How do you keep track of all the curriculum choices?

[HejKatt]

I am overwhelmed by the embarrassment of riches for HSing out there, many of them found thanks to WTMers.

 

My browser bookmark list is a mile long of free curriculum, vintage books, online tutorials and other things to check out. I have magazine articles cut out from HS magazines and stuffed into folders. I have science kits stuffed into cupboards for future use (they were on clearance).

 

I have all these.. and I sit down and do the same old with DS. I really want to do better next year! Now, part of it is recognizing that Rome wasn't built in a day, and my DS isn't going to be able to do those science kits, or art projects for awhile. But I don't want to go past a topic, and then kick myself when I realize I had some great find stashed away.

 

So here's a plea for help: How do you all keep track of what you want to do, and when you want to use it?

[Hyzenthlay in Pa.]

Several of my children have been very hands-on, so I've had an unusually large amount of stuff to keep track of. The others were bookworms. I had a large family and to keep my sanity we studied as much as we could together. These 2 things seemed to help me the most!

 

I had several bookcases that I sorted everything on. The ancients case had shelves for Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia, China and etc. I kept movies, DvD's crafts, models, & books for me and kids together.

Same with cases for science , sorting astronomy shelves,nature studies, etc. I kept kits, books, biographies all age materials on the same shelf.

 

If I was going to teach a class using lots of things , I kept a spread sheet.

This was a big help & worth the time one year we did a giant unit study on geography. We used movies , novels, myths & poems, environments, cultural travel vidoes, cookbooks, scenic wonders books man made & natural, maps, you name it. I made 3 spread sheets based on Michael Palin's videos of everything we had and would borrow from the library.

So like when we traveled through Turkey , I knew what to cook, read , watch, print a map and where in what books to find what we needed.

[grace'smom]

I am looking for a way to schedule in more of the great options for next year as well. I don't have much help for you other than to say that I have my "favorites" saved into categories. You can make different folders in your "favorites" section for each subject area. When you want to explore a subject further you at least have it well categorized so you don't have to sort through the whole list.

[Rosie_0801]

I have a very long word document online, which I periodically revise and organise.

 

I also have a very long wishlist on Amazon. I don't actually want 71 pages worth of books, but it's a good place to keep ideas :D

 

I have boxes of books and stuff around here too, of course, and go through looking for stuff dd will soon grow into every term or two.

 

Rosie

[Parrothead]

I do loosely follow TWTM for science and history so I know what years I'll need the chemistry kit, the butterfly net and the robotics kit. I also know what years I'll need the illuminated lettering kit and the Jackdaw WWII pack.

 

Then every summer I plan out the entire year. I like "do the next thing" curricula. So I can plan page 1 on day one, divide the number of pages in a book over a specific amount of time (year, semester, quarter, week) and know how much needs to be done for any given book/subject on any given day. We work on a 4-day schedule so Fridays are free or for any extra that needs doing.

 

I also plan in breaks throughout the year so we can have time to goof off.

[HejKatt]

Thank you all for your replies!

I had a large family and to keep my sanity we studied as much as we could together. These 2 things seemed to help me the most!

..

If I was going to teach a class using lots of things , I kept a spread sheet.

This was a big help & worth the time one year we did a giant unit study on geography.

Great ideas! Your description of the geography study made me wish I were one of your students too. :)

 

You can make different folders in your "favorites" section for each subject area. .

I like this - it will make me actually go through the uncategorized list at least once and will be easier to maintain once it's up and running.

 

I have a very long word document online' date=' which I periodically revise and organise.

 

I also have a very long wishlist on Amazon. I don't actually want 71 pages worth of books, but it's a good place to keep ideas :D

 

I have boxes of books and stuff around here too, of course, and go through looking for stuff dd will soon grow into every term or two.

 

Rosie[/quote']

:lol: about the 71 page-long wish list. Going through every term or two sounds like a good practice. Seems like I'll need to become more familiar with Word and Excel going forward. :)

[Pink Fairy]

I use Evernote. The thing I like most about it is that it saves screen shots of links, which makes it easier to remember why I saved something. It's also easy to categorize things by creating different notebooks, and by tagging, i.e., math, 6th grade, Saxon, etc.

[3lilreds in NC]

I use Evernote. The thing I like most about it is that it saves screen shots of links, which makes it easier to remember why I saved something. It's also easy to categorize things by creating different notebooks, and by tagging, i.e., math, 6th grade, Saxon, etc.

 

This sounds way cool - I'm off to check it out! Oooh, it's online, too, so it will work with my Mac.

[3lilreds in NC]

I also have a very long wishlist on Amazon. I don't actually want 71 pages worth of books, but it's a good place to keep ideas :D

Rosie

 

:smilielol5: I am SO GLAD I'm not the only one!

 

I don't do a particularly good job of organizing all my online stuff. I am trying to pare down at home, and only keep what I'm pretty sure I want to re-use with Schmooey.

 

I have to say that I was pretty sure I wanted to ditch FLL 3 but after talking through some grammar with my girls this afternoon I'm not so sure. Ack. :lol:

[july19]

I use Kaboodle only for homeschooling. My categories are all subjects - like History, Geography, Latin, etc.

 

It saves the screen shots of the items and you can personalize the notes sections. It's helped me organize a lot of stuff.