Homeschool Organizing:

How to Deal with the Mess

Here is some help for Homeschool organizing.
Teaching is messy. There are books, papers, and art supplies everywhere. If books and papers are not messy enough, most families have a computer to put someplace. How can a family survive? This is how I solved the problem.

You need a place for everything. Keep paper, pens, pencils, and art supplies accessible. Have a place for workbooks and other school supplies.

How to Find Space

You will need to find space for homeschool organizing. I bought a bookcase for my reference, fiction, and textbooks. I organize my reference and textbooks according to the subjects that I would be teaching from that year. I put this year's books on one self. If there were books that I will no longer use, I put them aside to sell.

At the beginning of the year I buy pencil cases for my children. My son received a backpack which he uses for his notebooks, workbooks and pencils. I feel that my children need to be responsible to for their supplies.

I bought a homeschool planner that went with the curriculum that I use. At the beginning of each week I look in the planner to see that I have the supplies that I might need.

If we will be talking about seeds I will need to make sure that I have some.

I need to make sure that I have the reference books that I need. Do I need to go to the library? What reference materials are on the internet?

After I have found the books that I need I am ready to teach for the week. If you do not have a planner you will have to write lesson plans.

Each day I pull out the reference books that I need to teach. I also pull out any literature or biography books that I want my children to read. I make sure that my children have their supplies.

The Paper Chase

When you are homeschool organizing you will need to take care of all the paper that you and your child produce. You will need to keep some papers for records.

So, what do you keep? Keep papers that show progression. If your child just learned multiplication, keep a paper in the beginning and one that shows that you child is learning the process.

Keep papers that are well written. If you have a large project that you want to keep, take a picture of it. Also keep the standardized tests that your child takes.

Homeschool Organizing Papers

For each child get a large notebook or scrapbook for all of his papers. Be sure to date the papers, so that you will have an accurate record of the year. You can also write notes on the papers. Make notes on how your child liked or hate the assignment. Also make notes about how much you help with the assignment.

If you don't think that notebooks will not hold all of your child's papers you can use a filing system. Buy a large file box. Sort your child's papers by subject and year. Again only keep papers that are important to show progression. Also keep papers that are well written.

Remember you do not need to keep every paper that your child did. You don't need to keep your child's kindergarten papers if your child is in high school. So, every couple of years go through your child's papers again.

Throw out any papers that are no longer important. You could keep papers that are special to either your child or you. If your child in kindergarten drew a special card by himself you can keep it, even if your child is in high school. Most people do. Just don't get carried away. You need the space for other things.

So in homeschool organizing you need to organize your books, supplies, and paperwork. By organizing you can lower your homeschooling costs.

Leave Homeschool Organizing for Homeschool Organization

Return to the home page