Organizing: Text books, Work books, TM's, activity guides, answer keys....OH MY!!!!!

[Mommyfaithe]

Since switching from a more CM based homeschool to a more WTM homeschool....I am so over run with school stuff!!!!! My pretty CM books sat on the shelf and my kids had sewn composition notebooks in which we journaled our history, science, nature study narrations.....

We had a math book too.....everything else was just books and art supplies...

 

NOW!!!! OH GOOD LORD!!!!!!

Every darn course has a student book, test book, answer key, teacher manual etc. ....etc.....etc....

Times it by 3 and I am drowning in ugly spiral bound flimsy course books...YUCK!

 

Worst thing about it is we misplace one key or another Every, darn. Day!!!!!

 

I have been so disorganized because even I can't get a grip on all these books and assignments....

 

This is mostly a wild rant!!!!!

 

Please, someone....,.commiserate with me!!! Or show me pictures of your beautifully organized binders to make me feel like a slacker......

 

 

OY!!!!!!

Faithe.....who stayed chrome from the gym tonight to be lazy....but is thinking now of pulling an all nighter getting everything straightened out for our next semester of school.

[regentrude]

What about using cardboard magazine holders? For subjects that have many components, I stick all the booklets/notebooks/solution keys into one of those.

[Mrs Twain]

I was thinking recently of what I would do if I had just started homeschooling. I know what you mean about all of the books. Every course seems to have many parts, and keeping all of those parts straight is difficult.

 

I think I would just start with the basics first, such as math, grammar, writing, and spelling. I would learn thpse systems and get organized so that they flowed smoothly.

After that, I would add in one or two more subjects at a time until they were running smoothly.

I would keep adding until I added all of the subjects.

 

I have most of my homeschool books in cabinets in an area of my kitchen plus another dresser-cabinet-type-of-thing. I like being able to shut the doors at the end of the school day so I can't see the ugly stuff.

 

The books and notebooks I am not currently using are on some bookcase shelves. They are not so pretty, but they are organized and easily accessible.

[Random]

I give each student their own shelf on the bookshelf. They're responsible for returning ALL of their materials to their own shelf/section after school each day.

 

I have my own shelf for TMs and answer keys.

 

I stayed home from the gym today, too, but because it's, oh I don't know, -18 outside...and my car probably wouldn't start anyway.

[Random]

What about using cardboard magazine holders? For subjects that have many components, I stick all the booklets/notebooks/solution keys into one of those.

 

 

We do this, too. I like the ones from IKEA.

[stm4him]

We use the same thing...lol. The kids each have one on their desk for their daily workbooks, notebooks, and folders. Then they have a shelf next to them (one of the 2 x 4 expedit's from IKEA) with their binders on it and that is where I store curriculum we are using later in the year or the following year when I've ordered early. Next to me I have a 4 x 4 expedit with all my teacher books and manipulatives on it. I keep the math teacher manuals on one with one of those magazine boxes for charts and small answer keys, etc. One shelf has all my language arts (phonics, spelling, grammar and writing) teacher's manuals and binders. Another has their McGuffey Readers, Bob Books, and McCall Crabbs books and some memory work stuff on it. I have other cabinets and shelves for living books and reference books, etc. but the ones I described above are the ones we use daily for our skill subject work. I now am trying to use fewer workbooks and more blank notebooks for recording what we are doing. This does reduce my number of teacher's manuals and workbooks but I'd say we've replaced them with just as many living books and reference books and notebooks so I'm not sure it's really less to store......

[PeterPan]

Well I'll tell you what you know: Store it where you use it. I only have 2 dc, and you have more. For my situation, I keep my ds' stuff and my ds' stuff on separate tables. That's where they work, so that's where it gets stored. It's just like organizing your kitchen. You put your wooden spoons by the stove (point of use), not in the towel drawer. So for tm's, where do you USE them? That's where you put bins. Bins vs. shelves or bins on shelves, that's all logistics. Just depends on what you have space for. You want to create work stations for each person so everything they need is located there, has a home, and can be put away. They don't actually have to work there. It just means if they WANT to, they can. If I had a dc who predominantly worked in their room, that's where the stuff would be.

 

Now *I* separate out *my* stuff that I need to use to teach her and my dd's stuff. Yes, it's sort of an insane amount this year. I got locker crates at Walmart this year, my new splurge. In the past I've always used milk crates. If you use them, cut plastic to put in the bottom so the holes don't rip up your stuff. Anyway, I have 6 locker crates on my dd's work table. I also have a couple vertical metal dividers (you buy them at the office supply store) to hold my tm's, answer keys, that kind of thing.

