JennyD Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 I will be doing some (gentle) homeschooling with my 5yo this coming year and I am wondering how best to organize and save his work. We will be doing some math (Singapore), history (History Odyssey) , science (BFSU) and possibly some handwriting practice in the form of copywork. And then there's all the art and other random stuff he produces on his own. He will, of course, want to save every last scrap. Me, not so much, but I can appreciate his feelings and it would be nice to have a sort of record of the year, even if it's not officially necessary for us. (K is optional in this state.) I was thinking of just getting a binder, labeling it "Kindergarten," and having him put everything in there in date order, regardless of subject. However, I notice that many people use different binders for different subjects, or subdivide a larger binder, or are just generally more organized. Any thoughts from those who have BTDT about what might work best for kindergarten? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithie Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 We have hanging file folders labeled by subject in our homeschool cupboard. At the end of the K year, that stuff was all pulled out and stuffed in a manilla envelope labeled "K5." If it's not a flat piece of paper, it doesn't get saved in this house. But I have no problem finishing ds' elementary school years with 7 manila envelopes that I have to hang on to. For the higher grades, I hope that all his written work will be done on the computer, but until he can write fair copy we aren't using the computer at all. So paper is a necessary evil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 We use bigger binders. Marked the grade and year and use dividers by subject. I also use Manilla envies but I use them to put in projects that otherwise won't fit into the binder without getting torn or something. As for bigger projects we won't save, we take pictures of the kids with their projects and at the end of each school year they get a photo album for that school year that goes inside the binder. They love that part! And they don't miss their projects because we have pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 I had a ton of 1 in binders, so I have one for each subject, and we file EVERYTHING, because DD wants to know that it's important enough to save. Then, I go through and weed when she's not around, scan what I want to keep, and recycle/toss the rest. She doesn't seem to notice that the binder never gets any thicker, but being able to file every single math worksheet is important to her. I expect that as she gets older, I'll involve her more in the weeding process, but at 5, she's not ready for that yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 17, 2010 Share Posted July 17, 2010 We toss everything in a pile and don't think about it for 2 months. Then, we have a special "portfolio day" at the end of those two months. We pull out the work (worksheets, artwork, doodles, whatever) and I pick the examples I think are special or show their progress then they pick the examples they think are special or they worked hard on. For us, we usually do 5 examples each for a total of 10, but it's flexible and you could choose to do more or less. You could also divide it by subject and get the best couple examples of each. We didn't do consistent written work for every subject, so that didn't make sense for us, but we might do it in the future. Sometimes "one" example piece is a big project with lots of pages as well or sometimes it's a huge piece of art and we take a picture and put it in that way. We do other things during this time (goal setting, for example) but then we put the work in a binder in special plastic sheets and they show it off to their dad as their "best" work. Everything else goes in the recycling bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennyD Posted July 19, 2010 Author Share Posted July 19, 2010 Thanks for all of these replies. It's so interesting to hear about the different ways folks do this! I already take photos of some of his creations, but I need to get more organized about, you know, actually printing them out. I love the idea of including those in the binder(s). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zusjames Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Thank you. This in on my to-do list... it won't be fun. Been saving up ALL YEAR. 3rd, 2nd and K. My-o-my! :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganClassicalPrep Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Well, I only have one, I imagine this wouldn't work for people with many children. But I just toss everything into a huge plastic tote. Over our summer break, I'll dump it out and figure out what I want to keep as representative samples, and put everything together into one binder. i also (over)use my camera, so I'll make a scrapbook at the end of the year, and then store the scrapbook and binder together. Now lets just see how that works out for me this summer... :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I have a banker box. That way, I can put in pages, workbooks, projects (even knows that aren't flat). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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