Anyone ditch the filing folders already?

[sleepymommy]

I've finally finished filing (for the most part) and while I haven't started using it yet I really think it will work beautifully for us but this may be because I'm looking to use it differently than some.

 

For one, I know going in to it that I don't expect to stay on track with every week, it just won't happen for us. I used two crates for just one child b/c I wanted to have plenty of space to flip through and rearrange, put sheets back a week here and there, etc.

 

I didn't file subjects that can sometimes take longer or shorter amounts of time to accomplish, for example math and phonics.

 

I used hanging folders to label week 1, week 2, etc. I used files for M-F in each each hanging folder. If I don't finish something on a given day, I'll move back to the next week's given day.

 

I have everything also planned out on homeschool skedtrack, so if it doesn't get done it will just slide into the next planned date. But if we have extra time I can always check on there, see what we might be behind in and fetch it out of my files.

 

There were so many 'extra' things sitting on my bookcase that I never got around to doing/completing (for ex. some CTC workbooks) and I'm hopeful now that they will actually get done.

 

I haven't got everything set up yet as far as where I'm going to put it. But I've been checking out thrift stores for a long thin table. I plan on putting both crates on either end and putting the books that I didn't tear up in between them that way everything is in one place.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

This is exactly why I started filing in the first place. All those little appointments, sick days and 'i just don't feel like getting the kids to start school today' days are what caused my 36 weeks of school to balloon into something more like 46 weeks. For some, they don't mind schooling for that long.. but for me, I wanted a break and I wanted to get to the end and see my progress!!

 

So, I realized that in a regular school, if a child missed a lesson because of an unexpected (or not) doctors appt, the teacher didn't make the entire class wait until the kid came back before moving on in the subject. The child either skipped the lesson, or did it as homework later, after maybe a brief oral review with her teacher or parent as to what was missed. No big deal, and the year keeps going along according to plan.

 

Missing a few days sprinkled here and there is no big deal because most of the schoolwork is so incremental and built on daily practice of little things. Over time, all the little things done consistently add up to mastery of the material. What IS a big deal is missing a big chunk all in a row at the end of the year because you or your child are burnt out and needing a break... or just quitting the subject all together. Does that make sense?

 

So, if we have a week where there are things going on that stop me from getting to a math lesson or writing or whatever.. I either toss it in the garbage and move on, or quickly review it orally, do a few practice problems and then move on. I still finish my week's work... some of it gets done orally and most of it gets done the normal way. This way, I am staying more or less on track to finish near my ideal last-day-of school on the calender.

 

for me this is the real hidden strength of the filing system. For others, this is a big stumbling block. It took me awhile to get to this point, but I finally realized that if I wanted to end the year sane, :D I needed to take control of our weeks and the curriculum and I AM THE BOSS!!!:D:D No curriculum or TM is going to rule me!

 

Wise, wise words. We too got so far behind "doing the next thing." When I read how catholicmommy takes care of missed days, I had a huge lightbulb moment.

 

I can surely get *something* done on days that are interrupted by appointments and quickly go over the other things the next day before doing that day's assignments.

[Guest]

This is exactly why I started filing in the first place. All those little appointments, sick days and 'i just don't feel like getting the kids to start school today' days are what caused my 36 weeks of school to balloon into something more like 46 weeks. For some, they don't mind schooling for that long.. but for me, I wanted a break and I wanted to get to the end and see my progress!!

 

So, I realized that in a regular school, if a child missed a lesson because of an unexpected (or not) doctors appt, the teacher didn't make the entire class wait until the kid came back before moving on in the subject. The child either skipped the lesson, or did it as homework later, after maybe a brief oral review with her teacher or parent as to what was missed. No big deal, and the year keeps going along according to plan.

 

Missing a few days sprinkled here and there is no big deal because most of the schoolwork is so incremental and built on daily practice of little things. Over time, all the little things done consistently add up to mastery of the material. What IS a big deal is missing a big chunk all in a row at the end of the year because you or your child are burnt out and needing a break... or just quitting the subject all together. Does that make sense?

 

So, if we have a week where there are things going on that stop me from getting to a math lesson or writing or whatever.. I either toss it in the garbage and move on, or quickly review it orally, do a few practice problems and then move on. I still finish my week's work... some of it gets done orally and most of it gets done the normal way. This way, I am staying more or less on track to finish near my ideal last-day-of school on the calender.