 

I like milk crates (or now locker crates) because they're CHEAP and REARRANGEABLE. I never, ever find myself sticking to the same layout from year to year, lol. Just how you're living changes, who does what where changes... So I like things I can rearrange. But it's always the same question: When she sits down, what does she need to have access to in order to work? And when I sit down to work with her for our time, what do I need access to? I just keep those things separate. Her table is 4 1/2X7'. We basically use the whole thing. If I had a bookshelf, yeah we could go vertical. I have lots of shelves and before they were filled with books, indeed I did put milk crates on the shelves and use them to organize tm's, resource books, etc. I keep resource stuff (craft books on the civil war, art project books, that kind of thing) separate unless they're specifically what we're working on at the moment. If there's a theme for a term, I might put those books together on those shelves. But really, for our working supplies (notebooks, texts, whatever), it's usually been milk crates and dishpans for me.

 

Check out the metal dividers at the office supply. You might really like them. I'm nutso for them and have, oy, maybe 4 or 5. They're stupid expensive, but they hold heavy tm's upright really well, last forever, and don't snag your stuff. Milk crates you can find cheaply and then stack and play around with. Then if you land on a system, you can build it in with more permanent solutions if you want. My dh says the most important element in decorating is wheels, since we seem to rearrange so much. :lol:

 

I can try to go take a pic of her desk. I've just had trouble attaching stuff lately. The pdf went through fine, but my screenshot jpgs were too big. Guess I could use a linked account. I'll see what I can do.

[PeterPan]

Below you'll see the locker crates that hold the binders and whatnot vertically. I like the locker crates because they don't hold as much, meaning you don't have all that weight flopping and bending your stuff. You'll see all her history is in crate #3, science in crate #4. In the pink crates are Sister Wendy art books and another with her opera books. 2nd pic gives you upclose of the metal dividers. That's actually 2 units side by side. They come in widths of slots (fixed) and different numbers. I like them both (wide and narrow). More is better on metal dividers, cuz they're just so useful. Her history tms are up here with me right now. You can see the grammar tm on the table where it didn't get put away today. Her schedule notebook is on the table, but it always stays out. Whiteboard is thrown on top of the bins. We pull it down for grammar, math, science labs. So I don't know if that helps you any, but there you go. If anyone is curious, below the table are ds's school bins when he needs something to keep him busy (hopefully quiet) a while. In the background is the swing, a mini-trampoline, etc. And the 3rd shot shows ds' work area. Again, metal dividers to hold his stuff. I have some locker crates I bought on clearance to use when he gets older and has notebooks and things.

 

BTW, because the table is rather deep, she can have the crates on there AND have room to work, even when the whiteboard is on the table surface. If the table were shallower, I'd put the crates to the side. One year I put two folding tables together to make an island of sorts and put the crates in the middle facing one direction. Told you I like to rearrange.

 

I'm not the tidiest person ever, but this works for us. She can find what she needs, and I've got my stuff, and it's where we use it. Everything has a home, and nothing gets damaged going in and out of the crates. If it's not getting used, I pull it out and take it to my tm storage shelves. That's the main thing, to get stuff you're NOT using out of your work area. I just did that last week to rearrange for the new semester's stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[myfunnybunch]

I give each student their own shelf on the bookshelf. They're responsible for returning ALL of their materials to their own shelf/section after school each day.

 

I have my own shelf for TMs and answer keys.

 

I stayed home from the gym today, too, but because it's, oh I don't know, -18 outside...and my car probably wouldn't start anyway.

 

 

This is our solution too. And like OhElizabeth, anything not currently in use goes in storage.

 

Another key for me has been teaching the boys to bring me the TM when it's time to correct a subject, and to put it away. The TM for daily subjects usually stays with the student books, so they are not separated.

 

Cat

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Last year I gave each of the kids a "milk crate" for all their texts, workbooks, etc. History and lit books are on bookshelves until needed. I currently have all old/future books on bookshelves since we have the room (in the past I have stored them or put them in a repurposed linen closet).

 

I have a shelf and crate for all my TMs as well.

[elegantlion]

I also bought some decorative boxes and dh uses those for his material. The books stand upright, the lid is nested on the bottom so it isn't lost.

 

The organization is a continual thing, it never seems done.

 

Next year for printed items, I'm going to color coordinate everything, ds will have the same color or folder as me. That way he won't lose it when it's right under his nose.

[Mom2OandE]

I bought the wood magazine boxes from ikea and painted them and added ribbons. One for each subject. All the flimsy stuff goes in and my shelves look pretty.

[threedogfarm]

My advice: keep it simple. Make things easy to take out and put away. Try to avoid any daily filing if possible (at least that's my mission!)

