Friday, March 22, 2013

Organized CHAOS! (Chapter 1)

If you homeschool, have children, or take care of children, you probably know...there's no ONE right way to do anything! Every child, every family, and every situation is different. But, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, right? As I am navigating my way on this homeschooling journey, I am loving the ability to adjust according to situation and circumstance (it's a beautiful thing!) I wanted to take a few minutes to discuss organization. *DISCLAIMER* I am not one of those people you see on pinterest who have a place for everything and a perfectly running household. In fact, we are not even close! We have messes EVERY DAY, the dishes pile up, and the laundry...I don't even want to talk about! Some days, I don't plan dinner...and we have cereal. I truly believe, that deep down, I am O.C.D. However, my current situation (kids, lack of energy, hubs, lack of time, etc..) put those impulses (to have everything perfect,) on the back burner (FAR back.) Since we haven't "officially" started kindergarten yet, I am taking my time in setting up and figuring out what works for us. I'm sure we will continue to adjust and re-adjust as we go! I decided to use "workboxes," to (eventually) promote independent work. Essentially, a multi-drawer/box/basket/etc... place to organize and lay out the days work. Your student goes from one drawer to another, completing what has been put in the drawer for them. (Obviously, there will be subjects that they need to work on with you.) I use velcro dots on the drawers to attach our "workbox tags." I downloaded our tags from: teachingmy3 (for our plain number tags that I colored before laminating,) confessions of a homeschooler and homeschoolcreations.net (for picture tags,) and mama-jenn.blogspot.com (for different subject or picture tags.) After printing, laminating and cutting, I simply put the other side of the velcro dots on the back of the tags and stick them on the boxes (I place them in numerical order, top to bottom..to really drive it home!) After the kids have completed a drawer, they remove and place the tag in their "tag box" that I keep on top of the workboxes. This way, we can see what they have done, and how much they have left to do. This has really helped me feel more prepared and less scattered! Which, is a pretty big deal...for me anyway. Looking ahead, to our official school year, I started organizing my "file boxes." First, I bought color coded file boxes (our numbered workbox tags are color coded as well!) Pink for Lalalicious, and green for Obi-wan. I got hanging file folders and regular file folders, as well as, seperator tab pages. I put a single file folder inside each hanging file (potentially making 3 seperate spaces, for work pages, in each hanging file.) In Obi-Wans file box, I slipped "A-Z" and "Aug.-Jul." tab seperators into the folders. He will be doing Letter of the Week, and K4 Curriculum from Erica over at confessions of a home schooler. Love her, by the way! (See "blogs I love" in side bar.) Along with several printables from various sights, that I will sing the praises of in another post! Obviously, Letter of the Week, is organized in the file box from A to Z. Seasonal printables or projects I place according to month. This saves me from last minute scrambling to get each days work ready. I grab it from the file box and stick it in the workbox! Lalalicious, is a different story. I have labeled the tabs by weeks "1-40," and "Aug.-Jul." I printed up workbox planning pages (from teachingmy3,) and put them in the front of each weeks file folder. I don't have all of my curriculum for her yet, so I haven't "dug into" specifics yet. But, I'm feeling less anxious, for having a plan in place! And then, there are my magazine files! I have about 40, for now. I line them up on top of my bookshelf, in my bookshelf, on my desk, etc... I put velcro squares on whichever side is facing out, and attach picture workbox tags. I keep curriculum (corresponding to said tags,) in these. I need a label maker! (Any recommendations?) How do you set up your school work? Tiffany (taffygrinch) Disclaimer: Certain posts on kindersomething contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission on purchases made through these links. I will only post links to products I have personally used, or believe will be helpful to my readers. See my Disclosure Policy in "pages" located in the side bar.

2 comments:

  1. I wrote a post series a bit ago explaining how I have things organized atm. I'm going to post that link on your post in the google + group so i'm not spamming your blog. I really really like the magazine file idea, I try to use that if that's ok? Very nice set up!

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