Workboxes, planners, binders, oh my... What does YOUR homeschool look like?

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

I'm reorganizing... again... Well, not so much a complete overhaul, but more of a tweak.

 

We use workboxes with a loop schedule. For my oldest, writing, math, and grammar are done daily and always go in the first three workboxes. After that, she starts her loop schedule. (For those who don't know what that is, they have a running list that they work their way through. Once they complete it, they start back at the beginning, until their scheduled school time is up. For example, it could be math, English, writing, spelling, math, English, writing, spelling... The following day, they pick up where they left off.) My youngest does McRuffy Phonics and Reading and math every day, followed by her loop schedule. Most of our loop things are supplemental, like Spectrum writing, math drills, and reading comprehension worksheets.

 

We school 6 weeks on and 1 week off. I recently started using the filing system to organize things, but on a daily basis. I have the files labeled 1-30, and each child has a folder in that day. I plan 6 weeks at a time, using my week off to get things printed and ready to go. I think what I'm going to do for the filing this time is put the every day items in the folders, and paperclip the loop items together and then just move what is left each day to the next folder.

 

Somehow, however, I feel like something needs tweaked. I feel like either something could be simplified or I'm missing something or... I don't know.

 

So, what are the hive's thoughts? What does your homeschool look like? How do you plan, organize, orchestrate?

 

(P.S. I think I'm also going to use Donna Young's V Planner when her new version comes out in a few weeks.)

[Sharon37127]

:bigear:

 

Not sure what our system would be called, but it isn't working. There are so many ways to organize things, but i want as simple a system as possible- BUT that my kids can function independently while i "float & tutor." We also maybe going to a year round (or some variation) and I;m not sure when I will have time to plan at that point.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

Bump! :D

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

:bigear:

 

Not sure what our system would be called, but it isn't working. There are so many ways to organize things, but i want as simple a system as possible- BUT that my kids can function independently while i "float & tutor." We also maybe going to a year round (or some variation) and I;m not sure when I will have time to plan at that point.

 

I gotta tell you, the 6 on/1 off has been working really, really well for us. We also take a month off in the summer to just enjoy summer. And at Christmas, we take 2 weeks. It ends up that we do school for 42 weeks.

[Embassy]

We have a 192 day school year. We finish when we are done and start the next school year when I am ready. It usually turns out that we have about a 6 week summer and lots of small breaks during the school year. This month they have a total of 3 days off of school, for example.

 

As far as organization goes I am using a block schedule right now. It has been a good fit for us. My boys like it too. We do some subjects every day and then do two other subjects that day for 2-2.5 hours at a time. You can see how I have it organized some here.

 

ETA: I plan a year at a time and adjust as necessary. I work after the kids are in bed so I don't have time to do much planning during the school year.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Wehomeschool

[mommy5]

We organize by quarter or term. We do 9 weeks "on" but leave room for 20 days of vacation days each quarter or at the end of the quarter. I organize the work into binders - one for each kid. I put dividers organized by week (labeled 1-9) and then put their work for each week behind the number. I also have a "weekly" folder that is a spiral folder that has 8 pockets in it http://www.amazon.com/Products-Presentation-Organzier-8-Pocket-27124/dp/B003BT2RO4/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1333568745&sr=8-7 ... each one is labeled by subject. Each Friday or Saturday I pull the work for the following week and put it behind the right pocket. I also made up my own planner that is 2 pages for each week. I have one "planning" page that has all the subjects (written and read-aloud type) and goals for each subject by week. Then the next page has a list of each subject and I hand write in the assignments for each subject with boxes to check off once complete. This way I can push ahead or the kids can work ahead if they want to ... or if we miss a day we can catch up still. I like organizing by week number (1-9) and subject and not by Monday, Tuesday, Wed., etc. because I'm not locked into any particular day ... we can be a little more flexible, as long as we finish all of our work.

 

This system is working better than anything else we have tried. I don't feel overwhelmed each week for what we needed to accomplish. At the beginning of the school year, I was able to to make up a file box with file folders for quarters 1-4, I also put all extra books for the quarters and supplies into the filebox ... each quarter I placed the workbook pages and written pages that we are going to accomplish. So each quarter, I can just divide up the work into weeks and place into the binder.

