Organizing School

I love getting things organized. I'd rather organize than clean--it seems to stay done for a longer period of time (an important factor in a house with kids!) Not only that, but it also makes whatever you are doing so much easier to do. Whether it is changing the sheets and doing the laundry, making dinner or coffee, paying bills or homeschooling, it is always more efficient--and for me it also grants peace of mind--when it is well organized.

The paperwork associated with the last two years of homeschooling has been fairly easy to organize. This year, however, I am not only adding a kindergartener into the mix, but I am also trying to give my other children more practice at independence. Having a lot of schedules and subjects to organize has had me reevaluating how to organize everything. The following pictures show how I've decided to attempt to keep myself blissfully organized this year.

The first influential factor is that I love binders. Well, I kind of love all office supplies actually...truth be told...but I especially love binders. They are, or can be, very easy to use. Binder #1 is my master binder. In it are my attendance sheet (one of the few things required to homeschool in CA) and calendar, my booklists and schedules. I have year-long schedules that give me an overview of weekly topics, and weekly schedules with checklists, assignments and notes. Binder #2 (not pictured) will hold book comprehension notes, answer keys and other teacher helps. Here's my Master Binder:
The numbered tabs are for each week, each of which has a checklist, followed by detailed schedules and notes.

I also have file folders for each week that contain each child's worksheets, maps and timelines figures.


Each of the kids have their own binder for their current work:


Andrew and Melinda also have their own schedule to reference:

Hopefully this will all work well, and not be tear-inducing. If it ends up being stressful for the kids, I may have to reassess. The only major thing I still have left to do is write out weekly prep lists--something that will tell me at a glance what supplies I need to have ready for the next week. I'm excited for school to begin!