 

for me this is the real hidden strength of the filing system. For others, this is a big stumbling block. It took me awhile to get to this point, but I finally realized that if I wanted to end the year sane, :D I needed to take control of our weeks and the curriculum and I AM THE BOSS!!!:D:D No curriculum or TM is going to rule me!

 

First of all I want to say that I totally respect how well this seems to be working for your family but I felt the need to point out that some things you are saying are not a general rule.

 

For one thing, one of the main reasons why I homeschool my kids is because I don't want them to have to deal with the school system approach. One of the things I did not like was the lack of personal attention to each individual child's needs. While I can understand a teacher's perspective that has 25 kids to worry about and cannot spend the time catching one individual child up I am not the teacher of 25 kids and so tossing is not an option for us.

 

Another reason why I cannot just toss things, and coming to the second point that I do not find always applies in what you said about the incremental approach. Not all programs follow this type of approach and with mastery programs for example (which are the kind of programs we favor in this homeschool) tossing things can cause gaps. It may not be a big deal in the elementary years but it would be in middle and especially high school where math is like links in a chain that once you are missing one or more your chain will end up in many pieces that would take time and lots of remedial work to fix. So once again, while some families can probably get away with just a verbal overview or just tossing what was missed, it probably would not be wise for everyone to follow.

 

Another thing, I don't see the TM or curriculum as ruling me. I do not have a background in education, the TM and curriculum give me a guide to follow so that I can have peace of mind that I did not miss anything that may be important to my kiddos future. It does not rule me it gives me guidance and direction and I am cool with entrusting things like that to those that are more in the know than I :).

 

One last thing I wanted to point out is that many of us are new to homeschooling and still testing out programs. Some may work and some might not. While I have not felt the need so far to sell any of the curricula we have purchased, some depend on that in order to finance other homeschool material they may need to buy. Cutting books can make some of the homeschool materials undesirable to those buying used materials. I don't know how others feel but if I were to buy something used I would want it to be in one piece. While workbooks are not an issue since they are meant to be consumable anyway, those cutting TM's may have a hard time selling cut up TM's.

 

I just wanted to clarify that I know that you have been speaking about your family and how well it has worked for you and have not said that this is the best approach for everyone but I just felt the need to point out that there are many sides to a story. There are no general rules here ;).

Edited September 2, 2010 by Guest

[catholicmommy]

I absolutely respect your thoughts on this matter. I never intended to spread the filing system far and wide as the next latest craze. When I originally replied to the OP in THE thread, I was just answering her questions about how it worked in my family (which is certainly atypical with 6 kids under 10 including 4 who were under school age). I never anticipated the huge thread that would follow.

 

Never have I thought that this is a general rule that will work for everyone. In fact, on numerous occasions, I have fretted that many people are jumping into the 'system' without thinking about it and are going to be rather upset that it isn't working for 'them' as the year goes on, for many of the reasons that you mentioned.

 

However, I do feel the need to clarify my thoughts in response to your thoughts:

 

 

 

For one thing, one of the main reasons why I homeschool my kids is because I don't want them to have to deal with the school system approach. One of the things I did not like was the lack of personal attention to each individual child's needs. While I can understand a teacher's perspective that has 25 kids to worry about and cannot spend the time catching one individual child up I am not the teacher of 25 kids and so tossing is not an option for us.

 

 

I agree! I also want the kids to have personal attention to their individual needs... which is why before I toss anything in the garbage, I make sure that it isn't going to cause gaps, like you mention below. I also take the time to go over it orally, maybe doing 3 or 4 problems on the page to make sure that they get it, and then move on to the next page (which will in almost all cases have similar questions that we just reviewed orally). This is as individual as you can get, as far as I see. I'm not blindly throwing things in the garbage and forcing the child to move at my pace. I DO take the time to catch an individual child up (unlike a teacher who cannot), but because I have the personal relationship with that child and know exactly what they can and can't do at that specific point in time, I can confidently make the decision to orally review or only do a few pages and then toss it to enable us to move on. IF it is a critical page and I can't skip it, I refile it in the next weeks folder and then keep moving from there. No biggie.

