Does anyone incorporate a filing system for lesson plans?

[catholicmommy]

Not so much alluring, it just seems like the logical (and easy) thing to do, esp. for subjects that are already laid out for you like the WWE workbooks, or math lessons. I was telling my mom & dh today about your "Aha!" insight on it being better to miss a few lessons here & there throughout & just do oral catch-up on main concepts than to miss the last huge chunk of a book. They, knowing how many books we're still working on huge chunks of, were so glad you shared these ideas. We're all looking forward to a new way of doing things around here.

 

It was so freeing for me to start doing school like that. I finally started to feel like -I- was the one in control of things.. not the curriculum. And believe me, i was super overwhelmed with life on top of school. I'm so happy I was able to help someone else :-) Let us know how it goes for you.

As for my question about starting in the middle - we're all over the place. Both boys are somewhere in the middle of their FLL books, math, history, etc. I've got an end date in mind for the overall grade level they're ea. working on, so I'll start with that and then divide up however many lessons are left in the subject per how many weeks we have until then. Once I get started on it I'll post more in case anyone else in my shoes would like to hear how I made it work.

 

sorry, I didn't get a chance to answer that.. I was typing in the dentist office on my iPad and the dentist came to start drilling my teeth :D

 

As far as starting in the middle... just remember to view everything with the end you want in mind. If you know where you want to get to (and when you want to get there), then it should be easy to divide everything up.

 

Also, I have played catch-up on big chunks through the summers before. Don't be too hard on yourself or your kids, and remember so much of what you do in math and grammar near the end of the year is reviewed the first month of the next year. As well, you can ditch all of the projects and extra stuff for science and history for the last bit and just enjoy the read alouds and good conversations about the material with the kids.

 

It would be better to have read orally through your history and science, looking at books and casually talking about it over meals, than to have pushed the kids through the summer to get everything done, but be burned out and unmotivated when fall comes along.

WOW. I might have time to plan WWE based on history and science lessons like I've always wanted to after the basic system is put together. I keep thinking of all the neat things I've always wanted to do that could finally happen. Thanks a million times over!

 

oooohhh yes. great idea!!! I always wanted to have time to do that too.

Good luck with your filing!

[catholicmommy]

I am reminding myself that planning TAKES TIME in the beginning, but SAVES TIME in the long run. And right now I have time. In the fall I absolutely will not. (And neither will you!)

 

YES!!

 

I found that the subjects that I DIDN'T file last year didn't get done because I just wasn't motivated to get my act together.

[catholicmommy]

Has anyone thought of using the cheap pocket binders with the clasps instead of hanging files? You could pick a color for each child, and use the little post-its for tab dividers within each folder for subjects. You could even do kind of a mini schedule in the front with a quick basic daily checklist.

 

It would eliminate the need to buy hanging files, manila folders for each subject AND something to put them in. They culd be stacked or stood upright on a shelf. Not to mention the folders themselves are standard school supplies (have pockets! I love pockets for work in progress.), and could be just grabbed and taken along if you needed to do school on the road.

 

Do you mean to file each week in a separate pocket folder, and so you would have 36 of these on your shelf? That is an interesting idea. I like the idea of it, but I think i'm too lazy to manage organizing all the folders. It's easier for me to just drop stuff into a file, and the files will last me over many years.. I can see the kids getting the pocket folder thingys all bent up and messy.

 

Fun idea though! There are so many different ways to organize and gain control of the school year! I love this board :-)

[catholicmommy]

My tentative plans for this are to have a separate crate for finished work with hanging files for each subject. At the end of the week, I'll just put the work in there, unless it is something that is obviously garbage to me. I'm thinking at the end of the year I may pull samples from some subjects and have it bound. It will be an overview of the year.

 

Hah!! I'm laughing at myself now. Let's just see if I can pull this file system together first.:tongue_smilie:

 

Fun! Crates for EVERYTHING!! :D How about a 36 week menu plan in the kitchen with all of breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks planned out with recipes filed along with pictures :)

 

sigh... I will never be that organized.

 

I like the idea of having folders for each subject for completed work. So would you have a different subject folder for each kid? And i LOVE the idea of having a few samples for each year bound. wonderful!

[musicmommy]

I've been loving this thread! Lot's of great ideas.

 

Here's what I did last year and it worked so well for us so I'm doing it again this year. We have 3 boys...a 5th grader, 3rd grader and 1st grader.

 

I have my hanging files set up for 36 weeks. In each file are the pages I need for the week. Yep, I have no problem tearing apart a workbook. Within each file, each child's work is paperclipped together for the week. In the back, I have folders for fall, winter, spring. These are for ideas, projects that relate specifically to the seasons or holidays.

 

Now for the good part. We keep the boys school work in a 9 cubby bookshelf, similar to this one. On top, I have daily folders where I just separate out the worksheets from the weekly folders. The boys turn in their completed work in letter trays. That forces me to stay on top of things and get it filed or recycled regularly.

 

In the bottom 3 cubbies, we store the books that are child specific and that are used regularly. The middle 3 are for general storage of school supplies. The top 3 hold their daily work. We've used a modified workbox to save on space. Each child has their own expanding file like this one, but cheaper. :001_smile: In it, I put each child's daily work. For things such as piano practice, I have a notecard that I just slide in. Sometimes, I put in fun things such as make a cookies, watch a movie, take dogs outside, etc.

