Does anyone incorporate a filing system for lesson plans?

[thowell]

Ok here is what I am thinking. We also are going to be using workboxes so I want to make my lesson plans for the year organized in a weekly spreadsheet. Every two weeks fill a filing system with the work for each child for the next two weeks and then place in work boxes on daily basis. So each child would have a folder in my box, those folders would have two folders in them to separate weeks then 5 dividers for work for each day to be pulled and placed in work boxes. This sounds like a lot but I hate to not be prepared ahead of time and have to scramble to get things together so this will always keep me at least two weeks prepared ahead of time. What do you all think? Please critique if you have better suggestions!

[thowell]

This is my plan. I am going to let each of m DDs pick out a new binder with dividers for each subject. Then every weekend, I will take out the completed work and transfer the new work for the week. I think I'll set aside individual binders for the completed work by subject in case we need to go back and find something.

 

I did the binders for completed work this year and it worked great. We have a finished box where things are placed after completed. Once a week I go through and sort them and have kiddos file them in correct binders.

[Mommee & Baba]

I thought it would be neat to do something really organized but kept thinking of how big of a daunting task it would be so I only did the full week of lesson plans. I have a folder holder that has a folder for each child for each day of the week. In that folder has the lessons for that particular day. I spend approx. 35-45min every Sunday preparing the weeks lessons and so far this has worked wonderful for us. I think this coming year I will continue this plan since it's working for us. I think that this year I might actually prepare 4 weeks in advance and keep those lessons in my desk filing drawer, but haven't fully decided on that just yet.

[extendedforecast]

I did the binders for completed work this year and it worked great. We have a finished box where things are placed after completed. Once a week I go through and sort them and have kiddos file them in correct binders.

 

It's good to know the binders worked for completed work. Did you find yourself referring back to the completed binders often?

I have all the details in my head now. All I have to do now is put everything in place. I've written down very vague plans for each subject for one child. I still have two more to go, and then I get into the detailed planning. This is going to take me weeks.

[jlcejb6]

I am fairly new to homeschooling, and kinda did a mish mash for our first year.( Mine are all fairly young and I just have one that is actually schooling, so I dont have much to keep up with yet.) I tend to lean towards wanting to be organized and filing and all that.... I just dont do it very well. I got some encouragement though from a an old post on the pioneerwomans blog in her homeschooling section called "how I saved my sanity and my Sunday nights" Its sorta like the filing system thats being talked about, but with binders.

It helped me, maybe it might help someone else. Anyway, here is the link if you want to read about it...

 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/2009/01/how-i-saved-my-sanity-and-sunday-evenings/

 

Blessings,

[catholicmommy]

Can you explain this? I am having a hard time comprehending how this works out. If you have history scheduled and you miss it do you skip it. I can see how it would work for Math because of review but not sure how it plays out for other subjects. Thanks

 

You are right.. it works much easier for math because of review etc... BUT it can still keep you on track for History and science. You just have to be able to let go of any perfectionism that you might have. (this is so hard for me).

 

Remember the Flylady craze... one of the things that really stuck with me, even though I don't follow her system anymore, is that 'housework done poorly still blesses your family'..... I take this to mean that doing a little bit regularly is so much better than not doing ANY because you don't have time to do it perfectly. ... Because if you do this too often you end up running out of time... and the boom or bust cycle just keeps me running around like a chicken with her head cut off LOL.

 

I apply this to our school work: if all we have time for in a week is to do the history readings and have a very good discussion about them, then we just leave it at that and move on. Just like math, it's better to skip a few projects/mapwork or writing here and there than to come to the end of June and still have 1/4 of the year left. kwim? Then you either get burned out and give up, or keep dragging out and get farther and farther behind.

 

It took me three years to get through ancients before I figured out that I could let go of the idea that it all had to be perfectly done. You don't have to be perfect and you don't have to do it all! Why not give yourself a break and give yourself permission to let stuff go here and there throughout the year, instead of feeling like quitting at the end when you aren't even close to being done.

[catholicmommy]

I did the binders for completed work this year and it worked great. We have a finished box where things are placed after completed. Once a week I go through and sort them and have kiddos file them in correct binders.

 

This is basically what we did as well... except I was more liberal about throwing stuff out and just keeping samples of things... for example, I often would only put the math tests in the binder and toss the rest. I hate having paper everywhere and clutter drives me insane.

 

The very act of ripping apart the books and filing them, and then tossing most of the finished worksheets enabled me to feel more like -I- was the one in charge of their education and -not- the textbook.

:)

Sometimes we can start to feel like we are slaves to the curriculum, when it should be the other way around, kwim?

[RobinF]

You are right.. it works much easier for math because of review etc... BUT it can still keep you on track for History and science. You just have to be able to let go of any perfectionism that you might have. (this is so hard for me).

 

Remember the Flylady craze... one of the things that really stuck with me, even though I don't follow her system anymore, is that 'housework done poorly still blesses your family'..... I take this to mean that doing a little bit regularly is so much better than not doing ANY because you don't have time to do it perfectly. ... Because if you do this too often you end up running out of time... and the boom or bust cycle just keeps me running around like a chicken with her head cut off LOL.