 

However, even the mastery programs do not do an entire unit in one day. There is review all week as the concepts are explained. I would never be at a point where I would toss a whole week in the garbage. THat is why my files are never tied to dates. If there are more than 2 days in a week that we are having to shuffle around, I will usually just stretch one 'week' of files over two weeks of real life. Does that make sense?

 

 

Another reason why I cannot just toss things, and coming to the second point that I do not find always applies in what you said about the incremental approach. Not all programs follow this type of approach and with mastery programs for example (which are the kind of programs we favor in this homeschool) tossing things can cause gaps. It may not be a big deal in the elementary years but it would be in middle and especially high school where math is like links in a chain that once you are missing one or more your chain will end up in many pieces that would take time and lots of remedial work to fix. So once again, while some families can probably get away with just a verbal overview or just tossing what was missed, it probably would not be wise for everyone to follow.

 

 

Again, I say that you should not let the filing system control your life either. You as the teacher need to make the personal decision about each paper that you are considering skipping or orally reviewing. Of course, if it is something that is very important and is going to cause a gap, you will not toss it! This isn't a blind race to the finish! It's merely a tool to help some of us meet our goals to finish the year by a certain date. The individual attention that you can give to the curriculum and child are what make filing work well in homeschooling... because you know right away if it's something that can be skipped. Most curriculum is designed to fit into a 36 week schedule, and you can't tell me that every single piece of that is going to be necessary for every single child to do.... unless it's a curriculum that you yourself designed specifically for that child. I'm just trying to open up in people's minds that our curriculum is merely a TOOL and we shouldn't be afraid to use it in less traditional ways if that is what suits our families the best.

 

Another thing, I don't see the TM or curriculum as ruling me. I do not have a background in education, the TM and curriculum give me a guide to follow so that I can have peace of mind that I did not miss anything that may be important to my kiddos future. It does not rule me it gives me guidance and direction and I am cool with entrusting things like that to those that are more in the know than I :).

 

I never meant that you shouldn't trust the TM and be wary of it.... all I mean is don't be afraid to tailor the curriculum to your individual child and your individual lives. If you miss a few days here and there out of 180 days, it is likely not going to mess up your kids in any sort of way. For me, I still seemed to have chapters of material left at the end of the year to do (because I was scared to miss anything important in the year and didn't skip things when we were getting behind)... and because my personality just NEEDS to have a break in the summer, I would often just give up and start over with math the next year, feeling very bad that we missed a big chunk. Maybe i'm the only one who does that? ... like I said above, I never intended this to be a best selling system or I would have written an ebook and made tons of money off it LOL.

One last thing I wanted to point out is that many of us are new to homeschooling and still testing out programs. Some may work and some might not. While I have not felt the need so far to sell any of the curricula we have purchased, some depend on that in order to finance other homeschool material they may need to buy. Cutting books can make some of the homeschool materials undesirable to those buying used materials. I don't know how others feel but if I were to buy something used I would want it to be in one piece. While workbooks are not an issue since they are meant to be consumable anyway, those cutting TM's may have a hard time selling cut up TM's.

 

I have not ripped up any TMs unless they are in binders. I agree with you on this one. I did choose to unbind my artistic pursuits this year because I KNOW I will be keeping it to use with the 4 (5) kids coming down the line here, and because of the comb binding it's easy to put back together. Some people are putting the pages in page protectors to keep them clean and undamaged in the files. Obviously, people should not blindly start cutting things up, without thinking through the consequences. Homeschoolers, even if they are new, are still intelligent and highly motivated individuals or they would not be homeschooling in the first place.

 

I am just trying to tell people not to be afraid to make the curriculum bend to YOUR child and YOUR life. We are not educating our children in a vacuum either. We need to also keep in mind not only their educational needs, but also the needs of our whole family, and our own teaching styles. This is an important piece of the homeschooling picture that many people forget about and wonder why things aren't working the way they want (because they are spending so much time on the needs of the individual child and ignoring their own personal learning/teaching style). I speak from personal experience... and I'm no expert. Of course this doesn't apply to everyone. NO system will.

 

For me- my personal teaching style and family needs... finishing in a timely matter is very important. I thought we could be more relaxed about time, and maybe even do year round schooling, but that quickly led to burnout for me because there was no end point that I could look forward to, no time to recharge, and no time for the kids to get bored of summer and start looking forward to school again. The cycle of the school year is a blessing for us and I wanted a tool to enable me to stick to it without missing important bits of learning at the end when I got burnt out.

