Homeschool Organization

Organizing everything for homeschooling can seem like a Hereculean task at times. You might have some subjects planned out in neat lessons like math and grammar. But then you add in books that have to be read a chapter at a time, science programs with reading and experiments, spelling lists, etc; and it quickly runs out of control.

If all of your material comes from the same source, you might have a couple over arching schedules to follow. But start pulling from different curriculums or doing one pace for history and another for science and again it runs off the rails.

And all of this isn't even touching on what you do with multiple kids doing different things. Or keeping records for the end of the year. (We're likely to move to a state that requires at least some record keeping AND those high school years are looking.) It seems like this time every year I find interesting discussions online about planning and getting organized.

Last year was workboxes. The idea is that each student has a set of boxes or drawers, one per subject. Each evening, the boxes are filled with work for the next day. Some get books and assignments, others get coloring pages or activities. The next day the student works through each box. When they are done, they are done with school for the day. The Workbox System is an idea from Sue Patrick. If you search on "homeschool workboxes" you can find a number of blogs with examples of how they are put to use. Here are a couple examples. Ice cube bins as boxes. Plastic shoe boxes on racks. Even more links and photos in this review of the workbox system. It might be too much for some families. On the other hand, it might be just the thing to get good activities out of the closet and drawer where you've been saving them and into the kids' hands. And it could be a real motivator for a dawdling student if he knows there is a puzzle or a game stashed in there after math is done.

What I'm seeing discussed this year is using file folders. The general idea is that you take a folder for each week and preplan so that all of the assignments and worksheets are already there. There is a long discussion of homeschool filing systems at the Well Trained Mind Curriculum Board. This blogger has modified the folder idea for use with 3 ring binders. I do like the idea of having activity sheets right with the schedule for that week. Too often I realize that I've forgotten to do mapping or coloring sheets that I'd intended to use. Or that all of the science readings had accompanying questions to answer in another binder. So there may well be an advantage to grouping by week rather than by subject.

Anyway, something to think about while you're lounging at the pool.

Blank Homeschool Planners

I'm spending part of my summer planning for next year. I've finally learned that we really do best when I have a specific concrete and finite schedule for us to follow. For some reason, just have a specific to do list will get my kids (or at least some of them) to plug away from one subject to another. When I try to be more free form, we tend to drift more than I'm comfortable with.

So I'm working on consolidating our various school lists and schedules into something that can give us more of an overview of what we are doing, not just for the day, but for a semester.

If this is something that you're working on, you might want to check out the Donna Young website. She has a number of planners and calendars that are blank and printable. She even has a section that helps you think through the homeschool planning process, from deciding what subjects to cover to scheduling them out. This can be pretty helpful if you've recently taken the plunge into homeschooling or if you find you are making the transition from elementary days with a focus on reading and early math to something more structured. Or if you have older kids, who like mine, haven't mastered the art of keeping a calendar and planning ahead, you might want to check out the high school subject notebook

This isn't to say that you need to have your day planned out in 15 minute blocks. We went for years with our whole schedule being a half page of paper with subjects listed and blocks to check. We just did whatever was the next lesson in each subject. But the more that I merge and tweak curriculum or create my own, the handier it is for me to have an overview of what I'm trying to do. My hope is that by working consistently through what I think we Need to do, I will have more free time in which to do what I Want to do without feeling that I'm neglecting something.

As with anything in homeschooling, your mileage may vary.

A Rocky Road to Homeschooling

I think there may be as many journeys into homeschooling as there are families. Maybe more if you count the sometimes different journeys that moms, dads and children take. Some families homeschool because they've known homeschoolers and were impressed by what they saw. Some feel called to homeschool. Some don't like the idea of classrooms in general. Others are escaping a particular school situation but plan to return to school at some point.

I was thinking about these different journeys while I was reading a post by Harmony Art Mom. She is one of my favorite homeschooling bloggers, who has some rich resources in art and music appreciation as well as nature study at her other blog, Handbook of Nature Study. She has already graduated one child, has a couple in high school and one more right behind. So I thought it was interesting to read her description of how she started homeschooling. I think that the biggest take away point for me was that she didn't know everything or have a plan for every bit of the way when she started out. But she did decide that she was capable of doing her best and that her best would be an improvement for her kids. It is easy to look at where she is now, with systems in place for school work and incredible results and think that I'm not capable of that. But it really is largely about keeping your eye on the goal and just keeping on.