 

We worked out this system last year and it truly helped us stay on top of things. I know it seems like more work, but it really wasn't. Between juggling the 3 boys at very, very different levels of work and teaching 16 students and the occasional performance, this system has helped us get things done.

 

Let me know if pictures of anything would help or if you have any questions. Off to go work on getting the rest of the house organized into some sort of system!

[catholicmommy]

I spent half the day prepping my "system" (which is gorgeous!) and the other half doing All About Spelling. Now I just have every. other. subject. to plan, copy and file :D. I firmly believe it will be worth it though!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Pictures??

 

And tell me about what you did for AAS in the files. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to do this one. lots of ideas, but i haven't started yet.

[*Jessica*]

Has anyone thought of using the cheap pocket binders with the clasps instead of hanging files? You could pick a color for each child, and use the little post-its for tab dividers within each folder for subjects. You could even do kind of a mini schedule in the front with a quick basic daily checklist.

 

It would eliminate the need to buy hanging files, manila folders for each subject AND something to put them in. They could be stacked or stood upright on a shelf. Not to mention the folders themselves are standard school supplies (have pockets! I love pockets for work in progress.), and could be just grabbed and taken along if you needed to do school on the road.

That's what I bought to use, but I haven't started planning and filing yet so I don't have pictures to share. At $0.15 each I paid a total of $10.80 for 72 folders (I have two kids.) Boxes of 25 file folders were almost $6 each, and I would have had to buy 3 boxes for a total of almost $18. I think the pockets will come in handy, and we can use the prongs if we want to but we certainly don't have to. I'm still going to file them in hanging file folders to keep things nice and neat.

 

The hanging file folders that I bought are striped and I chose 3 different colors (yellow, white, and green) for the autumn, winter, and spring trimesters, respectively.

 

I can't wait for the last item to arrive in the mail and a free day to start planning!

[catholicmommy]

That's what I bought to use, but I haven't started planning and filing yet so I don't have pictures to share. At $0.15 each I paid a total of $10.80 for 72 folders (I have two kids.) Boxes of 25 file folders were almost $6 each, and I would have had to buy 3 boxes for a total of almost $18. I think the pockets will come in handy, and we can use the prongs if we want to but we certainly don't have to. I'm still going to file them in hanging file folders to keep things nice and neat.

 

The hanging file folders that I bought are striped and I chose 3 different colors (yellow, white, and green) for the autumn, winter, and spring trimesters, respectively.

 

I can't wait for the last item to arrive in the mail and a free day to start planning!

 

oh I see... file the pocket folio thingys in the hanging folders? hmmm... good idea. I like it!

[LunaLee]

Ok, so along the lines of how long this is taking...I posted on my blog why this particular project has been taking so long.

 

I created a study guide like this for all 21 chapters in his science book. It just makes it easier for him to see what he needs to do all on on page. So, I've made one of these study guides and put it in the corresponding file folder with the literature books (if I have them) and then I will go through about 6 weeks ahead of time and make sure I have all of the forms, handouts, materials, etc... Otherwise I think I would just become overwhelmed.

[LunaLee]

oh I see... file the pocket folio thingys in the hanging folders? hmmm... good idea. I like it!

 

The only reason I couldn't use this, is because there are no tabs on the folders so in order to see what chapter I'm on I would have to have a hanging file folder for each chapter/unit/lesson and that's just too many.

[DarlaS]

Do you mean to file each week in a separate pocket folder, and so you would have 36 of these on your shelf? That is an interesting idea. I like the idea of it, but I think i'm too lazy to manage organizing all the folders. It's easier for me to just drop stuff into a file, and the files will last me over many years.. I can see the kids getting the pocket folder thingys all bent up and messy.

 

Fun idea though! There are so many different ways to organize and gain control of the school year! I love this board :-)

 

I wouldn't bother changing if I was already using files--especially if it's been working for you.

 

I see us spending a bit of time on the road this fall though, so these may just work out better for us (kind of the way everyone's workboxes look different).

 

I figure if I get a bulk box they will be dirt cheap and only need to last a week. If they last longer, I'll consider it a bonus!

[Guest]

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Edited May 2, 2016 by Guest

[SamuelsMommy]

I have been loving this thread! We start Kindergarten this fall and I have gotten so many great organizational ideas from you all. I am almost done with my planning for the year. I modified the plan just a little and am using binders.

 

I bought 4 2-inch binders - one per quarter. I made a list of all the weeks in the quarter and whether we are doing school or if it is a vacation week and slid those in the clear pocket in the front of each folder. Then I got tabs with pockets to put inside for each week. I've got all our workbooks and things filed for each week. I still have a few copies to make for science and then I will be done with that. I also made a template to put in the front of each week that has our history topics for the week, science topics, artist, composer, and then a space to list specific library books we need, a space to list supplies, and a space for field trip ideas. I can just take this list when I go run my errands and get the library books I need and supplies I need for the week. Also, I wanted the general topics on there because I don't always reserve books ahead of time. Sometimes I just look for the general topic and let DS pick a few that look interesting to him. I already had lesson plans made up for the year in HST+ so I think I'm going to go ahead and print them out for each week and put them in the section as well.

