When we first began homeschool in the fourth semester of last school year, we mostly de-schooled and were just kind of winging it. I quickly realized if we were going to do any kind of organized learning, I would need to get MUCH more organized! Of course, I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, so off to Pinterest I went to find out how experienced homeschool moms are keeping their kids on track with their curriculum and themselves organized. What I found was genius!!
- Master Homeschool Binder: My idea of a Master Homeschool binder is a mesh of several examples I found. I plan to include a copy of our Intent to Homeschool forms for this school year in case we should be audited or someone comes looking. I will add an outline of the routine I plan to follow and possibly a copy of our daily “lesson plans.” I’d like to keep up with attendance, although Mississippi does not have any regulations around homeschooling or how many days are mandatory to complete. I will keep several pieces of completed work from each child as a kind of portfolio and as a keepsake to be able to look back on. I think a list of resources needed throughout the year could come in handy, especially when I begin to plan for next semester. I also plan to make notes and reminders for things I like or would like to change for next year and maybe a list of expenses just for my own records.
- Kids Homeschool Binder: Each child will receive her own binder for the school year. I plan to replenish these binders each week with the physical worksheets for each day of the week. Dad is off on Fridays and we choose to spend that time with him, so our homeschool binders will only have planned work for Monday through Thursday. Some of our curriculum is computer based as well, so I also plan to include those websites with username and password, as my kids will complete most of their school work at the grandparents’ house while Dad and I work. This will also be a great visual for the adults and kids alike to see what needs to be completed each day. My idea is, I can “check” their work in the afternoons and revisit the topics they need additional help with.
I feel like the binder system will help me to be more organized, be a great visual for the adults as well as the kids, and hopefully present some structure in our otherwise “fly by the seat of our pants” lifestyle. If you love this system too, check out my Custom Homeschool Binder “this binder belongs to” Front Page to get your own customized Homeschool Binder front page and check back in a few weeks to see how our homeschool organization is working out!
