New Organization

A while back I read a post my friend, Lynette, wrote about using a file crate system to keep her homeschool organized.  I did some looking and reading online and found this blog post about a similar file crate system.  I really liked how she set up her folders, so decided to do the same for me!

Here's my crate ... I went and got when when they were on clearance at Walmart after the back to school sales.  I wrote all the dates on my file folders, then decided I really like the printed label look, so started to make some of those.  I have one folder for each week of the year divided into six hanging folders (two months in each).

Behind my weekly folders are my filler paper folders.  This will make sense after you see the inside of the folders.  In the book Large Family Logistics, the author suggests assigning each day a specific task or focus.  I've tried to make this my habit for a few years now.  I haven't been very consistent at it, but now that I have my new planner pages in my folders I am able to remember better what each day's focus is.

Behind my daily schedule sheets, I have the rest of my planning pages: weekly schedule, weekly checklist, call/email list, monthly calendar, monthly menu, weekly menu, grocery list, Sam's Club list, journal idea list, blog idea list, project idea list, books I've read list.  I created all of these forms in Excel based on the form I saw online.

Here's the inside of the file folder.  On the left I have all of my daily schedule sheets.  The top four boxes on the right of the daily schedule sheet stay the same (except I swap out who I spend 30 minutes with), and the bottom 2+ boxes have different information or checklists depending on what my daily focus is.  I am a mega list person, and I love to have things to cross off my list.  Most of the stuff on there is just on there so I can cross it off and feel productive.  :-)  On my daily sheet, I've formatted places in the schedule that need to be of highest priority and not rescheduled (like school time, FHE, date night, co-op).

On the right I have all of my other planning sheets.  The one that you can see is the weekly schedule.  Here is where I write notes to myself about certain days (like taking food for the Relief Society meeting on Thursday, or remembering to bring water bottles to our co-op day, or what's for dinner on those days, etc.).  The other planning sheets follow and may seem redundant (monthly menu planner and weekly menu planner), but they really help me out a ton.  Let me know if you want to see any of my other planning sheets.  :-)

Now, on to the school planning!  Every four weeks, I sit down and spread everything out on the table (or floor, depending on where I choose to work).  This is pretty much what it looks like when I am finished.  All my children's textbooks and workbooks in piles all over the place.  I probably spend a good four hours planning and writing in all their assignments for four weeks.  I found that four weeks is just the right amount of planning time for me.  Any longer and I feel trapped by the schedule and if we don't get to something I get anxiety thinking about how that one missed assignment/project has messed up the entire schedule for the entire year.  With only four weeks to worry about, I know that if we don't get to a lesson on a particular day, we can always shift things forward and I haven't messed up the schedule too much.

Here is Eliza's weekly planning sheet.  This last week, I actually typed all of her assignments into the form and printed it out.  It was the first time I've done that, all of the assignments were in black just like the lines and I think I like the look of a different color so they are easier to read.  Anyway, everything that she needs to do for the week is listed on this sheet.  I've since added a spot below "projects" that is for notes.  Notice that on thursday there is a big boxed out section?  Thursday is our co-op day, so in the morning we do our notebooking.  This one change to our schedule this year has helped me keep things in control so much better!  Having just one day of flexibility has given me the peace of mind to say, "Okay, we didn't get to our history lesson today, but that's okay because we can do it on Thursday!"  I also love the notebooking.  Eliza has really just gotten into it, so I love it.

Once I get everything planned out, I collect all the worksheets they need (I actually tear them out as I do the planning), and divide them up by week following the schedule.  Then, I paperclip them together so I can keep track of what work belongs to which child.

Then, I transfer all the student plans into my big master planner so I know what each child needs to do each day/week.  Then, sometimes, I'll tear out those sheets and place them in the folder with all the rest of the work.

I place all the work in the folders for the corresponding week, and place my file folder band around it and stick it back in the hanging folder until the week begins.  When the week begins, I pull out the folder for that week and pass out the children's work.  They have loved this system ... they love to check off their work when they have completed it, and having everything written out has helped them to know how much they need to do and how much they have left to do.  Plus, getting all of their work for the week has, on occasion, given them (specifically Adam) the idea to just get it all done before Friday so they (he) can play all day.

Anyway, I love this system.  It's the first system that has been simple enough for me to be consistent with it, but also thorough enough that all my bases are covered!