 

I'm super excited about this year. We did preschool last year and I was very relaxed and we skipped school a lot of days for no real reason. Now that we have to actually report to the school board I'm trying to be a little more organized.

[Guest]

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Edited May 2, 2016 by Guest

[corbie]

I just found something cool to wrap up my organization. I used colored files for each dd - dd#1 green, #2 blue, #3 purple, #4 yellow. Well, Staples has these super nice and durable binders in the same colors (and many others) - buy 2 get one free. So, I got one for the 3 oldest. DD#4 can wait. I got the 1" size. I figured this should hold one week's worth of work plus extra paper. I probably could have gone with 1/2", though. Now everyone is completely color coded. I'm shocked at how organized I'm getting. I do think, though, that I am now leaning toward curriculum choices that will work with my crate system. That may not be so good.:tongue_smilie:

 

I'm done with about half the year, but I still haven't started weekly lesson plans. I think I'm just going to do 3 weeks of Donna Young plans at a time and leave the rest flexible.

 

Are we setting a record here for a long thread?!

[kwickimom]

I've been loving this thread! Lot's of great ideas.

 

Here's what I did last year and it worked so well for us so I'm doing it again this year. We have 3 boys...a 5th grader, 3rd grader and 1st grader.

 

I have my hanging files set up for 36 weeks. In each file are the pages I need for the week. Yep, I have no problem tearing apart a workbook. Within each file, each child's work is paperclipped together for the week. In the back, I have folders for fall, winter, spring. These are for ideas, projects that relate specifically to the seasons or holidays.

 

Now for the good part. We keep the boys school work in a 9 cubby bookshelf, similar to this one. On top, I have daily folders where I just separate out the worksheets from the weekly folders. The boys turn in their completed work in letter trays. That forces me to stay on top of things and get it filed or recycled regularly.

 

In the bottom 3 cubbies, we store the books that are child specific and that are used regularly. The middle 3 are for general storage of school supplies. The top 3 hold their daily work. We've used a modified workbox to save on space. Each child has their own expanding file like this one, but cheaper. :001_smile: In it, I put each child's daily work. For things such as piano practice, I have a notecard that I just slide in. Sometimes, I put in fun things such as make a cookies, watch a movie, take dogs outside, etc.

 

We worked out this system last year and it truly helped us stay on top of things. I know it seems like more work, but it really wasn't. Between juggling the 3 boys at very, very different levels of work and teaching 16 students and the occasional performance, this system has helped us get things done.

 

Let me know if pictures of anything would help or if you have any questions. Off to go work on getting the rest of the house organized into some sort of system!

 

 

LOVE the cubby idea!! I have a set of those and just might do the same!

[RainbowSprinkles]

Hi~

 

I have been following this thread the last few days. I feel totally inspired by it :)

 

Today I went to Target and I got three crates. I have two school age children (and a toddler). Each child will have their own crate and one is for me. This eliminates the need for hanging folders. I got a box of 100 file folders instead. I will divide up all their stuff into 36 weeks. In my own crate I'll have a folder for each month and I'll put teacher manuals in there. I was also thinking about having a file folder for fun extras and such if they finish their work early and want to do some more stuff.

 

I'm now in the process of printing out everything I need for the year and making copies.

 

It really is a lot of fun! Thank you so much for starting this thread and all these wonderful ideas!! :)

[Guest]

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Edited May 2, 2016 by Guest

[Annabel Lee]

Has anyone thought of using the cheap pocket binders with the clasps instead of hanging files?

 

In that link they're about $0.40 ea. If anyone isn't doing all this filing right away, Office Max always has huge sales on those folders in August, right before the ps year begins. They sell them for 1 cent to 15 cents during that time.

[krisandpaula]

WOW. I just finished reading through this thread and my head is spinning!:001_smile: We were going to start school this coming week, but now I'm considering redoing my calendar and starting a week later so that I can get this set up. Do you think there is any way I can do this in a WEEK?!?!

 

Also, I wanted to share a link for those of you adding library pockets to your folders. kalanamak shared this link in an earlier post on planners.

www.diyplanner.com is a site with free downloads for planners of different sizes. Here is the link for the 3"x5" sized planner pages. They can be printed directly to blank 3x5 index cards or printed 4 to a page and cut apart. They also offer an editable version for those comfortable with Photoshop or similar programs. The ability to edit them to better suit my needs is the icing on the cake! There are over 100 different templates and there are several that are going to be VERY useful to me to add into this folder system. I had already been working on the calendar pages for the year. Now, I can add the weeks into my folders in the library pockets and then add them back together at the end of the year as a full record! I may even go back and eliminate the dates and do the full planner by week # now. Oh how I love this site!!!!

 

Thank you all for sharing such a wealth of information here.

[Guest aquiverfull]

Also, I wanted to share a link for those of you adding library pockets to your folders. kalanamak shared this link in an earlier post on planners.

www.diyplanner.com is a site with free downloads for planners of different sizes. Here is the link for the 3"x5" sized planner pages. They can be printed directly to blank 3x5 index cards or printed 4 to a page and cut apart. They also offer an editable version for those comfortable with Photoshop or similar programs. The ability to edit them to better suit my needs is the icing on the cake! There are over 100 different templates and there are several that are going to be VERY useful to me to add into this folder system. I had already been working on the calendar pages for the year. Now, I can add the weeks into my folders in the library pockets and then add them back together at the end of the year as a full record! I may even go back and eliminate the dates and do the full planner by week # now. Oh how I love this site!!!!