 

Some people are not like that and that's ok. They are the super homeschoolers, as far as I'm concerned :D I use the filing system because I am the less organized and less stick-with-it type who needs a kick in the but to keep moving every week :lol:

[Closeacademy]

You DO NOT have to RIP up your texts, workbooks, etc. I didn't and the file system works great for me.

 

I just stick the book in the first week that it will be used. And stick it in the workbox when it is time to use it. The lesson plans tell me which page(s) we are working on.

 

I've found the file system to be quite freeing. But I can totally understand why it would not work for those with young children and less than 3 years of homeschooling. You have to know how your child learns and how much they can reasonable accomplish in a week's time to work well.

 

You also need to leave a little give in your schedule so that you can shuffle things to the next week if you don't have school or have a bad week.

 

You are the one that gives yourself permission to be strict or loose with this system.:001_smile:

[Guest]

I absolutely respect your thoughts on this matter. I never intended to spread the filing system far and wide as the next latest craze. When I originally replied to the OP in THE thread, I was just answering her questions about how it worked in my family (which is certainly atypical with 6 kids under 10 including 4 who were under school age). I never anticipated the huge thread that would follow.

 

Never have I thought that this is a general rule that will work for everyone. In fact, on numerous occasions, I have fretted that many people are jumping into the 'system' without thinking about it and are going to be rather upset that it isn't working for 'them' as the year goes on, for many of the reasons that you mentioned.

 

However, I do feel the need to clarify my thoughts in response to your thoughts:

 

 

 

 

I agree! I also want the kids to have personal attention to their individual needs... which is why before I toss anything in the garbage, I make sure that it isn't going to cause gaps, like you mention below. I also take the time to go over it orally, maybe doing 3 or 4 problems on the page to make sure that they get it, and then move on to the next page (which will in almost all cases have similar questions that we just reviewed orally). This is as individual as you can get, as far as I see. I'm not blindly throwing things in the garbage and forcing the child to move at my pace. I DO take the time to catch an individual child up (unlike a teacher who cannot), but because I have the personal relationship with that child and know exactly what they can and can't do at that specific point in time, I can confidently make the decision to orally review or only do a few pages and then toss it to enable us to move on. IF it is a critical page and I can't skip it, I refile it in the next weeks folder and then keep moving from there. No biggie.

 

However, even the mastery programs do not do an entire unit in one day. There is review all week as the concepts are explained. I would never be at a point where I would toss a whole week in the garbage. THat is why my files are never tied to dates. If there are more than 2 days in a week that we are having to shuffle around, I will usually just stretch one 'week' of files over two weeks of real life. Does that make sense?

 

 

 

Again, I say that you should not let the filing system control your life either. You as the teacher need to make the personal decision about each paper that you are considering skipping or orally reviewing. Of course, if it is something that is very important and is going to cause a gap, you will not toss it! This isn't a blind race to the finish! It's merely a tool to help some of us meet our goals to finish the year by a certain date. The individual attention that you can give to the curriculum and child are what make filing work well in homeschooling... because you know right away if it's something that can be skipped. Most curriculum is designed to fit into a 36 week schedule, and you can't tell me that every single piece of that is going to be necessary for every single child to do.... unless it's a curriculum that you yourself designed specifically for that child. I'm just trying to open up in people's minds that our curriculum is merely a TOOL and we shouldn't be afraid to use it in less traditional ways if that is what suits our families the best.

 

 

 

I never meant that you shouldn't trust the TM and be wary of it.... all I mean is don't be afraid to tailor the curriculum to your individual child and your individual lives. If you miss a few days here and there out of 180 days, it is likely not going to mess up your kids in any sort of way. For me, I still seemed to have chapters of material left at the end of the year to do (because I was scared to miss anything important in the year and didn't skip things when we were getting behind)... and because my personality just NEEDS to have a break in the summer, I would often just give up and start over with math the next year, feeling very bad that we missed a big chunk. Maybe i'm the only one who does that? ... like I said above, I never intended this to be a best selling system or I would have written an ebook and made tons of money off it LOL.