Edited April 4, 2012 by mommy5

[mommy5]

double post

Edited April 4, 2012 by mommy5

[ClassicalTwins]

I use Scholaric to plan. We use workboxes to organize the work, however mine are by week not day. So 5 boxes and each box has a folder for each subject's work that day. My husband does the school work as I travel and am out of town most M-Th for work. But I organize and plan everything so on Saturday or Sunday I sit down with his copy of the work planned for the previous week, file what got done, reschedule or skip what didn't depending on the work and fill all the folders again.

 

My system is based on this with some tweaks for us http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2010/07/our-new-workbox-system-workbook-weekly/

 

We have this system to put all the folders in.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S19887301/

 

It has been the best system thus far he says. He likes that he just has to grab folders and not hunt through binders or workbooks for the page to do. I put games in the boxes too. He says he also likes he can have the boys put the folders in their backpacks and he can do school at other places if needed, since he can pull Scholaric up on any computer or his iPhone to see what needs to be done. It seems more efficient to me on the days I'm lucky enough to be home and do school with them.

[meggie]

This is a pretty good summary of our day and how I organize. I have since added science and geography to our day, although the geography is usually the first thing to get dropped.

 

I apologize for it being so long; it was originally written to answer a bunch of questions that some friends of a friend on FB had.

 

To sum up, all workbooks get the binding cut off, hole punched and put in a three ring binder. All teacher manuals get the binding cut off and are spiral bound. Everything I need each day is stored in a Desk Apprentice.

 

Every week, I go through the worksheet binders (MUS, WWE, and science) and pull out the pages for that week. I have folders in the DA for each day. I split the worksheets up amongst the folders. I write the assignments in a teacher's lesson planning book. When we finish the assignment, I highlight it so I know what was accomplished and what wasn't. When each page is finished, I put it in the "Completed Work to Be Filed" folder and at the end of the week, I file everything in a big 3 ring binder. That's essentially our yearly portfolio, even though our state doesn't require them.

 

To me, this method is quick and simple and allows for flexibility. Suppose he only did one math sheet (I usually put two in each day), I just put the unused one in the next day's folder and we'll get to it then.

[momsuz123]

Here are 2 links to my blog that shows our workbox system and some pics of how I set up and organized our school room. HTH some. As far as a more set schedule - I am just planning on schooling year round, since mine are younger, so much of what we do is school. This way it gives me more time to not stress out so much, and just know that I will get it done.

 

http://www.realfunhomeschool.com/2012/01/my-workbox-system.html

 

 

http://www.realfunhomeschool.com/2012/01/our-school-room.html

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

Thanks for sharing, everyone!

[mom31257]

For my ds who has more things I can tear apart, I plan for the entire year at one time and file everything I can in folders labeled 1-36 because we do 36 weeks of school. My dh is a school teacher, so we follow his schedule. Our system does take several weeks off during the year, but it's not always the same number of weeks apart. For my high school dd, I made semester spread sheets to plan the entire year on. She's using the 4 year high school planner from Well Planned Day and keeps all her books in her desk.

 

I posted here what I do each week. I don't want to use workboxes for the sake of space and filling them each night, but I love the concept of things being in one place. I turned a pocket folder into a weekly "workbox". The post has pictures, too.

 

My local Walmart has 8 pockets folders like this for just $4.50 right now.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

For my ds who has more things I can tear apart, I plan for the entire year at one time and file everything I can in folders labeled 1-36 because we do 36 weeks of school. My dh is a school teacher, so we follow his schedule. Our system does take several weeks off during the year, but it's not always the same number of weeks apart. For my high school dd, I made semester spread sheets to plan the entire year on. She's using the 4 year high school planner from Well Planned Day and keeps all her books in her desk.

 

I posted here what I do each week. I don't want to use workboxes for the sake of space and filling them each night, but I love the concept of things being in one place. I turned a pocket folder into a weekly "workbox". The post has pictures, too.

 

My local Walmart has 8 pockets folders like this for just $4.50 right now.

 

Can you explain your task cards a bit more? I couldn't get a good grasp of them from your pictures. Thanks! :D

[maizeydaizey]

I plan out a general look at our year (Sept-June) with goals, projects, small unit studies, travel plans, etc... and then I do a couple weeks at a time for detailed planning.

 

DD is on a workbox system.

[fourcatmom]

For my ds who has more things I can tear apart, I plan for the entire year at one time and file everything I can in folders labeled 1-36 because we do 36 weeks of school. My dh is a school teacher, so we follow his schedule. Our system does take several weeks off during the year, but it's not always the same number of weeks apart. For my high school dd, I made semester spread sheets to plan the entire year on. She's using the 4 year high school planner from Well Planned Day and keeps all her books in her desk.