 

Thank you all for sharing such a wealth of information here.

 

Wow! Thanks so much for the link to that wonderful site. I, like you, love the ability to edit in photoshop. :)

[proverbs356lady]

Thank you all for the wonderful ideas!!! It took me a few days to get through these posts but it was well worth it! Now I'm off to get started planning and organizing. I love preparing for a fresh new school year!

:hurray:

[Mommee & Baba]

This particular thread has saved our upcoming school year!! I just want to dance!! I'm so excited that our school year won't be rush, hassle, stress, cram....it'll be enjoyable and there won't be any 2 hour preping each week! It'll be grab in the filing system. Divide for the week and put in daily workbox! WAHOO!!!!

 

Thanks to those that shared ideas!

 

And to those that want to plan a filing system and even a workbox system. You CAN do it in a week! :) I did ours in a week and that was even sorting, organzing and even waiting for my shelving unit to ship and arrive and assemble.

 

The part that took the longest was waiting for the printer to print all our years worth of work. Filing wasn't nearly as taskful as I thought. It was actually fun! :O) I'm waiting for printer ink though to finish printing off the rest of our school year.

Edited July 11, 2010 by mamaofblessings

[Mom25girls]

Thanks so much to those who took the time to post and leave a detailed paper trail for the rest of us to follow. I have a few questions please. How do you handle having multiple children using the same curriculum? For example, I have 2 children using Elemental Science. Also, what do I do for history when we're using SOTW? Thanks SO MUCH for any replies. I really appreciate it!

 

:)Michele (still anxious but starting to feel a little bit better as my box starts to fill with tabbed files)

[swainsonshawk]

what do I do for history when we're using SOTW?

 

We are using SOTW for next year. Here's what I did:

 

 

First, I scheduled out the parts of SOTW we are going to use (not all of it, I don't have time)

 

I took apart the Activity guide.

 

I copied the coloring pages and paper games and maps and sorted them into my folder which is the group work folder (we do SOTW together) by week.

 

I put the teacher instructions part into the corresponding week's folder, copying backs of papers where it was needed in two folders. I highlighted the review questions, the map instructions, the library book list, and one project for the week.

 

Also, I printed out timeline figures and put them in the group folder, only one copy because we are doing a group timeline.

 

I have pockets on the outside of my folders for a library book list and a materials list. I'm not sure if I will actually recopy the library book list because it is already written on the paper, but I know there are other books I need for other subjects, so we'll see.

 

Does that help?

[swainsonshawk]

I am struggling with the sheer amount of work in one week's folder. For example, my 1 son has: math assignments, writing assignments, handwriting, timeline figures, logic paper, grammar assignments, spelling assignments, etc, etc. Of course, this is times 5 kids! It's a lot of work and it's getting messy in the folders. Do you bother to organize it by day? Do you try to keep it grouped by subject in each weekly file? Are you losing papers all the time? We will be transferring this into a workbox (hanging file box with numbered file folders) each day and so I will need to go through this weekly folder every night to reload their boxes

[woolybear]

I would have a folder for each child within each hanging file. Then, within each folder, I would separate by days using a paper clip. Does that help?

[catholicmommy]

I am struggling with the sheer amount of work in one week's folder. For example, my 1 son has: math assignments, writing assignments, handwriting, timeline figures, logic paper, grammar assignments, spelling assignments, etc, etc. Of course, this is times 5 kids! It's a lot of work and it's getting messy in the folders. Do you bother to organize it by day? Do you try to keep it grouped by subject in each weekly file? Are you losing papers all the time? We will be transferring this into a workbox (hanging file box with numbered file folders) each day and so I will need to go through this weekly folder every night to reload their boxes

 

I agree with Woolybear :)

 

I used one folder for each child. So, in my week one hanging folder i have three files. One for grade 5, one for grade2 and one for K.

 

Some people are paperclipping each subject together, and others are paperclipping each day's work together within each file. I didn't bother with this step. I organized their weekly work into an 8 pocket folio (linked on my blog) every monday, until i got lazy and then i just made sure they didn't lose their weekly file folder.

 

HTH

[kwickimom]

We are using SOTW for next year. Here's what I did:

 

 

First, I scheduled out the parts of SOTW we are going to use (not all of it, I don't have time)

 

I took apart the Activity guide.

 

I copied the coloring pages and paper games and maps and sorted them into my folder which is the group work folder (we do SOTW together) by week.

 

I put the teacher instructions part into the corresponding week's folder, copying backs of papers where it was needed in two folders. I highlighted the review questions, the map instructions, the library book list, and one project for the week.

 

Also, I printed out timeline figures and put them in the group folder, only one copy because we are doing a group timeline.

 

I have pockets on the outside of my folders for a library book list and a materials list. I'm not sure if I will actually recopy the library book list because it is already written on the paper, but I know there are other books I need for other subjects, so we'll see.

 

Does that help?