 

I have not ripped up any TMs unless they are in binders. I agree with you on this one. I did choose to unbind my artistic pursuits this year because I KNOW I will be keeping it to use with the 4 (5) kids coming down the line here, and because of the comb binding it's easy to put back together. Some people are putting the pages in page protectors to keep them clean and undamaged in the files. Obviously, people should not blindly start cutting things up, without thinking through the consequences. Homeschoolers, even if they are new, are still intelligent and highly motivated individuals or they would not be homeschooling in the first place.

 

I am just trying to tell people not to be afraid to make the curriculum bend to YOUR child and YOUR life. We are not educating our children in a vacuum either. We need to also keep in mind not only their educational needs, but also the needs of our whole family, and our own teaching styles. This is an important piece of the homeschooling picture that many people forget about and wonder why things aren't working the way they want (because they are spending so much time on the needs of the individual child and ignoring their own personal learning/teaching style). I speak from personal experience... and I'm no expert. Of course this doesn't apply to everyone. NO system will.

 

For me- my personal teaching style and family needs... finishing in a timely matter is very important. I thought we could be more relaxed about time, and maybe even do year round schooling, but that quickly led to burnout for me because there was no end point that I could look forward to, no time to recharge, and no time for the kids to get bored of summer and start looking forward to school again. The cycle of the school year is a blessing for us and I wanted a tool to enable me to stick to it without missing important bits of learning at the end when I got burnt out.

 

Some people are not like that and that's ok. They are the super homeschoolers, as far as I'm concerned :D I use the filing system because I am the less organized and less stick-with-it type who needs a kick in the but to keep moving every week :lol:

 

Like I said before I appreciate your point of view and how this has worked for your family. I also did point out that you never said that this is the perfect for all system. I was just trying to point out for new homeschoolers to see that there are many ways of looking at this based on individual family needs. Of course we are all mature adults, at the same time though when you are new to something you can jump on a bandwagon because you feel that if something works for others then it will work for you and be disappointed in the end. It does not mean that this person is irresponsible or immature. That just makes them human just like all the rest of us, learning from our mistakes. Once again I was just trying to caution people on certain things that I felt needed pointing out. It had nothing to do with you and your family and how this has worked for your family. I did not mean my post to be personal in any way. I have expressed in the long thread how I appreciate what you have done especially in encouraging others. And I don't know of any super homeschoolers. At least none reside in my home. I am learning how to better teach my children just like everyone else ;).

Edited September 4, 2010 by Guest

[Snowfall]

You DO NOT have to RIP up your texts, workbooks, etc. I didn't and the file system works great for me.

 

I didn't rip up any texts or workbooks, either. :) We use Rightstart for math and I didn't even include that in our files, because we take however long we take on a given lesson. We also do MEP 3 days a week, and I did file that, but RS lessons take longer for DD sometimes. She needs to think about things for a couple days every now and then, so I just left it out. For us, I decided math was fundamental enough that we didn't need to worry about accomplishing anything in a certain amount of time - we just have to keep plugging away. I also didn't include Phonics Pathways, for the same reason.

 

But I can totally understand why it would not work for those with young children and less than 3 years of homeschooling. You have to know how your child learns and how much they can reasonable accomplish in a week's time to work well.

 

This is only our second year, but it's working pretty well for us because I haven't minded stretching a week out over two weeks. We're finishing up our week 3 file in our 5th week. We went out of town twice, and I personally did find, as you mentioned, that having the files was quite freeing. I didn't have to worry about how far behind we were getting, because I knew what we had planned for that week and how much of it we actually accomplished. All I had to do was see what else was in the file. I did slide some things forward, so there'd be enough to do this week, but that was easy for me since I only planned 12 weeks out, so there wasn't that much shuffling to do. I know some people don't shuffle, but this works well for me. I'm so happy to have heard about this system, even though it's only my 2nd year. :tongue_smilie: heheheh

[Jeanine in TX]

I use a modified filing system that has worked well for the past several years. I got the tip from another homeschooling friend, who does this as well.

 

I file all worksheets, test forms, etc. by subject. Each child has his/her own section of subjects. I use homeschool tracker plus to plan.

 

During the spring and summer before the next school year, I type lesson plans in HS tracker + for every subject. I do not assign any dates to classes, until the actual week I need them. If something has to be rescheduled, it is simple to do in HS tracker +. When the worksheets are needed, I simply pull them out of the subject folder. I photocopy worksheets and tests for the entire year.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

Catholicmommy, what a very gracious response.