 

I posted here what I do each week. I don't want to use workboxes for the sake of space and filling them each night, but I love the concept of things being in one place. I turned a pocket folder into a weekly "workbox". The post has pictures, too.

 

My local Walmart has 8 pockets folders like this for just $4.50 right now.

 

 

I posted on the other thread with your link by accident. I have never seen this type of folder. You can buy these at Wal-Mart?

[mom31257]

Can you explain your task cards a bit more? I couldn't get a good grasp of them from your pictures. Thanks! :D

 

I made these for the subjects that I can't tear apart and file and things that I want to remember to have him do. They have a subject like "Ancient History" on them, then he knows to see me to find out what we'll do that day. I have this on my own planned out sheet for the week. I made things like "Practice Multiplication Tables" to help me remember to have him do it. Does that help?

[mom31257]

I posted on the other thread with your link by accident. I have never seen this type of folder. You can buy these at Wal-Mart?

 

Yes, they are at ours right now. They are with the other expandable pocket systems. Ours are navy blue and are comb-bound, too.

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

I made these for the subjects that I can't tear apart and file and things that I want to remember to have him do. They have a subject like "Ancient History" on them, then he knows to see me to find out what we'll do that day. I have this on my own planned out sheet for the week. I made things like "Practice Multiplication Tables" to help me remember to have him do it. Does that help?

 

Yes, it does. That's what I pretty much figured. I do that for the workboxes sometimes. :)

[fourcatmom]

Yes, they are at ours right now. They are with the other expandable pocket systems. Ours are navy blue and are comb-bound, too.

 

Thank You.

[Shellers]

I don't use work boxes or binders. I don't really understand how using them makes things easier.

 

My DS11 has a stack of books. Every morning he brings the stack to the kitchen table and we go through it. He gets to choose if he wants to do history or science.

 

As he completes his work, we move the book over into the "done" pile. He likes seeing his "to do" stack get shorter and shorter.

 

I log the work he does into my logbook. There isn't anything to organize or plan out, we just move onto the next lesson.

[A.Balaban]

I made DS his own lesson planner that I update when needed - he gets to pick what he does next and check it off when it's done. For details, I refer to my paper planner. And when he clicks "Finished!" he gets a fun finish page that I change every now and then. (you can try it if you want).

 

I tried it! That is so nifty!

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

I made DS his own lesson planner that I update when needed - he gets to pick what he does next and check it off when it's done. For details, I refer to my paper planner. And when he clicks "Finished!" he gets a fun finish page that I change every now and then. (you can try it if you want). Letting him do the picking and choosing (and knowing which tasks require writing/art/math etc via the graphics) has cut down on tantrums by about 95% :)

 

 

I love this! It's so cute! What program did you use to make it?

[fourcatmom]

Yes, they are at ours right now. They are with the other expandable pocket systems. Ours are navy blue and are comb-bound, too.

 

I have been to two wal-marts looking for these and can't find them. Have you seen them online anywhere or in another store? I really like the way they look for organization.

 

Thanks:001_smile:

[blondeviolin]

I don't understand workboxes and binders and such. So I use a simple paper planner (this one because it is cheery, although I will change it up next year) and then a "webpage" version of the system on the quoted website.

I made DS his own lesson planner that I update when needed - he gets to pick what he does next and check it off when it's done. For details, I refer to my paper planner. And when he clicks "Finished!" he gets a fun finish page that I change every now and then. (you can try it if you want). Letting him do the picking and choosing (and knowing which tasks require writing/art/math etc via the graphics) has cut down on tantrums by about 95% :)

 

Books and papers and such just get placed on the bookshelf in easy reach for both of us.

 

Okay, that's the neatest thing EVER! I wanna do it!

[Samiam]

It's interesting that those who are only schooling one child say they don't get the need for filing or workboxes. I think two different people mentioned that, and I noticed it appeared that both were only had one child that was of schooling age.

 

I used to be like that, and never understood those that mentioned they would spend ALL summer planning for next year? What do you mean? We just open our books and do what's next, or what we feel like doing. That was so easy to do when I only had one child that needed to be formally educated. Add another one in, and then a 3rd one in, and suddenly it's a whole new ball game. I have got to have a plan to keep all of us on track and moving throughout our day. Workboxes do that for me. And it's a great visual for my children of what they have ahead of them in their day.

[mom31257]

I have been to two wal-marts looking for these and can't find them. Have you seen them online anywhere or in another store? I really like the way they look for organization.