 

I am doing just about the same thing, but I put all the teachers instructions in a binder and each page in a sheet protector. On Sunday nights I will be putting the weekly stuff into a TO DO binder for my DD seperated by days. When I do this I will also then pull out the instructors guide pages that I need and will file them in a TO DO binder for myself for the week. When I am done I will just place them back in the binder.

 

I have a large set of shelves and I have a shelf with all teachers guides so they are easy to find.

[Mommee & Baba]

How do you handle having multiple children using the same curriculum? For example, I have 2 children using Elemental Science.

 

Both my children use the same Science and History. For filing I file just as I would for any other subject. I just know that when it comes to filling the workboxes that these particular subjects will go in the "Our Workbox" along with the TM's.

[catholicmommy]

Both my children use the same Science and History. For filing I file just as I would for any other subject. I just know that when it comes to filling the workboxes that these particular subjects will go in the "Our Workbox" along with the TM's.

 

I don't make duplicates of anything i don't have to either, npbut insyead of making an extra file for joint work, i always file that stuff in my eldest's file each week, and know to look for it there.

[creekmom]

I love all these ideas! One question I have that I didn't see mentioned is about filing/planning for memory work each week. Honestly, this takes up the bulk of my planning time on the weekends! I use CM's memory box idea with notecards of memory work. During the week, I make notes in my planner when I get ideas for memory work for each kid (ds6 still doesn't know months of the year, etc.). Then on Sunday, I make sure each kid has a Bible verse, poem, prefixes/vocab, state/capital, etc.) It takes forever! Has anyone preplanned memory work for an entire year?? This would save me soooo much time! I did put each child's initials on each card and rubberbanded the set of cards at the end of the year with the grade level so when the next kid enters that grade, a lot of the work will already be done. How could this work with the filing system? Anyone have ideas for memory work planning in advance? :bigear:

[creekmom]

duplicate post- sorry

[TengoFive]

I'm setting up each week with a lot of folders, one for each child (days paper clipped together) and then one for each subject we do together. Since we do SOTW together, I have a folder for that with all the activity pages printed out. I'll still use the bound Activity Guide though for extra activities. I'm planning on having an index card listing which activities I'm planning and what I need for them. I'll put this in the previous week's file that I'll have for myself. I do like the idea that someone had of putting the TMs in binders/page protectors and just sorting them by week as well. I may do that, but I'll have to see. I really would like to have a folder for me and then I'll put it all in my binder weekly or monthly.

 

Thanks so much to those who took the time to post and leave a detailed paper trail for the rest of us to follow. I have a few questions please. How do you handle having multiple children using the same curriculum? For example, I have 2 children using Elemental Science. Also, what do I do for history when we're using SOTW? Thanks SO MUCH for any replies. I really appreciate it!

 

:)Michele (still anxious but starting to feel a little bit better as my box starts to fill with tabbed files)

[TengoFive]

Right now I put all of our memory work on cd weekly and then we listen to it in the car. I'm planning on doing the same thing, but I'll do the whole year in advance and file the cd in my weekly folder.

 

I love all these ideas! One question I have that I didn't see mentioned is about filing/planning for memory work each week. Honestly, this takes up the bulk of my planning time on the weekends! I use CM's memory box idea with notecards of memory work. During the week, I make notes in my planner when I get ideas for memory work for each kid (ds6 still doesn't know months of the year, etc.). Then on Sunday, I make sure each kid has a Bible verse, poem, prefixes/vocab, state/capital, etc.) It takes forever! Has anyone preplanned memory work for an entire year?? This would save me soooo much time! I did put each child's initials on each card and rubberbanded the set of cards at the end of the year with the grade level so when the next kid enters that grade, a lot of the work will already be done. How could this work with the filing system? Anyone have ideas for memory work planning in advance? :bigear:

[catholicmommy]

I love all these ideas! One question I have that I didn't see mentioned is about filing/planning for memory work each week. Honestly, this takes up the bulk of my planning time on the weekends! I use CM's memory box idea with notecards of memory work. During the week, I make notes in my planner when I get ideas for memory work for each kid (ds6 still doesn't know months of the year, etc.). Then on Sunday, I make sure each kid has a Bible verse, poem, prefixes/vocab, state/capital, etc.) It takes forever! Has anyone preplanned memory work for an entire year?? This would save me soooo much time! I did put each child's initials on each card and rubberbanded the set of cards at the end of the year with the grade level so when the next kid enters that grade, a lot of the work will already be done. How could this work with the filing system? Anyone have ideas for memory work planning in advance? :bigear:

 

Still thinking about memory work.

 

Right now, im in the process of setting up the cm box idea into files in Evermote on my ipad, but haven't finished thinking about the mechanics of it yet. In addition to my paper file folders, i have also set up 36 weeks of files in evernote to use on my iPad during the school dAy. It will have hyperlinks to web pages about our science lessons that week, links to library books maybe, and you tube videos. It will sAve me from havong to amke the kids wait while i google things, and my ipad is portable, so it will be with me at breakfast for memory work as well.

[swainsonshawk]

I agree with Woolybear :)

Some people are paperclipping each subject together, and others are paperclipping each day's work together within each file. I didn't bother with this step. I organized their weekly work into an 8 pocket folio (linked on my blog) every monday, until i got lazy and then i just made sure they didn't lose their weekly file folder.