 

I apply this to our school work: if all we have time for in a week is to do the history readings and have a very good discussion about them, then we just leave it at that and move on. Just like math, it's better to skip a few projects/mapwork or writing here and there than to come to the end of June and still have 1/4 of the year left. kwim? Then you either get burned out and give up, or keep dragging out and get farther and farther behind.

 

It took me three years to get through ancients before I figured out that I could let go of the idea that it all had to be perfectly done. You don't have to be perfect and you don't have to do it all! Why not give yourself a break and give yourself permission to let stuff go here and there throughout the year, instead of feeling like quitting at the end when you aren't even close to being done.

 

Are you talking to me (bolded part)? :D

 

The rest makes sense and I am thinking that this may be a very good plan for us this next year. Trying to wrap my brain around how this will "look" for us.

[MamaMamaMama!!]

You are right.. it works much easier for math because of review etc... BUT it can still keep you on track for History and science. You just have to be able to let go of any perfectionism that you might have. (this is so hard for me).

 

Remember the Flylady craze... one of the things that really stuck with me, even though I don't follow her system anymore, is that 'housework done poorly still blesses your family'..... I take this to mean that doing a little bit regularly is so much better than not doing ANY because you don't have time to do it perfectly. ... Because if you do this too often you end up running out of time... and the boom or bust cycle just keeps me running around like a chicken with her head cut off LOL.

 

I apply this to our school work: if all we have time for in a week is to do the history readings and have a very good discussion about them, then we just leave it at that and move on. Just like math, it's better to skip a few projects/mapwork or writing here and there than to come to the end of June and still have 1/4 of the year left. kwim? Then you either get burned out and give up, or keep dragging out and get farther and farther behind.

 

It took me three years to get through ancients before I figured out that I could let go of the idea that it all had to be perfectly done. You don't have to be perfect and you don't have to do it all! Why not give yourself a break and give yourself permission to let stuff go here and there throughout the year, instead of feeling like quitting at the end when you aren't even close to being done.

 

Okay THAT is inspiring. A little bit regularly is a better than not doing any! Whoot! As a busy Mom of soon to be 6 I needed that! It *IS* so much better to do a little all year than to stretch a year out for two years!:bigear:

[catholicmommy]

Are you talking to me (bolded part)? :D

 

The rest makes sense and I am thinking that this may be a very good plan for us this next year. Trying to wrap my brain around how this will "look" for us.

 

Aren't we all, as homeschoolers, the perfectionist types? :grouphug: I figure that's what got us into this mess in the first place :lol: Of course -I- can homeschool because I can teach them SO much better than any school teacher could LOL.

 

(in my mind I am the perfect teacher and mother... it's just how it works out in real time where I get into trouble... like today, for example: I'm not even dressed yet and it's already after 2pm. Sigh... I could have just thrown some clothes on when I got up (didn't have time for a shower with the baby up before me) and looked half-decent when the painter came to the door to give us a quote LOL, but instead i'm still in my jammies because I was waiting for the time to do it all perfectly).

[catholicmommy]

Okay THAT is inspiring. A little bit regularly is a better than not doing any! Whoot! As a busy Mom of soon to be 6 I needed that! It *IS* so much better to do a little all year than to stretch a year out for two years!:bigear:

 

I started learning to let go when my twins were born the year my oldest started first grade.

 

The little bit at a time plan showed it's success the most in our latin studies this year. Because it was in our file system, we always got to it. There was no extra step to run and find the materials etc... and so the kids really retained a lot. I was amazed by how much they retained, even though we didn't DO every worksheet. We just kept on going week after week and the cumulative review kept us remembering the lessons we didn't devote as much time to.

[MamaMamaMama!!]

Well I always end up not doing something. This year we skiped the last month of our HIstory cirric because we were so far behind. I think the file system will help that alot because we will do something out of each week instead of nothing out of a bunch of weeks! Im ripping out workbook pages as we speak!

[momteaches2]

There are lots of great ideas on this post!

 

Here's what I do...

 

This summer, I am entering all my plans into HST+. As I plan, I am printing/copying worksheets, tests, etc. These go into a hanging file folder labeled for each subject. I don't sort the pages by week. I just put them in the folder in order.

 

As I plan for each week, I put the week's work in their binder behind dividers labeled for the days of the week. I put their daily assignment sheet behind the divider, as well. These are printed out from HST.

 

I print out two of each assignment sheet. One goes in their binder, and one goes in my planner. I use my proclick binder to bind their pages into a master planner for me. That way, I can record their grades/assignments completed in my planner. Then, as I prep for the next week, I put grades in my HST and mark the assignments complete. This allows me to see what I need to reschedule for the following week if we didn't get to something.

 

At the end of the week, I take the completed work out of the weekly binders and put it in subject binders that I keep on a bookshelf. At the end of each quarter we sort through the subject binders and purge - keeping only a sampling of their work to be stored at the end of the year.

