How I Organize Our Schooling | Pt 3

In Part 1 of How I Organize Our Schooling I covered how I create our lesson plans for the year.  In Part 2 I showed how I organize my binder for our daily lesson plans and school records.  Today I plan to show you my favorite part of the whole process... how I got my girls to work independently and stay organized on their own.

I used to use a hybrid workbox method using our Ikea desks and drawers but when we switched to Sonlight in 2nd grade I knew I had done a bad job of loading their desks with their lessons every day and I always felt behind.  I knew we would do more reading with Sonlight and they would only have a few worksheets to do each day but I wanted them to be able to do it and manage it on their own.  I thought long and hard and came up with a system that mirrored what I had already done for my own lesson plans.

I use the girls favorite color to create the cover for their binders.

I have the girls binder setup to contain a weeks worth of work at a time.  Either Friday after school, at some point over the weekend, or sometimes Monday morning if we're being honest... I'll change everything out for the next week.

At the front of the girls binder I have the girls weekly schedule.  This looks a lot like my schedule, except it's only the things the girls need to complete for the day and not any of our together work. If you read Pt 1, you'll see how I setup our lesson plans, which I also created for the girls at the same time I created mine.

The girls have a set of highlighters and they highlight everything they've completed for the day.  At the end of the week I take this schedule along with all their completed work and paperclip it together and file it away.

Right behind the weekly schedule I have a blank pocket folder that I add a Post-It Tab to for their done folder.  This is the folder they put everything they have completed into.  At the end of the day I grade all their work and move it back to the day's folder.  If they have anything that needs to be fixed or re-done I'll note it and put it in the next days folder so it's at the start of their work for that day.

I have tabbed pocket folders (love these!!!) that I use for each day of the week.  In each folder I put all the work they need to do for the week.

Behind the daily folders is a pocket folder I keep extra blank paper in so they always have paper at the ready.

At the very back of their folder are a few page protectors that hold their logic books.  My idea in the past was to have everything they need for school in 1 place so we could do school anywhere and they'd be ready if they grabbed their folder and pencil case.  This year they have a few books which are too thick to slide into a page protector so they have 1 drawer in their desk that has all the extra books they would need.  It holds their Essential in Writing workbook, Wordly Wise, and Science notebook.  They also have another drawer that holds all their bible curriculum and devotional.

I have been so pleased since we started using this notebooking method.  The girls keep track of everything on their own and always know exactly what needs to be done for the week.  They can work ahead if they desire and I can easily see where they are and what they have left to do.

I can't tell you how enjoyable it is to know that they can now manage their own schedule and other than refill their folders each week and correcting their completed work there's nothing I need to do to keep them moving forward.  They've gotten so good at working independently and know when the clock strikes 8am they head upstairs and get started on their bible study and then move right into their school work until I come in and start our together work for the day.  Such a joy!