 

HTH

 

Ahhh! The Lowly Paperclip! Now, why didn't I think of that? Sometimes groupthink is so great!

[krisandpaula]

And to those that want to plan a filing system and even a workbox system. You CAN do it in a week! :) I did ours in a week and that was even sorting, organzing and even waiting for my shelving unit to ship and arrive and assemble.

 

The part that took the longest was waiting for the printer to print all our years worth of work. Filing wasn't nearly as taskful as I thought. It was actually fun! :O) I'm waiting for printer ink though to finish printing off the rest of our school year.

 

Thank you for the encouragement. I have made the decision to push back our start date a week (we had been delayed for other reasons as well) and get this in place by next Monday. Everything may not be completely planned out for all 36 weeks, but I'm going to give it my best shot. I just finished spreading everything out in the middle of the floor and going through it all to decide what I can bear to tear apart and what I cannot. This had been my biggest hang up. Some of those workbooks just look so pretty. :tongue_smilie: But I think I can do it. I'm heading out first thing in the morning for supply shopping!

 

Has anyone found any slightly decorative, non-plastic file crates anywhere?

[JenniferB]

I have to say it, "Just keep filing, just keep filing, just keep filing, filing, filing." :lol:

 

OK, back to it. :auto:

[ALB]

I read through this WHOLE thread in one sitting and felt a little dizzy. I wasn't really contemplating actually doing it, but then yesterday I saw a pretty box at a store that would work perfectly for holding the files, and all of a sudden I'm sold :001_smile:. Does anyone else secretly like being organized just because of the pretty folders/ boxes, etc.? Especially if something is colorful, I'm hooked!:001_smile:

Seriously, this thread has given me LOTS of great ideas and I'm excited to feel more on top of things as we start K soon. Thank you all for sharing your creativity!

[RobinF]

I am loving the pictures and think I am going to start a new thread. I am having trouble keeping up with links in this thread there is so much good info.

[ABQmom]

I read through this WHOLE thread in one sitting and felt a little dizzy. I wasn't really contemplating actually doing it, but then yesterday I saw a pretty box at a store that would work perfectly for holding the files, and all of a sudden I'm sold :001_smile:. Does anyone else secretly like being organized just because of the pretty folders/ boxes, etc.? Especially if something is colorful, I'm hooked!:001_smile:

Seriously, this thread has given me LOTS of great ideas and I'm excited to feel more on top of things as we start K soon. Thank you all for sharing your creativity!

:iagree: This is so me.

[mrs.m]

I just stumbled on this yesterday. Although, I was considering something similar using school folders. I have to say I love this idea! I'm going to set-up it to make it works for where we are at. I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to get over my stuff (except, tearing up the books. Not gonna do that. ;) )

 

My hang-ups:

-I can't tear the workbooks apart. But I'm going to use post-its to keep track of what weeks the books cover and put the new book in at the starting point in the file box to keep us on track. I'm having problems with the paper trail on the back-end. They have to find their way into a binder or file folder once completed. And I know from last year, they'll be shoved in books and desks and in my mid-year exhaustion, I'll let it go. Before reading this thread, I decided that I needed to have everything printed and copied before even starting school. Having to print or copy something mid-day was NOT helpful to our progress!!!

 

 

-I have some weird short weeks on my calendar. And I'm at about 182 days to meet our state requirements. (State of MO requires tracking by hours, not days.) So I don't have a pretty 36 week. And I'm not sure how to handle those half-weeks that we have. I'm not sure if I'm making sense here. We all have them, like Thanksgiving for example. We can't take the whole week off and finish when I want to finish. So I guess I call that a "week" and just file the assignments for 2 days?

 

-We started mid-year last year with everything because of our virtual program being cut. I am making DD finish up math before we move on to the next level. We only got half-way finished with SOTW1. So in some subjects I can only plan so far because I don't have the new stuff yet and won't until I know we're closer to finishing. In many cases, I didn't care for what we were using last year, and ended up changing for the start of this year.

 

 

I am totally committed to the idea of starting to skim or skip if it is necessary because of illness or other craziness. My original schedule built in some catch-up days but my goal was to not use them. (yeah, right ;) ). But we got so bogged down in places last Spring and I kept pushing the schedule back and back to catch-up. I really started to feel like a loser-homeschool-mom. When I walked away from a break in June, I realized how far we did get! So I need to keep it positive!

[catholicmommy]

My hang-ups:

-I can't tear the workbooks apart. But I'm going to use post-its to keep track of what weeks the books cover and put the new book in at the starting point in the file box to keep us on track. I'm having problems with the paper trail on the back-end. They have to find their way into a binder or file folder once completed. And I know from last year, they'll be shoved in books and desks and in my mid-year exhaustion, I'll let it go. Before reading this thread, I decided that I needed to have everything printed and copied before even starting school. Having to print or copy something mid-day was NOT helpful to our progress!!!

 

Exactly the same conclusion i came to about photocopying...

 

If you aren't ripping apart your workbooks, make sure you have something to keep you on track. Remember, everytime you miss a day and then pick up where you left off just adds another day onto the end of your school year.

-I have some weird short weeks on my calendar. And I'm at about 182 days to meet our state requirements. (State of MO requires tracking by hours, not days.) So I don't have a pretty 36 week. And I'm not sure how to handle those half-weeks that we have. I'm not sure if I'm making sense here. We all have them, like Thanksgiving for example. We can't take the whole week off and finish when I want to finish. So I guess I call that a "week" and just file the assignments for 2 days?