 

Thanks:001_smile:

 

A friend of mine bought these at Staples. They don't have the envelope type pocket on the front of each page, but she glued regular envelopes on to it, then just used index cards for her task cards.

 

If you want to search for various styles online, be sure to include pocket project organizer in your search, and that will bring up the most items that look similar. Mine has 8 pockets which gives me enough for the To Discuss page, 5 days of the week, Finished Page and Extra.

Edited April 7, 2012 by mom31257

[Ohmomjacquie]

This year we had one folder for each subject. I pull the worksheets for each week and refill the folders. I have a binder to put finished work in that I pull each week. Probably just getting a binder for dd next year with dividers.

[MandJsMama]

I homeschool two kids, ages 9 and 6. We don't use a workbox system or a planner or anything formal. But, we live in Texas where we don't need to report or track. I work with the kids to figure out what we want to get done that year and we work on them until they are done. Some things go faster than I expected. Both of my kids finished their math early this year so I just bought the next level and kept on working. My son's writing with take a little longer so that will go into the summer. I generally start our school year in August and we finish up in late June or early July. I don't schedule breaks but we take weeks off when we want to - when the weather is really nice and we'd rather be hiking, when we have a week that has a lot of out of the house activities, when we have visitors, when we travel, etc.

 

I do use these and these to keep our materials organized. Though, honestly, a lot of the stuff just ends up stacked on the homeschool table. My 9 year old knows what he has to do and does it. I provide more guidance for my 6 year old. We quickly develop a pattern for our day and tend to follow that pattern for the year. For example, my son starts his day with EPGY, which is computer based. While he is doing this, I work with my daughter on her reading. Then we all move to the homeschool table and work on writing, phonics, geography, spelling, etc. My daughter is done before my son so she moves to the computer for ETC online or typing.

 

So, that's what a day without workboxes or planners look like, even with two kids.

[SkateLeft]

It's interesting that those who are only schooling one child say they don't get the need for filing or workboxes. I think two different people mentioned that, and I noticed it appeared that both were only had one child that was of schooling age.

 

I'm schooling four kids, and have been homeschooling for 10+ years, and I don't see the need for either filing or workboxes either. I don't have the time or the need to manage four sets of workboxes or files. In the upper grades, very little of what my kids do would fit into a filing system.

 

Different strokes for different folks. :) We each use what works for us.

 

On the weekend, I sit down and write out assignments for the next week in our Pflaum intermediate planners. Anything that doesn't get done from the previous week gets bumped to the next week, but only my younger three have planners this year.

 

For high school courses that I create, I give my daughter a syllabus at the start of the year that has all the weekly assignments on it. We'll adjust it as needed over the course of the year. For high school courses that we get from other sources, like Kolbe, she'll follow their syllabus. We check in throughout the day. This year, she's taking a full load of classes at the local college so I'm completely out of the loop on those. She's only doing two classes at home with me this semester.

[Amy Jo]

It's interesting that those who are only schooling one child say they don't get the need for filing or workboxes. I think two different people mentioned that, and I noticed it appeared that both were only had one child that was of schooling age.

 

I used to be like that, and never understood those that mentioned they would spend ALL summer planning for next year? What do you mean? We just open our books and do what's next, or what we feel like doing. That was so easy to do when I only had one child that needed to be formally educated. Add another one in, and then a 3rd one in, and suddenly it's a whole new ball game. I have got to have a plan to keep all of us on track and moving throughout our day. Workboxes do that for me. And it's a great visual for my children of what they have ahead of them in their day.

 

Yeah I've been pulling my hair out all year with my 4 (and the youngest two are - K which is low-key here, and not even preschool aged yet!). Just tell me at some point it will stop getting harder every year and start getting easier... And hopefully that's not the year my oldest graduates. :P

 

Anyway, I like the advice I read (here?) to set up the workboxes for the eldest, and then fill in the others. I've also made a set of "Mom I'm Bored" cards (here) for kids who are waiting for me, with things like nature journal, music, playing outside and picking up on them.

 

I'm really considering going back to the FCS. It was nice to grab one folder. But I'm getting the workboxes streamlined first. So right now we use workboxes and I have our worksheets filed by subject (so all of MEP 4 in one, KISS Grammar 2nd grade in another, then I just grab the front sheet). I'm using the SCM Organizer right now, but while I like it (and always have), I'm probably going to go to a less expensive option when my subscription runs out. There are so many more options, and most are half the price of the Organizer.

