A lot of people ask me about my organization skills. To answer this honestly, I do not think it has been because I have been homeschooling since 2003, I think I am obsessive-compulsive, seriously! I just thought I was weird. Then one day I was reading an article a man wrote in a Lifeway publication about gifts that God gives people and I think mine must be one he listed, "the gift of administration," I was relieved because I had never heard that before mentioned as a gift, let alone how it could bless your family, so I wanted to share with you some things that work around my house as far as HOMESCHOOLING is concerned. I can write more about organizing other stuff later ( and a disclaimer here, I am SURE there are more that know a LOT more about options out there than I, I have just been asked repeatedly how I organize homeschool stuff at my house, granted we just moved a week or so ago, lol!)
I guess the first question is WHERE we homeschool in the house. Well, this is different has it has ever been before, and how it will be in the future, but we have been using the Bob Jones University Press dvds this school yr because we KNEW we were gonna have a crazy year, and my kids are 7 and 10. The kids just pop 'em in their dvd players in their room and I will sit in to help out or just see what they are learning and then record it in our planner. BUT we STILL DO LOTS OF UNSCHOOLING like watching documentaries and so on, but daddy likes the dvds but we will not be using them again. I feel too distant from the kids this year but it HAS helped get the work done this school year despite all the craziness elsewhere!
Now we have an old table that we put in the garage and we use that for when we have family homeschool time like lessons for everyone or crafts and we will homeschool here daily next year. The wall behind isn't painted yet, as we just moved here, but I am also going to hang their homeschool "cheat" posters over the table like, multiplication tables and of course our pledges, yes we does those daily to the Bible and the United States. On the table we also have the medium-sized three-drawer containers for different types of paper and then another one, although not pictured. One of the three drawers is for crayons, one for colored pencils and one for markers. (I told you I was obsessive) It just drives me crazy when the kids need colored pencils and can only find markers, ugh, so that is how that came about.
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| (I bought this table at a yard sale yesterday for $15 and it is larger than it looks so no more card table! Great for crafts too as it is kinda scuffed up on the top) |
Here are some other pics of how we organize our homeschool stuff.
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(This is our container from walmart where the kids put their completed school work. Each kid has a drawer-until I can get to them to grade them and add them in their yearly notebooks. I ALWAYS call them in and go over it if there are any mistakes or even worse, sloppy work, lol! I will show a pic of their yearly notebooks in just a second.)
(These are their yearly notebooks. They have ALL their school work in them, divided by subject with subject dividers. I always try to get the notebooks with the clear plastic covers at least on the side so I can label and easily see from a bookshelf what's inside. I also, on the back clear sleeve keep one copy of proof of registration with their cover school that year and then another one in a fireproof place like a file cabinet or safe. The kids LOVE to show these to grandparents and just look at them alone and see how far they have improved, and yes, Art, has it's own divider tab too!)
Speaking of record-keeping so to speak, we just buy these individually priced Homeschool Report cards at our local Parent-Teacher Store. You could easily make one if you don't have one and even the cover school we have used this year provides their own which you bring with you twice a year at grade/record reconciliation days at their office. You can "grade" on anything you wish and I also "grade" based on attitude and other character traits. I would love to show you some transcripts for the kids, that I have kept over the years but they are still packed up right now, but I will try to come back another day and add a pic to edit this post.
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This is the planner we have used this year and it has really helped keeping me accountable. It was hard finding one with as many spaces as I felt I needed, but each two-page layout is a week and my headers read each kid (I have 2) for their subjects that coincide with their curriculum this year. It has worked great, however, I will also show you what we did last school year. Oh by the way, this planner we used this year has been a big help in keeping track of attendance which is required to turn in.
Last school year I just bought a notebook and some notebook paper and kept a "diary" of the days we homeschooled and what each kid did. Nice, but I needed a little more accountability so I can't say ouch, missed three days last week..I NEED a CALENDAR layout!
Another notebook! This is for craft ideas and keep it with my homeschool resources. I subscribe to some fun magazines like "Family Fun" by Disney and "Instructor" by Scholastic. I don't necessarily wanna keep the whole mag, but am more likely to try out the crafts I think the kids would like or that even pertinent to what we are learning so I tear them out, stick em in a plastic page and keep 'em in here, see...
This reminds me of some things I would like to share as far as organizing, but I will have to do that in a part two!
Unit Studies! I LOVE unit studies! These bags can be bought at the Parent-Teacher Store but I think the heavy grade Ziplocs would work just as well. Here, I can put all our teaching materials pertaining to that unit in one place and if we are going to a picnic lunch we can with us! This is our China unit study that we work on for Chinese New Year. I am working on lots of other bags, like Black History month, etc., and keep all these bags in a bin. I got this idea from the Hoover Library!
Last thing for tonight..now you are seeing JUST how O.C. I am! Hey, when you move 5 times in 4 years, you learn to be organized! This is an idea that I got just this last week. Many friends send me great links for homeschooling certain subjects, even games! SO, instead of bookmarking them into my computer NEVER to be seen again, I have started printing them out and putting them in this notebook, of course divided by subject. There is even one for Music History, how cool! And just in case you didn't, because I didn't until just this year, notebooks are EXPENSIVE and can be purchased all day long at the local thrifts stores, anywhere from 10 cents to 39 cents!!!! Okay, well I hope this has helped SOMEONE. This is just how I do it, do whatever works for YOU. IT's your HOME, your KIDS, do what works for YOU!
Love,
Clarissa