 

So, in short, I print out everything in the summer and store it in a crate by subject. At the beginning of the week, I put all necessary papers and assignment pages in their weekly binders. At the end of the week, I put their completed work in the subject binders. At the end of the quarter we purge the subject binders keeping only a portion of the work. At the end of the year, I put their work in one big binder (per child) and store it for good.

[MamaMamaMama!!]

Now THAT is super organized. ;)

[bugaboo]

I print out quarterly lesson plan pages from donnayoung.org. I break out each subject by qtr. and figure out how many lessons we need to complete each qtr. I dont try and plan our days or weeks. I am only home schooling 1.

[Geek]

Now THAT is super organized. ;)

No kidding! She's impressive. I must admit I got a little dizzy contemplating it, though. :blink: I'd enjoy doing something like that...for about a week. Then I'd fall apart.

 

I think I like the idea of being organized more than I like the work required to pull it off. I'm rather pathetic that way.

[MicheleinMN]

No kidding! She's impressive. I must admit I got a little dizzy contemplating it, though. :blink: I'd enjoy doing something like that...for about a week. Then I'd fall apart.

 

I think I like the idea of being organized more than I like the work required to pull it off. I'm rather pathetic that way.

 

Hey, I resemble that remark!

[KJsMom]

I think I like the idea of being organized more than I like the work required to pull it off. I'm rather pathetic that way.

 

Me too! That's why I think that the weekly filing system will work for us. I get excited for a week or so and I'm hoping I can finish setting up everything before it wears off! :D Then it will be just pull out the file and do it. I already have made a pretty good start.

[extendedforecast]

There are lots of great ideas on this post!

 

Here's what I do...

 

This summer, I am entering all my plans into HST+. As I plan, I am printing/copying worksheets, tests, etc. These go into a hanging file folder labeled for each subject. I don't sort the pages by week. I just put them in the folder in order.

 

As I plan for each week, I put the week's work in their binder behind dividers labeled for the days of the week. I put their daily assignment sheet behind the divider, as well. These are printed out from HST.

 

I print out two of each assignment sheet. One goes in their binder, and one goes in my planner. I use my proclick binder to bind their pages into a master planner for me. That way, I can record their grades/assignments completed in my planner. Then, as I prep for the next week, I put grades in my HST and mark the assignments complete. This allows me to see what I need to reschedule for the following week if we didn't get to something.

 

At the end of the week, I take the completed work out of the weekly binders and put it in subject binders that I keep on a bookshelf. At the end of each quarter we sort through the subject binders and purge - keeping only a sampling of their work to be stored at the end of the year.

 

So, in short, I print out everything in the summer and store it in a crate by subject. At the beginning of the week, I put all necessary papers and assignment pages in their weekly binders. At the end of the week, I put their completed work in the subject binders. At the end of the quarter we purge the subject binders keeping only a portion of the work. At the end of the year, I put their work in one big binder (per child) and store it for good.

 

This is great. How many students do you have? I especially like the idea of paring down the number of papers every quarter and saving a binder for each child at the end of the year.

[Time for Chocolate]

You all are so inspiring! :001_smile:

 

I've heard about creating notebooks by grading period for each child. So if you like to teach 6 weeks and then take off a week, the week off can be spent preparing for the next six weeks while the children engage in interest led learning or just play.

 

I like the idea of have everything laid out for the whole year since I too tend to never feel finished with year because life does get in the way.

 

I've just bought workboxes; I think I''ll use them to store their books by subject. Sorting the work for the year into 36 folders or into notebooks sounds great. I'm thinking I'll put the pages for the week into a notebook divided by days and then go through it at the end of the week and decide what to keep in the master notebook and what to disgard, like some of you suggested.

 

Does that sound doable? I tend to make things more complicated than they need to be and then give up a few weeks into it. I don't want to be like that anymore. I would love to finally be confident and prepared!

 

Thanks for listening! Y'all are awesome!!:grouphug:

[extendedforecast]

Ok here is what I am thinking. We also are going to be using workboxes so I want to make my lesson plans for the year organized in a weekly spreadsheet. Every two weeks fill a filing system with the work for each child for the next two weeks and then place in work boxes on daily basis. So each child would have a folder in my box, those folders would have two folders in them to separate weeks then 5 dividers for work for each day to be pulled and placed in work boxes. This sounds like a lot but I hate to not be prepared ahead of time and have to scramble to get things together so this will always keep me at least two weeks prepared ahead of time. What do you all think? Please critique if you have better suggestions!

 

I think it sounds great. This way you'll only have to gather your materials every two weeks instead of every night or every week. Also, it allows for more flexibility in changing your plans if the need arises. I wish something like this would work for me. Unfortunately, knowing me, I would just keep pushing certain subjects back like I did this year. Is this your first year using workboxes?

[I.Dup.]

Sigh... I could have just thrown some clothes on when I got up (didn't have time for a shower with the baby up before me) and looked half-decent when the painter came to the door to give us a quote LOL, but instead i'm still in my jammies because I was waiting for the time to do it all perfectly).

