Organizing using binders, planners, or ????

[Jumping In Puddles]

Do you use a computer to stay organized ( I mean with school work, activities for the kids) or an appointment book, a planner, a teacher book etc?

 

This is my plan:

 

arggggh! Actually, it seems I have no plan! :( I have no idea how to organize!

 

So I need to start somewhere. I have seen mention on the boards of a WEEKLY BINDER, where you put all things week-by-week into a binder so on Monday you just open and go.

 

Do I give my son a student planner for first grade and let him feel a little in control?

 

Should I get a planner or just a calendar?

[BamaTanya]

Sometimes I buy appt books or calendars at the store and other times I print out organizers off sites like donnayoung.org, hole-punch, and put in a binder. You may find what you need FREE (or almost!)

 

As for your son, maybe you could give him a weekly sheet to put with his books or in his binder so he can see what he'll be doing each week and learn to check off things as they're finished.

 

hth

[LaxMom]

I keep a day planner and a Google calendar (my husband also has a Google calendar and we can see/update each other's). It's nice because I get a daily agenda, including both of our commitments, in my email every morning. My paper planner travels with me so I can jot things down pending confirmation by the "master" calendar (Google) or record my 7 y.o.'s piano homework or whatever.

 

For school assignments, I use Homeschool Tracker +, but I don't print them off unless the kids are going to my ILs for a week or something. We have our weekly school schedule printed out and posted (and, uh, laminated - but I'm not a total nerd or anything) so we have a visual reminder of how our week looks. Generally, I don't need to look at "assignments" except to mark them as complete because everything is generally the next page/lesson/whatever. know what I mean?

 

If your son can read, then there is something to be said for giving him a weekly assignment sheet. If he can't, then it's sort of moot, unless you want to see what you have planned for the week and work from that.

[CalicoKat]

starting the year by making my my PDA & Computer friends and my alarm clock. :)

[Plucky]

I was never able to do the binder thing. It was so much work to get started (but I was following others' plans).

 

This is what I do. I print a weekly chore list for my kids to do and tape it to a hall closet door. I make a weekly lesson plan in Word for all 4 kids on 1 piece of paper - that is our goal for the week. We often don't accomplish everything because I have lofty goals. No problem, I just move things to the next week that weren't done. I have a huge calendar on the fridge that I put every. single. activity/appt. The last thing I do is enter the kids daily work into each of their planners. This is so they can see what they have to accomplish for the day. 3/4 of my kids like this system and it's helped them to understand planning and organization better.

 

This really isn't a lot of work for me but for some people it would be overkill. It's the only way I know to keep myself accountable. It's not a perfect system by any means either. My house is not as clean as I'd like but that's because it's lower on my priority list than school, activities, friends, and family and I'm okay with that.

 

For what you are looking for a master calendar, purse calendar, and lesson planner should just about cover it. Those binders sure do look pretty though.