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Birdie
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| Posted: March 12 2009 at 5:48pm | IP Logged
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There is thread about organizing lessons into workboxes
and while I'm not crazy about the workbox, I would like to hear about how everyone organizes their homeschool lesson materials for the children. I see how they (the workboxes) might be useful but they seem like too much activity planning and take up too much space for us, I can't imagine having a station like that for each of the three children... yikes. I can see how using the plastic bags or folders would be a good alternative, just not my thing, weird I know. So how do you organize the children's lessons?
I use a single work basket for each kid, it's just a place to put their school work in to keep it all together. I have pictures of how we organize our school, the workbaskets and mainlesson books on my blog here:
http://birdiestweetlife.blogspot.com/2009/03/organizing-educ ation.html
workboxes
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KerryK
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| Posted: March 12 2009 at 7:53pm | IP Logged
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I'm like you - I keep each child's things together in a box. Our schedule is too loose to use the workboxes. We have planned seat work that we do every day, but my kids are old enough to know and understand what it is, so they just follow a list that I generate, and do it independently (unless they need help). Then, when the little one takes a nap, we read together, do projects, science experiments, etc. I guess with only two who are schooling right now, I don't really need workboxes. If I had more kids, especially younger kids, I probably would consider it. I'm too loose for that kind of thing anyway. I keep the basics organized, but we have an "unschoolish" portion of our day, too.
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Milehimama
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| Posted: March 12 2009 at 8:43pm | IP Logged
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My kids have folders that I put their independent work in - it's the same everyday (write spelling words, math drill sheet, one page of handwriting, 2 pages in math workbook).
I have a bunch of plastic Sterilite drawers that I keep the other stuff in - tangrams, tracing/stencils, grammar/sentence puzzles, unifix cubes, cuisenaire rods, Snap Circuits, etc. I might tell them to get the "Bird" drawer, but usually they are just things I make available for them to use when they are interested.
I don't know if I have the energy to try to enforce each kid to do their envelope/workbox as assigned, then recreate new ones each day!
Our playroom is set up "Montessori" style with everything out on shelves (no big toy box full of everything) and it does take up room, but not *that* much since it is against the wall. We currently use 3 tall bookshelfs and a shorter bookshelf.
Here's our "littles" area - it takes up a wall in a pass through space:
Organizing Kid Stuff
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ALmom
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| Posted: March 12 2009 at 9:32pm | IP Logged
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I couldn't resist this one. I rearrange my shelves every summer as I plan. It means things get rotated around and thus noticed. I generally rediscover a treasure or two during this time. Then I have small shelves where the children study and since we generally are all covering the same basic period in history and the same basic science topics, I put the fun books, project and experiment idea books etc. together by subject in some sort of time sequence (they don't generally stay in a time sequence very long) or in the Montessori room on a highligthed shelf (science stuff - books and experiment kits as well as any 3 part cards, etc.) I've found that my youngers often peruse older materials than what I would assign - and the older children like to reference the younger stuff to get a good overview - or to help understanding something that is bogging them down. The only exceptions are books that are really not appropriate content wise for younger ages - these I leave with the older children who are using them or on my main shelves where they are lost unless assigned or particularly in an older child's passion.
Oh, I do have seperate shelves for the really living religion books and picture books and a special place for the beginner readers and things appealing to my youngest, non-reading child.
I have a few baskets highlighting topics of study. I'm about to put out one with atlases and map overlays.
I have notebooks for each child with lesson plans and my teacher resources - plus a few major things I need to do with the children. I keep all my forms, and so forth in this books as well. The children know to grab a weeks worth of plans at the beginning of the week. (We are probably more plan driven than most by dc request, but we do tweak as we go). Each child has their own notebook (preferably in a matching color so I can distinguish by sight) for completed work, etc. and a main work area (doesn't mean this is where they work, but it is where all their materials unique to them are located). The work area, depending on the child, is either a desk with drawers tucked away in a quiet spot or a very long desk with a shelve behind closed doors for my mad scientist and his crystal growing creations.