 

This is SO me!! And hey, we're in the process of converting to Catholicism right now :001_smile: I wish you were my neighbor, I like you! :D

 

I did a loose version of what you described this past year, and it has been the only way we've gotten anything done. Baby #5 was born halfway through the year, and I wouldn't have survived if I had not done the weekly plan. I've followed Dawn's blog sporadically for a couple of years (the By Sun and Candlelight already posted) and I LOVE and envy her organization. In my dreams I would be that organized. I loved her weekly file system from the first time I saw it, and plan to work on that in much more detail this year.

 

I need a weekly plan with everything photocopied and planned way beforehand. That's just how I roll. I hate searching for stray worksheets, stray papers, random workbooks, etc, etc, etc. So much easier to have it all in one place, already laid out for me. And working on it is actually fun :D

[AudreyTN]

I've heard about creating notebooks by grading period for each child. So if you like to teach 6 weeks and then take off a week, the week off can be spent preparing for the next six weeks while the children engage in interest led learning or just play.

 

Jessica @ Trivium Academy (who no longer homeschools, btw) posted about her Quarter Binder system.

 

Here is a link to her blog... I think it's the same response as posted above.

 

Hope that helps someone!!

[MamaMamaMama!!]

Jessica @ Trivium Academy (who no longer homeschools, btw) posted about her Quarter Binder system.

 

Here is a link to her blog... I think it's the same response as posted above.

 

Hope that helps someone!!

 

Yes this is who I was thinking of! Did I say I set up our binders? I set them up by subject instead of by days of the week. Then like workboxes I put sticky notes on each divider with instructions like "Work With Mom" or "2pgs daily" and then a post it that lists independent work.. Like this:

 

1. Daily Bible Reading (we use the 1 year Bible for Kids for personal bible reading)

2. Math

3. Handwriting

4. Reader (which is assigned reading)

 

 

And there are two MOre tabs for things they need to work with Mom on with paper preloaded for the week. In the last pocket is a page for writing down any additional book basket titles or library books they finsih for free reading.

 

 

Okay my other Q. How are you storing completed work? I thought about those 3 drawer boxes but I'd need two sets.. The kids could clean their file for the week, toss the papers in there, and then reload binders. Then at the end of the month I could clean the drawers out and put completed work samples in their portfolios (binders).

 

 

LOL Seems like a LOT of binders! We have a portfolio binder, a working binder, AND our notebooking binders (MFW). I will be the Binder Queen this year~:lol:

[AudreyTN]

Please keep in mind that I haven't READ all of the posts here... I've skimmed most of them though...

 

I've heard of using one binder and having 36 (or however man school weeks you do) tabs. When you're done (or before you begin) all of the work for that week is behind that tab.

 

I'm trying to process this whole idea. With 3 schooling kids, me and the "preschooler" I really need to keep binders to a minimum.

[MamaMamaMama!!]

Please keep in mind that I haven't READ all of the posts here... I've skimmed most of them though...

 

I've heard of using one binder and having 36 (or however man school weeks you do) tabs. When you're done (or before you begin) all of the work for that week is behind that tab.

 

I'm trying to process this whole idea. With 3 schooling kids, me and the "preschooler" I really need to keep binders to a minimum.

 

 

Sonlight binders are like that. Their binders are 3in thick. To have ONE binder for 3 kids your binder would be HUGE. LOL. We are doing the same thing basically but with a filing cabnet. But if we didnt have one I think crates would work. For us it would have to be on crate for my older kids as they study the same thing basically (not 3r's) and one for my 1st grader as he's doing something different. Pre Ker just has a binder with papers in it, not a particular schedule.

[AudreyTN]

To have ONE binder for 3 kids your binder would be HUGE. LOL.

 

LOL, yes it would... that's not exactly what I meant though. :) I just meant that each child would have one binder as opposed to a binder for each subject. :)

 

I've been toying with the file box idea - even before this thread.

[catholicmommy]

Me too! That's why I think that the weekly filing system will work for us. I get excited for a week or so and I'm hoping I can finish setting up everything before it wears off! :D Then it will be just pull out the file and do it. I already have made a pretty good start.

 

Exactly the same way i am!!!!!

 

that is just why the weekly filing system worked for me last year.... I was excited about it long enough to get organized and then it literally carried me through the rest of the year.... Especially through those awful months after Xmas when you just don't want to keep going. That's always where I lose my momentum and end up dropping everything but math and language arts.

 

This time, when I got to January and feb, it was easy to see that if I skipped a whole week, it would just be pushing our end date that much further into the summer, so I was motivated to keep on going, one week at a time.

 

 

Of course i'm still waiting for the burst of planning energy to come, so I haven't started filing anything yet LOL. I guess I should get started so I can keep up with all of you super moms :001_smile:

[catholicmommy]

I think it sounds great. This way you'll only have to gather your materials every two weeks instead of every night or every week. Also, it allows for more flexibility in changing your plans if the need arises. I wish something like this would work for me. Unfortunately, knowing me, I would just keep pushing certain subjects back like I did this year. Is this your first year using workboxes?