[happypamama]

I use workboxes and really like them. They motivate *me* to make sure we get to everything, and they eliminate "where's the X that I need for this lesson" waste of time, because if it's needed for the day's lesson or project, I put it in the workbox the night before (or sometimes that morning before we start). Each of the big kids has several workboxes, plus a small box for pencils/colored pencils/pens/scissors/pencil sharpener/glue (this also gets taken to co-op), and my 3yo has a workbox of his own too, into which I put various art materials and early learning activities. And there are boxes for the subjects we do together. They seem to like the workboxes more than a pile of books, and it really does help me to keep everything together -- a book to read for history, with the accompanying activity sheet next to it, or the math book plus the needed manipulatives, etc.

 

I plan the year in advance, in a general way, at least the order in which we're doing things (though some stuff is obviously "do the next thing") and then each week, I plan out the week's specific stuff, based on what else is going on that week. Some weeks we have more time to do extra projects; some weeks we have a lot going on, and we do more workbook-type stuff (especially if it can go in the car). Planning dates out too far in advance doesn't work for me, because I just don't know what's going to happen. So my plan this year is to start as soon after July 1 as I can and do schoolwork every day unless we have some reason not to, rather than take off days just because I have them scheduled.

[kbpaulie]

I was 1 day away from doing workboxes adn realized for me it would only be much more time consuming. I used to pull out the pages for my children and place them in a binder for the day. What we've done for the past 3 years is what works best for us and we plan to continue.....

 

My boys are 6 & 9. During the summer I create a spreadsheet for each child and subject. I break out what pages they need to complete on wihle day. This is like a teacher's planning notebook but b/c it's in Excel I can easily adjust it and change dates/ days as needed. I can also always see about when we'll be finishing each subject. I save 2 tabs for each child - 1) is the original plan 2) is the working plan that adjusts and changes as we move through the year.

 

I work with the younger one so this only applies to my older one. I have a spreadsheet that has each of my son's subjects, daily chores and anything from the claendar we need ot be aware of. If I want him to do them in a certain order I'll number them. On Sunday night, by hand, I'll transfer info from the master spreadsheet to his spreadsheet. (I think next year I'll have him write this on his own.) He marks off the items as he completes them. If he is stuck on something he marks this and moves on. I've found that it really helps him be more independant.

 

Most of the kids books are in a plastic filing box. This lets us grap it and go if we're working out of the car. Assignment sheets go in a binder along w/ any loose papers.

Edited April 8, 2012 by kmoncelle

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

I have made my revisions!

 

Instead of 30 daily files with folders for each child, I have changed it to 6 files per child, one for each week. In the files are 3 folders: one for group subjects, one for everyday subjects, and one for the loop subjects.

 

For the loop subjects, I made a checklist in Excel and printed it out, with 5 complete loops on each page. I left a column for putting the pages numbers to be completed and a column to stamp the date once each item is complete. I printed out 6 of these sheets and used a binder clip to secure any loose pages behind the sheet. (Most of their looped subjects are worksheets anyway.) One bundle will go into each week. If they complete the bundle within the 6 weeks, we just pull the next one out. If not, they continue working on it until it's done before tackling the next one.

[frugalmama]

Call me the odd one out, but I only have 1 kiddo and we're starting workboxes. I needed something that dd5yo could manage on her own since she is very independent and does not want me looking over her shoulder or telling her constantly what to do.

 

We'll see how it goes.

[Gentlemommy]

I don't use work boxes or binders. I don't really understand how using them makes things easier.

 

My DS11 has a stack of books. Every morning he brings the stack to the kitchen table and we go through it. He gets to choose if he wants to do history or science.

 

As he completes his work, we move the book over into the "done" pile. He likes seeing his "to do" stack get shorter and shorter.

 

I log the work he does into my logbook. There isn't anything to organize or plan out, we just move onto the next lesson.

 

 

This is me to an extent. I do not understand how to lesson plan.:001_huh:I mean, I 'get' it, but it has not made my life easier, and generally overwhelms me. Most of our stuff is just 'do the next thing', so that makes it easier. As for finishing curriculum, we simply keep going until we are done. We school 6x a week, year round.

We have our things that get done daily, and then our things that rotate and get done a few times a week. Fun Fridays are for projects and experiments, so I look ahead at what I'll need at some point during the week and get it all together. My kids are all young, 7, 4, and a toddler, so maybe that's why I haven't found it necessary to plan much. We also don't typically do very involved projects that require complicated steps/a lot of time-due to that toddler! :tongue_smilie: