boscopup Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 Please post what ideas you have found successful in your homeschool as far as organization (where to put books, what to put them in, how to arrange them, etc. - like dish drainers, baskets, etc.), your schedule/routine, whether you do checklists of some type, give your kids workbooks/binders/something for daily/weekly work, etc. Also, if you use some kind of filing system, feel free to post that here too (I have read THE filing thread, but filing by subject is necessary here, at least for skill subjects). If you have pics of your setup, post those too! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I put books on a bookshelf. Supplies like pencils and paper go on top. The craft supplies went in a plastic rolling cart with three drawers that I picked up at Wal-mart. We don't have craft supplies any more now that dd is older and quit doing crafts. Our schedule is as follows: M-Th 8-9 Math 9-930 grammar 930-10 vocabulary 10-11 CW Chreia or intermediate poetry 11-12 lunch 12-1 literature 1-130 guitar practice 130-215 (M-W) logic (Th) science 215-3 Latin Fri 8-9 honors math 9-11 history 11-12 lunch 12-1 art 1-1:30 music 130-3 science We mostly do open and go books so each day we just do the next thing. To make sure we are doing the next thing in a timely manner I have a printed list of daily lessons that I print out at the beginning of the year from my homeschool software (Edu-track). Loose papers go into a portfolio type binder. I sort through them and put Latin with Latin and grammar with grammar, etc. about twice a year. It all gets tossed into a banker's box at the end of the year. I don't need it for any reason, but I keep it just in case. The above is my filing system. Sorry, I don't have pix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garddwr Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I have a two-door cabinet with shelves, and on the shelves I have plastic organizer drawers. I'll try to take a picture later. I like it because the drawers keep everything organized by child/subject/materials (manipulatives, pencils, etc.) and closing the doors keeps it all out of site when we don't need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 (edited) As I organize the year's plans, I put printed items in a binder, which is organized by subject, each subject's papers in order of how I plan to do them. The general lesson plans are put in a spreadsheet, by subject. For instance, under DD's math, it says, "Lesson 1" on one line, "Lesson 2" on the next, and so on, with tests inserted as applicable. Every week, I will go through and click, copy, and paste the specific lessons for each day of that week. I can't plan stuff like "September 8, do lesson 1 of math, p. 55-60 of reading, chapter 3 in history," etc., too far in advance, because things change, and since we school year-round, we take breaks when needed. So I have the order and can just select the next thing for the next day. I do like having it printed out for each week. (I'm also in PA, so I check off work on the printouts, and if there's ever a question, I can pull them out.) Every couple of weeks, I look at the list of upcoming topics and order needed books from the libraries. Every night before a school day (or sometimes the morning of), I take the day's printed sheet and fill the workboxes with applicable papers, books to read, extra materials needed, etc. (Each child has his/her own box with pencils, pens, scissors, etc. Those stay at their workspaces.) Each child has several workboxes (well, the 3yo only has one, and only because he insisted on having one), and this year, I've labeled them for each subject; we'll see how that works. There are also workboxes for subjects we do all together. When they complete the work, they put the box back into the stack on my desk, and this year, I am setting up an inbox for work that I need to see. Books will go back in the crate that I use for books (or back to the library boxes or our personal shelves), or they will remain in the workboxes if they'll be used the next day. There's also a card for each subject that is its bookmark. Each child (and me too) also has a clipboard that they can use if they want; it makes sure there's always a smooth surface for writing and keeps things from being lost if we need to take work in the car. As I check work, I go over it with the child, and when it's done, I file it. Each child has a set of hanging folders, labeled by month, for his/her work, art projects, etc. (My dad made me the crates for files and books, and they sit on my desk and on my printer table next to my desk.) When I do the portfolios, I just pull out each child's set of folders and select good examples for each subject from the beginning, middle, and end of the year. Every month, I move the previous month's folders to the back of the child's set, so that the current one is at the front. I also check off work on the daily printout as it's completed (or I cross off stuff that we didn't get to, and I note anything special or interesting that we did, as well, so it's a bit of a journal too.) The order for work is flexible, depending on what everyone's moods/needs are, but generally: -Bible, poetry -- at breakfast, all together -do math, foreign language, and memory work with DD while DS1 and DS2 play (and this year, WWE is being added to that); send her to do her independent work -work with DS1; send him to do his independent work -do something with DS2, even just reading a book -do history and other family subjects with everyone -science and music are for Fridays when we don't have co-op I also want them to do a typing program most days, but that is trickier, because they need the computer that is on my desk, which is where I prefer to be when I'm working individually with each child, so we will need to juggle that one a bit. That sounds complicated. :) It's not, really, but it does help me keep better records and to get to more fun stuff. And in reality, some days, it doesn't stay organized, and my desk ends up covered in books and papers. But having the framework helps a lot. :) ETA: As for where things go -- my desk has the workboxes, computer, and crates, plus drawers for manipulatives and special art supplies (like the nicer paintbrushes and non-washable ink pads). The rest of the art and craft supplies live in a huge cabinet that used to hold sheets and towels, until I decided I needed it in my schoolroom (because my baby can't open it and dump paper and stuff all over the place like he could with the shelves I had been using). Edited May 30, 2012 by happypamama Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 My dh just built me up some shelves in the garage. It's not my ideal location for all my materials but given the volume I've amassed it was the only place large enough to fit everything. I keep one cabinet in the house for our day-to-day activities and the garage for all the extras and future resources. Here are pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doodle Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I like things very neat, organized, streamline, and uncomplicated. I use the craft cart pictured for curriculum. There is no science drawer because our science is in pdf format. I have a basic weekly schedule which simply lists which subjects we do each day. Doodle will be entering 3rd grade. He does 6 subjects per day. There is no set time of the day for them. We get started by 10am and go until we are finished, taking breaks as needed. I use a word document with a chart to record specifically what we have accomplished each day. I also have a separate word document for our year plan. That simply lays out how much of each curriculum (number of lessons or chapters) we need to accomplish each week in order to complete the course by the end of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea1 Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 We start off our day by choosing in what order we want to do our subjects that day. We have a long strap (it was a luggage strap) and we have laminated subject cards. We attach the subject cards to the strap each day in the order in which we want to do our subjects that day. Letting my two sons pick and choose which order has helped our day go a bit smoother. We have a bookcase nearby where I keep all of our supplies and books. The bottom row has 3 ring binders for storing all of our papers by child and by subject. When they finish any kind of written work, they put it in the inbox. Every couple of months I sort them and put them in the binders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I like things very neat, organized, streamline, and uncomplicated. I use the craft cart pictured for curriculum. There is no science drawer because our science is in pdf format. I have a basic weekly schedule which simply lists which subjects we do each day. Doodle will be entering 3rd grade. He does 6 subjects per day. There is no set time of the day for them. We get started by 10am and go until we are finished, taking breaks as needed. I use a word document with a chart to record specifically what we have accomplished each day. I also have a separate word document for our year plan. That simply lays out how much of each curriculum (number of lessons or chapters) we need to accomplish each week in order to complete the course by the end of the year. DOODLE!!!! I LOVE that timer!!!! It's one I can see and find!:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LillyMama Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 We start off our day by choosing in what order we want to do our subjects that day. We have a long strap (it was a luggage strap) and we have laminated subject cards. We attach the subject cards to the strap each day in the order in which we want to do our subjects that day. Letting my two sons pick and choose which order has helped our day go a bit smoother. That's cute!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 (edited) [attach]8895[/attach] The above is a picture of what the kid's weekly binders look like. I file their work for the week in here. [attach]8896[/attach] This is a picture of our modified workbox system. Much cheaper and takes up practically no space. [attach]8898[/attach] This is a picture of the bins where the kid's store their books, notebooks, workbooks, etc. [attach]8899[/attach] This is a picture of my huge file system. All of my children's worksheets, art appreciation pictures, and poetry that we will be studying over the year are stored in this by subject. I'm planning on colorcoding the tabs for each child and writing what subject it is for this next year. You can find more detailed explanations of how I plan and organize our homeschool under the homeschool tab on my blog. Edited May 30, 2012 by pw23kids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LillyMama Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 (edited) When we had our Family Expectations meeting, my kids told me they liked checklists and routines. So I've tried to comply. I also re-read TWTM in April, so I tried to really embrace the binder system. Here's a picture of our school room: The bookshelf on the left holds the books, the bookshelf on the right holds workbooks, work binders and teaching manuals. On the right shelf, the three each of pink, blue and clear bins hold each person's phonics, math and handwriting workbooks. The next shelf down holds their binders by subject- Language, History, Science and Nature Journal. The bottom shelf has big bins for me- one holds the library books for next week, the others hold the next level of workbooks for math, phonics, handwriting and spelling. I heavily rely on HST+ to keep me organized. I have set up a basic Lesson Plan Schedule that looks like this*: 7-7:30- Read aloud and narration (over breakfast) Monday- history "text" Tuesday- science "text" Wednesday- living history or literature Thursday- science history or literature Friday- catch up or none 7:30-8:30- chore time and play time 8:30-9- Calendar Time, memory work (CC) 9-10:30- LA- phonics, spelling, WWE and FLL 10:30-11- snack and recess 11-12- math and literature 12-1- lunch and recess 1-2- Quiet Time (hope to evolve into independent reading time) 2-4- block subjects Monday- history map work, word bank and reading Tuesday- science log book and narration Wednesday- history craft/project Thursday- science nature walk/journal or experiment Friday- off or catch up 4-5- reading- lesson and independent reading. Because we school year-round, I don't plan over the summer. Every couple of weeks, over the weekend, I spend an hour or two assigning lesson plans and choosing texts/books/crafts/experiments for the coming weeks. I take all read-alouds and teaching manuals for the week and put them in baskets in my coffee table. Here's a picture of that: Every night I spend about 5-10 minutes in HST+ updating our assignment lists and reading log. I print off the checklist for the next day and clip it into a manila folder- one for each of us, labeled "Mom's Daily Assignment Folder." Once a week I print out the reading log report for the week and clip it to the Reading divider in their LA notebooks. Everything else we try to file in their binders as we do it- this is easier to do than I thought it would be as my kids still see the three-hole punch as a novelty. ;) * This schedule is a GUIDE. We rarely follow it exactly. We may be off my 30 minutes or switch around days. For example, we're going on a nature walk with some friends Thursday morning, so we'll either move LA to the afternoon, to Friday afternoon, over the weekend, or take it off. I just like having the blocks set up like this so I can easily know what needs to be shifted if we have these kinds of events. If we followed the schedule carefully, my kids would go through 2-3 years' worth of spelling, math and phonics in one year, so I know we can be flexible. Oh, and I should mention- we have a large Ikea Expedit system in a room in our basement that keeps all of our craft and project supples. I try to keep our "school room" less cluttered, and we do a lot of reading on the couch, the narrations at the kitchen table, etc. ETA- My cats are camera-hogs, I hope you enjoy seeing how they participate in our school day! And I know my pictures show messy rooms. This is how we live, so I thought it made more sense to show how things really look, not all polished and perfect. Edited May 30, 2012 by LillyMama CATS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 (edited) I have an organizer with six plastic drawers that we use. Each child has a drawer with their individual workbooks, notebooks, pencil box, etc. Even the 2-year-old has a drawer with his own notebook and crayons. That leaves two drawers for me. One drawer has the stuff I am currently using and the other drawer has stuff that I only use periodically (balance, scale, clock, future read-alouds, etc). I keep the organizer in our coat closet (random - I know), so that it's close to the kitchen table yet out of sight. We also have one of those nice bookshelves where the covers face out. I keep it between the kitchen and family room. I put the older kids' current readers and the little kids' picture books there. The rest of our books are scattered on bookshelves in the kids' rooms upstairs. I have a spare cupboard in the kitchen where I keep art supplies, teacher guides, and curriculum we aren't currently using. Our schedule: 9-9:30 Math 9:30-10 Writing 10-10:20 French 10:20-40 Read aloud 10:40-11 History or Science (alternating days w/Art on Fridays) Our schedule is pretty simple, but I make a weekly spreadsheet on excel for me to follow. I type in what we are going to do for pre-planned things like history, science, and art. I leave the squares blank for math, writing, and French so I can write in how many pages each child finishes as we go along. I usually plan two weeks in advance. At the end of those weeks, I file the planning sheets away and type up planning sheets for the next two weeks. I look over any teacher guides at the same time. This prep takes me 1-2 hrs at the most (every other week). I have a filing cabinet where I keep all the kids' papers organized. I put in a hanging file for each year for each child. During the year I toss everything in that child's hanging file: finished math workbooks, stories, artwork, recital programs, etc. At the end of the year I go through the file and choose things to keep and representative samples from each area. I also type up a one-page written evaluation of what they've learned and accomplished during the year. I sort everything into 3 manila folders within the hanging folder: Folder 1 - the written evaluation and standardized test scores (required in our state) Folder 2 - schoolwork samples Folder 3 - memorabilia (cards, recital programs, etc) I also have hanging folders for my preschool kids, but I don't organize them. I just try to put a date on the back of everything and throw it in. I have a folder at the front of my filing cabinet where I keep our weekly planning sheets along with all of our legal paperwork for the state (attendance records, copies of our most recent standardized tests, and immunization records). Once you have a system organized, it doesn't take too much effort to simply maintain the system. Edited May 30, 2012 by MinivanMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 Some neat ideas here! Keep 'em coming! And I love the cats in the pictures, Elizabeth! My cats are photo hogs too! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQmom Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 [attach]8895[/attach] The above is a picture of what the kid's weekly binders look like. I file their work for the week in here. [attach]8896[/attach] This is a picture of our modified workbox system. Much cheaper and takes up practically no space. [attach]8898[/attach] This is a picture of the bins where the kid's store their books, notebooks, workbooks, etc. [attach]8899[/attach] This is a picture of my huge file system. All of my children's worksheets, art appreciation pictures, and poetry that we will be studying over the year are stored in this by subject. I'm planning on colorcoding the tabs for each child and writing what subject it is for this next year. You can find more detailed explanations of how I plan and organize our homeschool under the homeschool tab on my blog. Thanks for the pictures! This is helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQmom Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I have a question. It's been a couple of years now since the big filing thread, and I wondered not only how that was going for your homeschool, but also, has anyone tried this system for themselves? Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight has some really great ideas for moms to help keep up with week to week responsibilities and paperwork (I think the link is actually p. 3 of her archived file and crate system). Has anyone done this? If you have, do you have any tips or pictures for how this is working for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I have a question. It's been a couple of years now since the big filing thread, and I wondered not only how that was going for your homeschool, but also, has anyone tried this system for themselves? Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight has some really great ideas for moms to help keep up with week to week responsibilities and paperwork (I think the link is actually p. 3 of her archived file and crate system). Has anyone done this? If you have, do you have any tips or pictures for how this is working for you? The blog post are great--thanks for sharing. I was just wondering the same thing about the filing thread. I'm going to s/o a question about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I have a filing system like Dawn's, but I'm REALLY bad about using it. I will take pics tomorrow. I'm still kind of rearranging, so this is what I have right now: I have a small open top filing box from The Container Store in my Thirty One bag. In that, I keep 6 cool green hanging folders-one for each of the 5 days of our school week labeled Monday-Friday, and one labeled "To Grade". In the daily folders, I put things I might need that day-extra math worksheets, craft ideas, etc. In the "To Grade" folder, I put in answer keys I might need, and since I'm lazy, I also have a stash of math drills and grammar worksheets in there bulldog clipped together. It's more of my "stash" folder. :lol: I also keep my JAG teacher guide behind those hanging folders and a book or two I'm reading. I can throw my laptop in there safely if I need to. In the pockets, I have "my" pens, a small sight word bingo kit, phonics flashcards, extra AAS pieces, and stuff I always need on hand. I have a closed hanging folder box that I store my monthly file folders and weekly folders in-I take out 3 weeks at a time and that month's file and put them in my desk apprentice. I also have extra hanging folders for random worksheets and workbox activities. My 4 yo, 10 yo, and 11 yo have workboxes. The 4 yo's are actually those plastic drawers, and the older kids have a hanging file folder box with velcro dots. I randomly fill those, but they always have math, drills, memory work, and something fun in there. I have a 2x4 Expedit in the living room. On top is my Desk Apprentice. I keep paper for the kids-graphing, lined, and construction. I also have clipboards and dry erase covers in there. This is where we keep the pens, markers, rulers, etc. In the inside are my weekly folders, a folder for each kid of special workbox and grade level material, and a file labeled "workboxes" for random stuff I throw in. I also keep several books I use daily in there-our EF book, A&P teacher book, GSWL, and Ancient Greek. In the Expedit, I have a cubby for the 3 oldest kids with their binders (Latin, History/maps, general work), individual notebooks and workbooks, and pencil case. The bottom row has all of our science and SL books. I have one of the cubbies as our read alouds and general big books-Lively Latin, Fairy tales, etc. On top of the Expedit, I also have our pencil/marker caddy and a basket of circle time & read aloud books. I put library books on the window on top to display. My 4 yo has a few cubbies in the playroom of "her" books and workbooks. In the dining room, we have our larger world map and corner cabinets. This is part of the living/dining area and where we do our math because of our 5'x8' or so whiteboard. In the corner cabinets, we have art supplies, game boards, poetry books, and math books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen in CO Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 I started out the year with a nice folder system which worked great until we reorganized. Now I keep the books and workbooks for youngest in her anitque flip-top desk. On the weekend, I make sure the right books and such are in there. Each day, she rearranges her work in a "to do" stack on the right inside the desk in the order she wants to do it. When she completes something, it goes back in on the left. We use colored flags to mark our place. In her reading books, she puts a green post-it flag at the beginning and a pink one to mark where she'll stop. When she's finished, she moves the flags for the next day. All of the extra books are either in a bookshelf in my office which contains books I plan to use or books that complement what we're studying. The basement holds 8 tall bookshelves with the rest of the books in it. Older dd, has a shelf of fiction and a shelf on non-fiction in the basement library that she is working through. It really help us to have all of the books for a semester in the same spot. I have all of the science supplies for the year in a bin on a shelf in the basement. I haven't yet had to waste time looking for something for an experiement. I spent a lot of time last year setting this up and it has paid-off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 http://www.andwiththemorn.blogspot.com/2012/03/desk-apprentice-and-what-our-day-looks.html On FB a friend of a friend was asking me a bunch of questions about homeschooling, then a bunch of other people started asking more, so I made that blog post to give them an idea of what I do. You can probably skip down to the pictures. What I do is have everything we need on a day to day basis in the Desk Apprentice. All the workbooks are stored in a milk crate. One of the hanging files in the DA has five manila folders in it, each labeled with a day of the week. Every Sunday, I go through the workbooks in the milk crate and pull out enough for the coming week. So for WWE, I would pull out the four sheets and spread them in the file folders. For MUS, I'd get enough worksheets for two pages a day. I would write down in my lesson planner all the assignments to help me keep track of how much we needed to do. As he finished something, I would highlight it in the planner. The actual paper was put in a different hanging file labeled "Completed Work to Be Filed". If he didn't get to something, say he only did one MUS sheet, the second one would be moved to the next day. Every Sunday when I'd go through and add the new assignments for the week, I'd gather all the completed work, hole punch what I needed to, and file them in the appropriate section of his 3" 3 ring binder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQmom Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 (edited) http://www.andwiththemorn.blogspot.com/2012/03/desk-apprentice-and-what-our-day-looks.html On FB a friend of a friend was asking me a bunch of questions about homeschooling, then a bunch of other people started asking more, so I made that blog post to give them an idea of what I do. You can probably skip down to the pictures. What I do is have everything we need on a day to day basis in the Desk Apprentice. All the workbooks are stored in a milk crate. One of the hanging files in the DA has five manila folders in it, each labeled with a day of the week. Every Sunday, I go through the workbooks in the milk crate and pull out enough for the coming week. So for WWE, I would pull out the four sheets and spread them in the file folders. For MUS, I'd get enough worksheets for two pages a day. I would write down in my lesson planner all the assignments to help me keep track of how much we needed to do. As he finished something, I would highlight it in the planner. The actual paper was put in a different hanging file labeled "Completed Work to Be Filed". If he didn't get to something, say he only did one MUS sheet, the second one would be moved to the next day. Every Sunday when I'd go through and add the new assignments for the week, I'd gather all the completed work, hole punch what I needed to, and file them in the appropriate section of his 3" 3 ring binder. I see the desk apprentice on-line is about $45. Does anyone have any idea if this is cheaper if you find it in the store? Anybody know of any coupons? This is a really neat looking organizer, but I don't know if dh would be too happy with another organizer--esp. one that cost $45. :tongue_smilie: Edited May 30, 2012 by ABQmom typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I got mine for about $30 at the Staples store. Do you have one close by that you can check out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 I see the desk apprentice on-line is about $45. Does anyone have any idea if this is cheaper if you find it in the store? Anybody know of any coupons? This is a really neat looking organizer, but I don't know if dh would be too happy with another organizer--esp. one that cost $45. :tongue_smilie: Staples often has coupons. Get on their email list. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I see the desk apprentice on-line is about $45. Does anyone have any idea if this is cheaper if you find it in the store? Anybody know of any coupons? This is a really neat looking organizer, but I don't know if dh would be too happy with another organizer--esp. one that cost $45. :tongue_smilie: Watch for sales like a hawk. They once went on sale for $20 ea. with free shipping. The cheapest I had ever seen them before was $26 (when I bought mine). For $20, I bought one for each of the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABQmom Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I got mine for about $30 at the Staples store. Do you have one close by that you can check out? Staples often has coupons. Get on their email list. :) Watch for sales like a hawk. They once went on sale for $20 ea. with free shipping. The cheapest I had ever seen them before was $26 (when I bought mine). For $20, I bought one for each of the kids. Thanks everyone. Yes, I have a Staples close to my house. I will definitely get on their mailing list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawndrese Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Both of my boys have their own milk crates filled with their own binders for each subject. I had the whole years worth of material hole punched and put in the binders. The binders are also color coordinated. For example, they know when it's time to do SOTW to both go and get their red binders. Every day, I let them pick what they want to do first...what they are in the mood to start with, and we just pick out that binder and start where we left off from the day before. The only scheduling I do is have a rough estimate of where I want to be at the end of every month. So I know to pick up our speed a little in a subject, or take our time if we can. There's a part of me that would like to be a little more organized and I go back and forth about setting aside all their work for a week in a separate binder (and then file the work in the others when that week is done). But I'm worried that would just stress me out more. Who knows...I might just have to give that a try next year :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Please post what ideas you have found successful in your homeschool as far as organization (where to put books, what to put them in, how to arrange them, etc. - like dish drainers, baskets, etc.), your schedule/routine, whether you do checklists of some type, give your kids workbooks/binders/something for daily/weekly work, etc. Also, if you use some kind of filing system, feel free to post that here too (I have read THE filing thread, but filing by subject is necessary here, at least for skill subjects). If you have pics of your setup, post those too! :D Best/most obvious tip...put things where you will use them. For us that means: Art supplies are stored in our kitchen, and science supplies in a nearby closet. Books are on bookshelves near where we do our Bible and History reading. I have my teacher box (totable file) with all of my answer keys in that same room, as well as our workboxes. Workboxes have been a huge organizational tool here, it's like a 3-D schedule. Current Read-alouds are kept upstairs where we do those, instead of downstairs by the other books/supplies. I keep a 3-ring binder divided into sections for my yearly plans, and with our weekly schedules. Some other blog posts: Typical Day, Organization: Priorities and Passions, Creating a Workable Routine, and Implementing a New Routine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 We got one of the Desk Apprentices today, and I love it! It's exactly what I've needed! It was $26 in my local Staples store. Thanks to the poster who posted about it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeBlessings Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Here's a post about planning/scheduling and one about our space. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
napualani Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Here's a post about planning/scheduling and one about our space. :) Thanks so much for sharing your calendars. I printed the school year calendar and filled in my ds's school calendar (he's not homeschooled) so that my homeschooled dd can be on the same school schedule as her brother. I'm going to try the web organizer and planning calendars as well. :) Thanks! Darlene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houseofkids&pets Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 For some reason, the Desk Apprentice at Staples is cheaper in the store. On line, it is $45, but in the store it cost me $29. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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