 

If you liked using the composition books--find a way to keep using them. We use them for spelling, WWE, and history narration. I bound the maps from SOTW and those are pulled out when we do the history reading so they can do the map work at the same time. If we also did the coloring pages I would have done the same thing as well. My children are in charge of pulling their books out at the beginning of the school day and putting them away afterwards. My books (TM's, read aloud book, etc.) are kept on a shelf on a bookcase in the kitchen (which is where we do school). I drag the pile of them out at the beginning of each school day and I put my own away. Our pencils, glue sticks, tape, etc. is kept in a bamboo utensil holder that sits on top of the shelf. They come out and go away each day.

 

I do not use binders (though I tried to WTM style) b/c I didn't like to file daily and they didn't fit on our bookshelves well (too tall and thick). The composition books worked well. Also if you print out PDF's of workbooks, just have use half the book. We do this for FLL and I use a pocket folder (left side for finished lessons and the right side for future lessons). You can also do this for workbooks too (my kids did not like keeping their math in a workbook so this worked well. When they finished the half year I just kept samples of the work for their portfolio and then recycled the rest).

 

Also, think outside the box. The RightStart Math games were in the HUGE box. Finally (!) I put them in a small shoe box. So much easier and more efficient.

 

I agree with the poster who suggested just starting with a couple of subjects and see how it works.

[Shelly in VA]

Another key for me has been teaching the boys to bring me the TM when it's time to correct a subject, and to put it away. The TM for daily subjects usually stays with the student books, so they are not separated.

 

This is a great idea! Searching for the TM seems to be a consistent problem for us. I tried keeping them on my desk for awhile, but then a kid would grab one for whatever reason, and it's path back to my desk was wandering, to say the least. Plus, with 4 kids at all different levels, the number of TMs I had to keep in one area was overwhelming.

 

Sigh. It was simpler when I started this with just two little people! :)

[Shelly in VA]

If you liked using the composition books--find a way to keep using them. We use them for spelling, WWE, and history narration. I bound the maps from SOTW and those are pulled out when we do the history reading so they can do the map work at the same time. If we also did the coloring pages I would have done the same thing as well.

 

I do not use binders (though I tried to WTM style) b/c I didn't like to file daily and they didn't fit on our bookshelves well (too tall and thick). The composition books worked well. The RightStart Math games were in the HUGE box. Finally (!) I put them in a small shoe box. So much easier and more efficient.

 

 

 

Great suggestions here! I agree that if you like the composition books, you should keep using them. I, too, find that the binders don't fit well on shelves/desks; I have much more success with the composition books (which stand nicely together on a shelf, plus they are sturdy, they are portable, and if they get dropped, the papers don't get out of order!).

 

One thing that I have done this year to help with the daily filing is to set up a tickler system in a milk crate, which has hanging folders for each week of the year. When I print out maps or worksheets or whatever, or I have an idea for a project or a resource to use, I put it into the weekly folder. The kids all know to look there for things, and usually (or at least sometimes!) the paper they need is actually there. If something doesn't get done, I can just bump it to the next week. Even something like the next workbook in a series will go in there when a kid is getting close to finishing up a workbook (i.e. Singapore math or Explode the Code; not an issue for the teens, who don't do anything in workbooks anymore). There is also a folder in the front for the kids to drop in anything that I need to check - sort of like an inbox.

 

As for workbooks - I don't keep them once they are used. I keep other material for a portfolio, and if I had to, I guess I would pull a page or two out of the workbook to put in the portfolio, but I try to minimize the workbook clutter by keeping only the ones currently being used. That said, our entire basement (which is where we do school) is like a sea of paper right now... I'm secretly hoping for a snow day tomorrow so I can purge and start over for the second semester of the year!

[mommymilkies]

I have three baskets (just book ones from Joann's) for books we read together, history books, etc. those are above my LO's toy cubbies by the couch. We also have a small bookshelf in the living room with books we use less often-readers to get around to (color coded stickers to keep them straight), half a shelf for the 5 yo's books we use less often, half for my 8 yo's. the bottom shelf has the big science and TMs we don't always use. The top shelf has a wash basin for each 11 and 12 year olds for their notebooks. We then have a 3 drawer shallow plastic stackable work box like thing for each kid all stacked next to the piano. One drawer is math, one writing, one other English.

 

In our corner cabinets I keep art supplies, math manipulatives, math TMs and other math books all next to my dry erase markers. I also have a desk apprentice next to our computer standing work station and dry erase board where I keep the guides for subjects we do together at the board, like Latin and Greek. THEN I have a 31 bag with clear file folder organizer that fits inside where I keep my always needed TMs (like spelling and grammar), MY pens and markers, flash cards, calendar, etc. which is a really long way of saying I have way too much stuff and need to downsize.