I have a stackable paper thing on my desk which is where I keep extra loose leaf, partially finished projects that we do all together (like the resources for the rosary book and such). I also have a jar with misc. pens, pencils and erasers - and any other school supplies that get left about the house.
We also got one of those narrow wood boxes with closing hinges for the children at hobby lobby or some such place. These were painted, or otherwise decorated by the owner. Each child got one which became their holder of personal school supplies - scissors, crayons, paintbrushes, rulers and so on. The older children will store their own special markers and art supplies here as well. They keep this on their worktable or desk - or in the case of my highschooler, she prefers to use hers for her private crafting and art stuff - drawing pencils and such and keeps this in her own room.
I've tried to organize things near where they are used. It is the best chance this disorganized crew has of actually putting it back. It seems to be working reasonably well.
We tried the clear plastic buckets one year in a very tight space and it seemed that whatever was in there never got used  or so much tried to fit that the lids came off and we couldn't carry them around anyways - so now everything is out in the open to entice and remind. I have lots and lots and lots of shelves - everywhere! Each child either has desk drawers or shelves near their work table/desk. Where my children are sharing the same books, we have them on a shelf in the middle or by my area depending on whether it is done together with me or done one at a time on a first come, first served basis. The science book shared by 3 folks, must be returned to its common shelf as soon as a child is done with it. It has helped the sharing tremendously - and reduced the hunting for the book, too.
We are not the poster family for neatness or organization so maybe I shouldn't have posted at all, but things are slowly getting better. I'm noticing how much less stressed I am as the clutter goes down. We are spending far less time hunting for things - unless you count the time ds 11 threw away his school work by mistake. Fortunately for him, I found it before anything yukky got thrown in the trash or the trash taken away, but we did spend the better part of a day looking. I thought to look in the trash just because he cleaned his desk at my request after a major overtaking of paper and trash covered every inch of his workspace. His desk looked immaculate. I think he was efficient, just missed the small detail that his work (and my checklist for him for papers) was scattered among the wind between paper airplane cuttings, pins for propellers, pieces of glue and model airplane scraps, reject art attempts, a few and assundry wires, buckets, gardening catelogues and other such. His entire assignment in one subject - all written by hand in complete sentences somehow got dumped unseen by him and it would have been torture for him to redo.
Janet
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anitamarie
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| Posted: March 12 2009 at 10:02pm | IP Logged
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Before I even start, let me confess to being anal-retentive. I also like things to look "put-together".
I have metal carts with colorful plastic drawers. I have one to myself that has 10 drawers and then I have others that each hold twenty drawers.
Each person gets their own 10 drawers. The top one is a mailbox for each of us. My children turn their work in to me in the mailbox and I return it to theirs. Once a week all the stuff that has accumulated in their mailboxes gets filed in subject binders.
The next drawer is for supplies - pens, pencils, erasers, markers, crayons, rulers, and the rest of the drawers are for subjects - each with a label - I do love my Letra-Tag  .
We each have a dishtub on top of our cart with our names on them for library materials. I generally only let one or two library items go to other parts of the house, so that I can keep better track of them.
I also use planning software, so each day I print out their lists and they can go to their drawers, get their materials and start working.
On the other side of the room are our "pre-school" bins for the littles. It's one of those wooden things that holds colored bins. Wedgits, Pattern Blocks, counters, Laurie pegs, sequencing activities, puzzles, etc. all open and available. I change those up a bit to keep them interested. Also, if I have an unexpected short bit of time it's easy to pull out an item and engage with little ones.
My little ones do have their own ten drawers with dot paints, crayons, coloring books, paper, Color Wonder, scissors, etc. so they can "do school", too, with their own stuff. They seem to feel more a part of our school that way.
Anyway, that's what we do here. I'm sure lots of people have better ways than we do. This is only our second year doing this, so we've got a lot to learn. I'm curious about how others do this.