 

Cindy,

 

I finally realized this too.... Although it's nice to have the flexibility of being able to change my plans if other things come up, the basic math of it is that if I don't do something when I planned to do it, it just pushes my end of school date further and further into the summer. So, that's why I decided we either do it when I said I would (perfectly or not), or toss it in the recycling and move on.

 

One thing that did help add a bit of flexibility to our schedule, is that I took a yearly calendar when i was in the middle of planning, and penciled in what weeks we would be doing school from aug to may. I realized that 36 weeks of school still left for quite a few days of holiday.

 

Before, when we were just doing the next thing, I never felt like we had time to take two weeks off at xmas and a week for Easter etc.... I always felt guilty because I had so much school hanging over my head and no real sense of how many weeks of work we had left to do. Being able to see them nicely laid out in folders helped me take time off when I needed to. So If we needed to take a week off, we would pick up with the next week when we went back. No big deal.

 

The one thing to watch out for is long weekends.... These can mess things up in the system I'd you aren't prepared for them. For us, we decided it was worth keeping the simplicity of the system to cram 4 days of work into 5, which usually meant that we picked the work that was the most important and tossed the rest LOL. It sounds awful, but it was so freeing to be able to keep moving forward each week.... And this was our best school year yet.

[Mommee & Baba]

Man I really need to make room for the binder system. I can do file folders because I have a desk that has big filing drawers that can be used. BUT I just don't have the space right now. I'm gonna have to find some shelving units to put up so I can use the binders neatly and organized.

[AudreyTN]

I'm gonna have to find some shelving units to put up so I can use the binders neatly and organized.

 

I know this doesn't help the space issue, but I like to "shelve" my binders in filing crates.

[catholicmommy]

This is SO me!! And hey, we're in the process of converting to Catholicism right now :001_smile: I wish you were my neighbor, I like you! :D

 

I did a loose version of what you described this past year, and it has been the only way we've gotten anything done. Baby #5 was born halfway through the year, and I wouldn't have survived if I had not done the weekly plan. I've followed Dawn's blog sporadically for a couple of years (the By Sun and Candlelight already posted) and I LOVE and envy her organization. In my dreams I would be that organized. I loved her weekly file system from the first time I saw it, and plan to work on that in much more detail this year.

 

I need a weekly plan with everything photocopied and planned way beforehand. That's just how I roll. I hate searching for stray worksheets, stray papers, random workbooks, etc, etc, etc. So much easier to have it all in one place, already laid out for me. And working on it is actually fun :D

 

Oh fun! I would love to have you be my neighbor! Everyone around here thinks we are nutty! I have four boys aged 8mo-7 with two girls on the mix as well, so I can certainly relate :001_smile:

 

I like dawn's blog too.... In fact I spend far too much time on the computer reading about organizing instead of actually doing anything. The most productive time for me this year was when I gave up the the computer for lent :D.

 

Now that my husband gave me an iPad for my Birthday I'm hopeless again.

 

I am trying to figure out some good ways to supplement my filed system with my iPad though. I'm thinking about keeping all of my flash cards and memory work and the Latin audio files on here ....actually now that I'm thinking about it, I could set up 36 folders in evernote and have everything nicely organized in there to go with my paper files.

[catholicmommy]

 

Okay my other Q. How are you storing completed work? I thought about those 3 drawer boxes but I'd need two sets.. The kids could clean their file for the week, toss the papers in there, and then reload binders. Then at the end of the month I could clean the drawers out and put completed work samples in their portfolios (binders).

 

:lol:

 

I do the ultimate in lazy. They keep their finished work in the folder with the number on it, and then I just refile the folder, but I'm sure there is a better way to do it. For subjects like math it doesn't really matter.i do make up a small portfolio binder with unit tests, and a few things from the year.

 

For science and history they have spiral notebooks or binders to keep their work all together, but I'm not as organized as i'd like to be.

[woolybear]

 

I apply this to our school work: if all we have time for in a week is to do the history readings and have a very good discussion about them, then we just leave it at that and move on. Just like math, it's better to skip a few projects/mapwork or writing here and there than to come to the end of June and still have 1/4 of the year left. kwim? Then you either get burned out and give up, or keep dragging out and get farther and farther behind.

 

 

 

Very wise. I need to reread this and reread this. Thank you.

[woolybear]

I am trying to figure out how we can do this. We don't have workbooks at this point, nor many worksheets.....

[catholicmommy]

Man I really need to make room for the binder system. I can do file folders because I have a desk that has big filing drawers that can be used. BUT I just don't have the space right now. I'm gonna have to find some shelving units to put up so I can use the binders neatly and organized.

 

This blog shows how she organizes her binders and files. I like how she takes them all out for the week and keeps the binders propped up by the crates on the counter and then puts them away for the weekend. I think I could live with that. It just makes such a difference in how much work we get done and how quickly we start the day when all of our supplies and books are right there.

 

I have wondered if I should splurge on getting some desk apprentices from staples to keep everyone's stuff in. Right now we have crates for each kid, with all their books, pencils, scissors, glue, erasers, blank paper, rulers and even the matching teacher guides so I can find everything when I need it.

[catholicmommy]

I know this doesn't help the space issue, but I like to "shelve" my binders in filing crates.

 

Where do you keep your crates? I like that idea... Just trying to picture where to store the crates without me tripping on them, or my baby getting into them all the time.

[AudreyTN]

We have very limited space so we "school" wherever we can. The crates help keep things mobile. Here is a post on my blog from last August with pictures of how my kitchen/homeschool area is set up. In one of the pics you can see some binders on the black bookshelf... currently they (and more :)) are stacked on the other side of the little brown bookshelf in the hallway. I do stand the crate on it's side so that it's still like a bookshelf.

[kathkath]

oh I am LOVING this thread!

 

Something I've done in recently is scan in my files and save them as pdfs. Then I printed them out as thumbnails (16 per page, so 32 per paper doublesided) and put them in 3 prong folders. Then I can use those thumbnails as a visual index. Even 16 per page I can read the larger text in titles/headings etc. It is also easier to get a birds-eye view of the sequence of things because you can look at a lot of pages at once. I think that would work well for those of you who are making master copies of everything.

[catholicmommy]

I am trying to figure out how we can do this. We don't have workbooks at this point, nor many worksheets.....

 

We don't have tons of workbooks either, but it still worked great even for the subjects that didn't.

 

First, I went through the planning forms you can get off the simply Charlotte mason website to plan how to break up our year into weekly chunks. This is an ebook that's 11 dollars.... You don't even need to do that. You can just print out some planners from donna young for free, and break up your year into 36 weeks (some people like 32, some like more).

 

Then go subject by subject and plan out what you need to do each week in order to be finished in 36 weeks. After you have done that, get out your files. Start with week one and pretend you are going to be starting weaken one today. What do you need to photocopy so it will already be done? Do you need to type up a list of library books to check out? Add it to the folder. Do you have some picture study to do? Put a copy of the artwork in the folder.

 

I see you are doing the serendipity alphabet path and gnomes.... Print out the stories from her website and file them in each week. Then you won't have to find them online each day. Print out the recipes and craft instructions and put them in your folders too. I have one folder per week per child.

 

If you celebrate any of the Christian feast days like advent etc, put ideas for that in your folders too. Basically anything that i would have to prep before we do it, like printing off copy work pages, or note booking templates etc, I just did in the summer in one big lump to make it pick up and go in the school year.

 

For our non consumable subjects like All About Spelling, I am still trying to plan how to work that in. We didn't include it in the system last year because we ditched spelling workout halfway through the fall in favor of AAS, so it was too late in my one track mind to work it in. As a result, we got really behind in it. I think what we will do this year, is include blank templates for his written seeking practice each week so I have something tangible that reminds me to pull out the tiles and white board. Even if it's just a bank sheet with the title AAS on the top and the numbers 1-10 along the side.

 

I have trained the kids to know that they need to finish all the work in their files by friday, so I will know if that blank paper is still sitting in there that we didn't get to much soiling that week.

 

Does that help?

[thowell]

Dh and I are going to build a set of shelves out of 1x3s. It will be short enough to fit nicely under the windows and long enough for each kiddo to have one shelf with all their work boxes for each day and a file box for the weekly files. I will also have enough space at the end to place all their text books and binders when not in use. I have given up searching for the perfect sized shelf and when we added up the cost it will be less than $30 to build ourselves. We have several other bookcases that are for extra reading which are also organized by reading level. Hopefully this will keep everyone's things in one place. Add in one tall plastic drawer set for all supplies and Presto! instant organization. Now let's see how long this works!! lol

[I.Dup.]

Melanie, so you are writing all of this from your iPad? :001_tt1: You can use it like a laptop except it does a lot more too, is that right? I've been drooling over them and dh is thinking of getting me one for our anniv. in August. I still don't know what it can do though. Which one do you have? Do you really like it?

 

I know what you mean about reading more than doing. The computer is terrible for me in so many ways. We gave it up for about 9 months and just recently got it back in our house. It took me a good 6 months to be able to not want to go to the coffeeshop and get online every chance I got (I did that once or twice a week) and then soon after I was glad not to have it, dh decided he wanted it back. I really enjoyed living without it though, once I got used to just reading actual books and actually being productive. But I'm glad to have it in a lot of ways again too, if it were my choice I'd live without it though. It's hard.

 

eta: i commented on your blog too :)

[MamaMamaMama!!]

I am trying to figure out how we can do this. We don't have workbooks at this point, nor many worksheets.....

 

 

One thing that I can add to what other pp have already said is that I dont have much workbooky stuff for my first grader either! But I pulled any books we are using that we already own and filed them according to week. Also if there were books that we use for multiple weeks but not right away....like we have a science book that we dont use till week 20 or so, I filed it there so I didnt have to shuffle it on the bookshelf all year. If I had a game I would put a 3x5 in the file with the game written on it so I'd remember. You could carry the 3x5 idea over for library books, videos, projects or feild trips. I love 3x5s. Then when you say go on a feild trip you can write the day in and then file that for record keeping!

