes is that it helps me be ready for the school day. Everything is there and ready to go.

[RobinF]

We use a form of workboxes too. I am putting all their independent work in workboxes and then the rest of their work we will be doing on a loop/flow schedule.

 

You can check out the workbox tag on my blog to see how we are using workboxes and I am posting this weekend hopefully about how we are using "centers".

 

I am new to this board also and we have 4 boys ages 10, 8, 6, and 3. So this year I am teaching 4th, 2nd and K with a lot of 3 yo thrown in the mix.

 

http://www.robindfowler.blogspot.com

[rwjx2khsmj]

We have binders for each subject and each child has a shelf. All work is supposed to be sorted into binders as it's done. Any work that's left out gets put on the appropriate shelf and put in the binder by the end of the week.

[Mom-ninja.]

Welcome to the boards!

 

 

What is this organizing you speak of? I don't know anything about it. ;)

 

 

I use 3 ring binders divided into subjects, and stacked plastic drawers kind of like workboxes. However, the drawers just now hold stuff because I don't plan ahead.

[Kim in SouthGa]

My 9ds and 10dd use a very loose workbox system. They have file boxes I got at Wal-Mart for $10 that have a place on the top to store crayons, scissors, ruler, etc. I put all their work in hanging folders inside-some things I tear out, like math and FLL; some I leave in, like Explode the Code, etc. I just put post-it notes on the front of the book/workbook with the pages they are to complete. I put whatever they need to do with me in one file at the back. When they finish, they put their stuff in a separate box (just an old rubber maid type box) for me to grade. For some reason, they like to do this better than putting the finished stuff back in the file box-weird, I know.

If we have to run out, they just find a backpack and put what they need in it. Of course, it usually doesn't make it back out of the car until I go searching for it :)

All their stuff that they are not using currently(or the workbooks that I tear out of) are stored in magazine racks in a coat closet that I converted to school closet. We have bookshelves in our dining room with the books we are currently using (lit and history), and a basket to hold the books we are using for the current week.

[Xuzi]

Thanks for all the advice! I'm so glad I found this board. I posted a question similar to this on another board over a week ago and it has yet to be replied to. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm leaning towards the mini-file box that's been shown here, especially the one with the schedual gride on the front! I'd thought of doing a giant poster with my kids' scheduals on it (like my DS's preschool teacher has) but I like this idea much better because it won't take up any precious wall space. :D