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ALmom
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| Posted: March 13 2009 at 12:04pm | IP Logged
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AnitaMarie: Your system sounds like something similiar to what I try a bit more loosely. The thought of having the piles of paper behind some sort of nice attractive bins/drawers is very appealing. I'm really wanting to have things more visually appealing around here - not an area of talent for me.
I might be able to use some of your ideas. Would you mind sharing with me how many folks you are teaching? If I had 10 drawers per person - yikes we'd have 70 drawers. Also, do your children put names and dates on things? (Some of mine still often forget so if everyone's stuff ended up in one big drawer, we'd have a mess sorting it out). I know I'd at least put the drawers on or under one child's desk. (He and I are pile organizers - actually most of us our).
Would you be able to put up a picture of what things look like - and was it costly to get all those drawers? What are the dimensions of the drawers - about?
Thanks,
Janet
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anitamarie
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| Posted: March 13 2009 at 11:28pm | IP Logged
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Janet: The carts with 20 drawers are a tad over 2 ft. wide and 3 ft. tall. The 10 drawer is a tad over a foot wide and also 3 ft. tall. So, 50 drawers are only taking up 5 ft. of wall space. The drawers are each about 3 in. high. You can see a photo here of our carts. The place I bought them from, FLAX Art and Design in San Fran, is no longer doing catalog/internet sales.  I did find the 10 drawer here. You could ask them if they carry the larger ones. Sams or Costco may carry something similar as well. My only complaint about them is that when the drawers get heavy they can slip out of place and fall into the one below. For me, that's an easy fix, but drives dh nuts.
As for writing names on papers, that's kind of funny. My oldest ds went to "regular" school for 4 years and was really used to writing his name and date in the correct format. So much so that, for the first few months at home, he would write his name, the date and his student number from the previous year on all his papers. Now, I'm lucky to get a name, much less a date, subject or assignment title.  So, we're working on that. The next one down loves to write her name, so that makes it easier. Also, they are doing very different things right now - there is a three year gap between them, so it's easy for me to tell assignments apart. That may change when they have more in common next year.
I am only "schooling" the two oldest right now. I may have to change to a larger bin when the others are handing work in the next few years. My library materials bin may become my Mailbox. So, that's a possible solution for you.
I do have to stay on top of my end every day or two to keep my Mailbox from getting too full, keeps me accountable for getting their work back to them in a timely manner. I don't know if any of this helps. You can pm me if you have any other questions.
Sorry it took so long to answer you today.
God Bless,
Anita
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Martha
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| Posted: March 14 2009 at 9:15am | IP Logged
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I have a "bookcase" that is arranged into 13 adjustable cubes.
one cube per kid w/room to grow :)
their cube has all their currently in use materials
above the bookcase is a bulletin board with their assignment checklist
the assignment checklist tells them what to use and how much to do for each week
children below 2nd or 3rd grade have a cube, but no assignment checklist because via trial and error, I've learned they just aren't ready to be that independent before 2nd grade.
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Martha
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| Posted: March 20 2009 at 5:53pm | IP Logged
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our home school group had an awesome meeting about this and one lady brought this way cool storage system that she uses. The "drawers" actually containers with lids. so the kid can just pull it out and go where ever to work because it is all contained and doubles as a writing surface!
I almost didn't post this because dh says I can have one and after that meeting I bet they are all sold out! The bins are "just right" sized. Not so big as to be too bulky to handle, not so small you can't really put stuff in them. And I think the price is very reasonable.
My oldest 2 kids don't care for the cubes and one of them likes to "wander" with his work instead of sit in any one place. I think 1 cart might even be enough for 2 kids in some cases.
does anyone else get giddy over organization stuff? I'm just as excited about this thing and dh was over getting a big screen tv to play his xbox games on!
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Martha
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Yes, they're all ours!
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Organizing Lessons