 

It depends if you want to tie your weekly files to actual dates on the calendar. I have a rough guideline on paper, but i lable each week with a number, not a date. This allows me to be more flexible and not get out of sync when we need to take some time off or spread one folder over two weeks.

 

For long weekends, i either had the kids double up on the work (while crossing out a bunch of problems on each page), or simply just do the missed day's work orally. For 182 days, I would probably have 37 weekly folders and the 37 th one have only two extra days in it, for a nice treat at the end of the school year.

 

I am totally committed to the idea of starting to skim or skip if it is necessary because of illness or other craziness. My original schedule built in some catch-up days but my goal was to not use them. (yeah, right ;) ). But we got so bogged down in places last Spring and I kept pushing the schedule back and back to catch-up. I really started to feel like a loser-homeschool-mom. When I walked away from a break in June, I realized how far we did get! So I need to keep it positive!

 

Nah, not a loser-homeschool mom. Just a mom and kids who were jeallous of all the super organized moms who post each may on these boards that they are done already :confused:

 

As long as you set up a system being realistic about your own tendencies, it will last you through the year, and don't be too hard on yourself or too perfectionistic :)

[kwickimom]

-I have some weird short weeks on my calendar. And I'm at about 182 days to meet our state requirements. (State of MO requires tracking by hours, not days.) So I don't have a pretty 36 week. And I'm not sure how to handle those half-weeks that we have. I'm not sure if I'm making sense here. We all have them, like Thanksgiving for example. We can't take the whole week off and finish when I want to finish. So I guess I call that a "week" and just file the assignments for 2 days?

 

I would just call it a "week" Thats what I plan on doing...most of my weeks are actaully 4 days. Some weeks we may squish things into 3 days and some weeks we may go 5...we"ll see :) I scheduled everything but am not all contained by actual days or dates. I call things by "week" and then by "day" within the week but that is just a structure to keep on track. Like I may be doing week 2 day 4 on week 2 day five. I just broke it all up to make it manageable!

[JoyfulMama]

One question I have that I didn't see mentioned is about filing/planning for memory work each week. Honestly, this takes up the bulk of my planning time on the weekends! I use CM's memory box idea with notecards of memory work. During the week, I make notes in my planner when I get ideas for memory work for each kid (ds6 still doesn't know months of the year, etc.). Then on Sunday, I make sure each kid has a Bible verse, poem, prefixes/vocab, state/capital, etc.) It takes forever! Has anyone preplanned memory work for an entire year?? This would save me soooo much time! I did put each child's initials on each card and rubberbanded the set of cards at the end of the year with the grade level so when the next kid enters that grade, a lot of the work will already be done. How could this work with the filing system? Anyone have ideas for memory work planning in advance? :bigear:

 

I make up index cards all at one time for the year for Bible verse memory work. Then I just stick one card in each file folder. The completed cards can be filed in the CM memory system.

For poem memorization, I prefer for these to be on whole pages to be included in portfolios. So I can decide on poems to memorize, type or photocopy them, then file them in the weekly folders.

Now, all my kids do the same bible verses for memory work, but they do have different poems. Oh, and anything that I put on the computer is easy enough to save for future kids.

 

My hang-ups:

-I can't tear the workbooks apart. But I'm going to use post-its to keep track of what weeks the books cover and put the new book in at the starting point in the file box to keep us on track.

I used sticky notes last year when I didn't think about taking some workbooks apart. It worked great for us! (Also, then I didn't write on the folders, which I knew I wanted to reuse this year.)

 

-I have some weird short weeks on my calendar. And I'm at about 182 days to meet our state requirements. (State of MO requires tracking by hours, not days.) So I don't have a pretty 36 week. And I'm not sure how to handle those half-weeks that we have. I'm not sure if I'm making sense here. We all have them, like Thanksgiving for example. We can't take the whole week off and finish when I want to finish. So I guess I call that a "week" and just file the assignments for 2 days?

I have some 2 week periods that I plan to complete one folder. Make it simple. ;)

[mrs.m]

I have some 2 week periods that I plan to complete one folder. Make it simple. ;)

 

LOL! That's why I ask these questions here. It seems like someone always helps me figure out how to make it simple. You're right! We might just have a 7 day week over the course of 2 weeks. That makes sense to me! I'll label accordingly on my year round calendar. Our schedule in the fall is so weird because of a vacation that starts on Wed. and then all the other holidays.

[JoyfulMama]

LOL! That's why I ask these questions here. It seems like someone always helps me figure out how to make it simple. You're right! We might just have a 7 day week over the course of 2 weeks. That makes sense to me! I'll label accordingly on my year round calendar. Our schedule in the fall is so weird because of a vacation that starts on Wed. and then all the other holidays.

 

I don't even make it that difficult. Seriously. Give yourself time (and permission) to take a break. You might need extra days to pack or unpack, or just a couple days to do something different.

If you are really having a hard time getting "school days" in to count for your state regs, you might want to think about what you will or won't count for a school day. Do field trips count? Will any of your vacation days count? Will some non-school days count?