 

For my Preschooler I have 3x5s with all our hands on PreK stuff written on them.. 34 cards not games, then I just put one in each week so I pull that game/manipulative for the week.

 

For my other kids who use non-workbooky stuff like Primary/Intermediate Language Lessons, Writing Strands and Spelling Power I put pre punched lined paper in each divider. AND I prepunched a TON of paper so when it runs out I can grab it. One of my kids is using R&S spelling which has you doing two tests on lined paper so in his file for a week are his two worksheets and 2 sheets of lined paper. The only bad thing is this particular book uses the back side of last weeks worksheet for this weeks word list! I almost ran copies of those pages so that I wouldnt have a carry over workbook page!

 

 

 

See I was on this bandwagon but just hadnt jumped ship ripping my workbooks apart quiet yet.:tongue_smilie:

[catholicmommy]

 

Melanie, so you are writing all of this from your iPad? :001_tt1: You can use it like a laptop except it does a lot more too, is that right? I've been drooling over them and dh is thinking of getting me one for our anniv. in August. I still don't know what it can do though. Which one do you have? Do you really like it?

 

I have the cheapest one and wifi. I love it, and yes I've been typing all my messages on it. It's slower than my desktop, but I like the portability of it, and the touchscreen. I do need to set some limits for myself though. Nine months without a computer is amazing. We aren't a tv family and people always think we are crazy not having that around.... Imagine not having a computer.... I can see how freeing that would be. I noticed since i have had my ipad that I stopped reading my real books too (even the ebooks on my Sony reader) because I have been too busy reading things on the net. I need to make sure I ge back to that. I was thinking of fasting from the Internet on Fridays and Sundays, but haven't started yet....

[catholicmommy]

One thing that I can add to what other pp have already said is that I dont have much workbooky stuff for my first grader either! But I pulled any books we are using that we already own and filed them according to week. Also if there were books that we use for multiple weeks but not right away....like we have a science book that we dont use till week 20 or so, I filed it there so I didnt have to shuffle it on the bookshelf all year. If I had a game I would put a 3x5 in the file with the game written on it so I'd remember. You could carry the 3x5 idea over for library books, videos, projects or feild trips. I love 3x5s. Then when you say go on a feild trip you can write the day in and then file that for record keeping!

 

For my Preschooler I have 3x5s with all our hands on PreK stuff written on them.. 34 cards not games, then I just put one in each week so I pull that game/manipulative for the week.

 

For my other kids who use non-workbooky stuff like Primary/Intermediate Language Lessons, Writing Strands and Spelling Power I put pre punched lined paper in each divider.

 

 

 

See I was on this bandwagon but just hadnt jumped ship ripping my workbooks apart quiet yet.:tongue_smilie:

 

I love your idea of the 3x5s for library books, games, videos, etc. Thanks! Anything to make it more likely that i'll actually do those things is great!

[woolybear]

Catholicmommy and MamaMamaMama,

 

Okay. I get what you are saying. Here's some specific questions. First of all, my plans have slightly changed from what is in my sig. With TOG, one of the things that I liked about it, is the notebooks people put together. I like the idea of having them bound. It seems much more organized and....nice:). lol.

So, I am thinking about this as I am typing this. If I have a way to have them bound, but can pull out sheets and put in as needed (like Levanger, but cheaper....does this exist?) I guess I could just get all the pages ready, file them in a crate system, then when they are done put them into a folder and have it bound at the end of the year. Or....the kind of thing (preferably not a binder) where we can pull out and put in as we go. I'm not sure if my rambling is making sense. Sorry.

 

Okay....next question. Ambleside. This is a lot of reading aloud with narration at this point. It seems that big chunks of what we do will not be able to be included. What about copywork? Instead of in a copywork book would it need to be on individual pages?

 

What about things like science that uses an IG? I don't want to copy off every page of the IG. Do you rip apart IGs too? It seems that would be very helpful, but then there is less resale value. I'm sure that shouldn't be the priority. It should be making this all work for me. Also, I have things like Lessons from History. Which is a comb bound book with individual readings in it. Does that just go in a separate box nearby? It seems like I'm not much better off if I have so many things "in a box nearby."

 

I am not sure how much OM I will be using, but again with the syllabus I'm not sure how to make this easier. I'm really being slow about this.:D

 

I like the 3x5 cards. That way I can easily and quickly see what is needed for that week. Maybe one for supplies, library books, and one for books we have at home. That way I easily know what I need to get ready.

 

Still trying to wrap my brain around this. Thank you for all the help so far.

[Mert]

:bigear: You ladies have got my mental wheels aturnin'! Thanks for all the wonderful ideas!

[*Jessica*]

This is my favorite thread ever and catholicmommy is my hero. *happy sigh* I wish I didn't have a house that needs cleaned, because I would love to start planning and filling my folders right now!

 

ETA ~ I wanted to touch on the issue of taking workbooks and instructor's guides apart. I try to look at every homeschool expense as if the item purchased will be mine forever. If it's not worth the money I paid for it without taking any resale value into account, then it's not worth the money at all. It's still a lot cheaper than paying for private school, right? And we are a struggling one-income family, so I understand that it can be hard to let go of the "I'll sell it and get my money back when we're done with it" mentality. For me, it has been worth every penny lost in resale value to take things apart so that they actually get used.