[RobinF]

Thanks so much to those who took the time to post and leave a detailed paper trail for the rest of us to follow. I have a few questions please. How do you handle having multiple children using the same curriculum? For example, I have 2 children using Elemental Science. Also, what do I do for history when we're using SOTW? Thanks SO MUCH for any replies. I really appreciate it!

 

:)Michele (still anxious but starting to feel a little bit better as my box starts to fill with tabbed files)

 

I have one set of files that keeps all the general stuff or stuff we do together in. Then I have individual files for the boys stuff that is specific.

 

I broke my files into 9 week units since we will be using TOG in the fall. I have 9 weeks for summer (we are finishing this school year). Then four 9 week units for TOG. I begain by filing everything in those files. Then I have one set of file folders for each boy in different colors.

 

In the summer general files (plain manila files) I have WWE and FLL since I am using that with both older boys, fun history stuff that we are finishing this summer and science stuff. Once we start a unit I move all their individual stuff into their file folders. So in their colored file folders I have math, phonics/reading, individual worksheets and handwriting.

 

I hope that makes sense. When I start everything is in the weekly files, then once we start a unit (set of 9 weeks) I move individual things to their individual files as appropriate. This helped because I didn't want to have 4 sets of 36 files.

 

I just stumbled on this yesterday. Although, I was considering something similar using school folders. I have to say I love this idea! I'm going to set-up it to make it works for where we are at. I'd appreciate any suggestions on how to get over my stuff (except, tearing up the books. Not gonna do that. ;) )

 

My hang-ups:

-I can't tear the workbooks apart. But I'm going to use post-its to keep track of what weeks the books cover and put the new book in at the starting point in the file box to keep us on track. I'm having problems with the paper trail on the back-end. They have to find their way into a binder or file folder once completed. And I know from last year, they'll be shoved in books and desks and in my mid-year exhaustion, I'll let it go. Before reading this thread, I decided that I needed to have everything printed and copied before even starting school. Having to print or copy something mid-day was NOT helpful to our progress!!!

 

 

-I have some weird short weeks on my calendar. And I'm at about 182 days to meet our state requirements. (State of MO requires tracking by hours, not days.) So I don't have a pretty 36 week. And I'm not sure how to handle those half-weeks that we have. I'm not sure if I'm making sense here. We all have them, like Thanksgiving for example. We can't take the whole week off and finish when I want to finish. So I guess I call that a "week" and just file the assignments for 2 days?

 

-We started mid-year last year with everything because of our virtual program being cut. I am making DD finish up math before we move on to the next level. We only got half-way finished with SOTW1. So in some subjects I can only plan so far because I don't have the new stuff yet and won't until I know we're closer to finishing. In many cases, I didn't care for what we were using last year, and ended up changing for the start of this year.

 

 

I am totally committed to the idea of starting to skim or skip if it is necessary because of illness or other craziness. My original schedule built in some catch-up days but my goal was to not use them. (yeah, right ;) ). But we got so bogged down in places last Spring and I kept pushing the schedule back and back to catch-up. I really started to feel like a loser-homeschool-mom. When I walked away from a break in June, I realized how far we did get! So I need to keep it positive!

 

I didn't tear my older boys handwriting notebooks or ETC apart. THey just know that have to do so many pages a day. I put a sticky note on the weekly folder to keep up with what we would be doing for those.

 

I know when we lived in MO one thing that I kept in mind was that if I did history for a day and it only took us 30 minutes I still counted that as "an hour" for records.

 

If you divide your material into 36 weeks and complete those 36 weeks then you should have plenty of "hours" for your record. Does that make sense? When I started hs in MO that was how one of my hs friends explained it to me. It isn't like if they do history in school for the day they are spending an hour on the material either.

[woolybear]

I'm having problems with the paper trail on the back-end. They have to find their way into a binder or file folder once completed. And I know from last year, they'll be shoved in books and desks and in my mid-year exhaustion, I'll let it go.

 

 

-I have some weird short weeks on my calendar. And I'm at about 182 days to meet our state requirements. (State of MO requires tracking by hours, not days.) So I don't have a pretty 36 week. And I'm not sure how to handle those half-weeks that we have. I'm not sure if I'm making sense here. We all have them, like Thanksgiving for example. We can't take the whole week off and finish when I want to finish. So I guess I call that a "week" and just file the assignments for 2 days?

 

 

 

 

I really started to feel like a loser-homeschool-mom. When I walked away from a break in June, I realized how far we did get! So I need to keep it positive!

 

As far as the paper trail at the end,maybe everything can go back into the folders and into the hanging folders to be sorted through at the end of each quarter or semester?

 

I would count the half weeks as weeks. I'm not sure about counting hours because I don't have to do that here, but to me Thanksgiving week is still a week with two days off. For the first time EVER I have planned out our schedule for the year. I will have 13 week trimesters. I only need 12 weeks,but am adding the 13th week as a cushion. Hopefully, at the end of the year we won't use that week at all. We will start Aug. 23rd, have two days off at Thanksgiving, 2 1/2 weeks off at Christmas, and the extra week every 12 weeks. The last day is scheduled for June 10th.

 

I know what you mean about feeling like a loser-homeschool-mom. I've been holding that title and am really needing to lose it. Feeling like that does not help things. Hopefully this system will help us both.:)