Edited June 27, 2010 by *Jessica*

[catholicmommy]

Catholicmommy and MamaMamaMama,

 

Okay. I get what you are saying. Here's some specific questions. First of all, my plans have slightly changed from what is in my sig. With TOG, one of the things that I liked about it, is the notebooks people put together. I like the idea of having them bound. It seems much more organized and....nice:).

 

 

 

First of all, I am no expert in homeschooling organization LOL..:) i can only tell you what worked for my little family, our curriculum, and my own perfectionistic lazy personality. This system will not work for everyone. As with any system, if it doesn't fit what your needs are then you won't be motivated to keep it up.

 

As far as TOG notebooks go... here's my take. If you bind everything already, and have the whole notebook ready to go, it takes away some of your flexibility. Say you have a week where everyone gets the tummy flu and all you can manage in history is doing the read alouds and getting some oral narrations. If you wanted to keep on moving to the next lesson the following week, you will have empty pages in your notebook making you feel guilty, or you will have to do it next week and then have your end date for TOG pushed back further... this happens a lot in our family, and I kept ending up each year more and more behind. If the notebook pages were not bound yet, but filed per week, you have the flexibility of skipping some of them.

 

What i would do, is bind them as you go, in a duotang or whatever makes you happy, and then if you want to bind them nicely at the end of the year you can.

 

 

Okay....next question. Ambleside. This is a lot of reading aloud with narration at this point. It seems that big chunks of what we do will not be able to be included. What about copywork? Instead of in a copywork book would it need to be on individual pages?

 

Read alouds: It depends if you want to make sure you really get to everything all year, or if you are just going with the flow and seeing how many you will get done.

 

If you are just going with the flow, then keep your books handy and read when you can, and don't worry about filing anything.

 

If you want it planned out, then use index cards or pieces of paper or sticky notes on the inside flap of each weekly file folder etc.. and work out what you need to read each week so you are done in 36, and write it down. For example: on week one you could write Book A: pg 1-40, Book B: pg 1-25 etc...

Simply Charlotte Mason has great advice for planing out how many pages to read each day so that you will get your goals accomplished by the end of the year. I linked to their planning ebook in an earlier message in this thread

 

 

For copywork: Again, I would have blank templates that I intend to file together later. Don't make too much work for yourself. If you like the idea of a copywork book that's nicely bound, then keep it.. just stick a sheet or index card or whatever in the weekly file to remind you and your child that copywork needs to be done. For me, I forget things or tend to get lazy if they aren't right in front of me, so that's why I rip the books apart.

 

The way I have my system laid out is:

 

1) file crate with 36 folders (and a few extra folders at the back for admin stuff).

 

2) big box or basket (one for each child) with:

-pencil case

-all the IG (TMs) for each of their subjects (only if I use them daily)

-AAS box of index cards

-non-consumable books: like apologia science text, FLL 1/2 text, Readers for my K/gr1,

 

 

 

 

What about things like science that uses an IG? I don't want to copy off every page of the IG. Do you rip apart IGs too? It seems that would be very helpful, but then there is less resale value. I'm sure that shouldn't be the priority. It should be making this all work for me. Also, I have things like Lessons from History. Which is a comb bound book with individual readings in it. Does that just go in a separate box nearby? It seems like I'm not much better off if I have so many things "in a box nearby."

 

 

 

I didn't rip apart IG for any subjects, because I like to keep those bound together for my upcoming kids, and it would be a paper nightmare for me. I'm sure i'd lose some important things. I keep them in one of the kids bins so it's handy. The things I have in the file folders are work the kids need to do. So any lab sheets, notebooking pages, lapbooking templates printed out and ready to go etc... If I wanted some specific pages out of the IG then I would just photocopy them and file them where needed.

 

I'm not familiar with Lessons from History, but we did use Writing Tales 2 last year, which had readings interspersed with worksheets etc... . I did end up ripping out all the pages, and it worked out just fine. I would do it again that way. The only dangerous part was if they lose the papers with the story printed on them, then it's hard to do the worksheets LOL. I just had to keep my eye on things and make sure they always got put away.

 

In the end, any system you use should be tweaked to work for you. Don't feel like you are doing it 'wrong' or anything. There IS no wrong. It's simply a tool for you as a teacher to help you get to the end of your school year and feel like you accomplished what you set out to do!

 

When trying out any new system, always ask yourself if it is something that is going to make your life EASIER or MORE DIFFICULT, because if it's the latter, you will likely not be following ANY system by the time Feb rolls around and it's a struggle to keep going even with the BEST system.

 

I hope that helps, and I wasn't too long and rambly (is that a word ? :) )

[Avila]

Just saying a big thank you to the OP in this thread. What you are saying seems so obvious after reading it!

 

I tried to do something similiar with a 3-ring binder last year, but I gave up because doing all the copying, hole-punching, sorting, etc. got exhausting. I think this would be a lot easier.