Filing part two

So, as promised here's what we do once a week. I pull out the hole punch and the file for the week on Sunday evening. The kids pull out their binders and I pull out my binder. Then we go through and pull everything out, completed or not. We sort out what we'll save,(history, science, writing, and copywork) and what we won't (math and handwriting.) They file away the papers to save in a file with their name on it and shred everything else. It's hard for them to just throw away papers, so the shredding is kind of a fun way to do it. The shreds go into the garden in the summer and to Daddy in the winter for restarting the outdoor furnace.

Now that their binders are empty, we can refill them. They have a divider for each day of the week, which we made ourselves. I printed out a checklist of school work and chores for each day on cardstock and slid it in a page protector. Then I applied the NoteTabs shown above. That way they can check off assignments and chores as they're completed. I let them break things up the way they'd like, unless its a subject I do with them. In that case, they have to do one assignment per day.

In my binder I have a divider for each child and one extra for the subjects we combine. Behind each divider is anything I have to do with that child for the week. This makes our school work extremely portable, which is a necessity for our swimming schedule. We do a lot of school in the car and at the pool, since we're there 4 nights a week in the winter and 5 mornings a week in the summer.

I am such a follower...

I tried really hard to stay away from the posts about filing everything for the year, but once I started thinking about it I realized how well it would work for me. Basically you print out everything you're going to use, rip apart all your workbooks, and file it by week. I've taken it a step further and taken apart my teacher's manuals, put the pages in page protectors, and filed them by week as well. Everything we need for any given week of the school year is in the file. It should make life a lot easier once the baby comes. We usually take an extended break, but I think having everything ready to go will make a huge difference. The other benefit is how portable school is now! Many of the filers have dated their folders, but mine are simply labeled Week 1, Week 2, etc.

This will save me from having to relabel things next year, but also allows us to take a break whenever we need one without messing up the system.

Without further ado, here's what I've done. Each weekly hanging folder has 9 folders inside it as follows:

Dark Green: History (SOTW done together) All of our supplemental history books also have green stickers on the spine, so we can see at a glance which shelf they belong on. I'm also including a state study coloring page in this box and I may add a presidential coloring page as well.

Yellow: Science (Apologia Elementary Anatomy this year) Once again the supplemental books have yellow stickers on the spine. I've purchased a lapbook to go along with the Anatomy text and have a few coloring books as well, which are what is filed, the Apologia book is not ripped apart, it stays in my box to use.

Orange: Language (First Start French, Latina Christiana, and Greek Code Cracker) Once again supplements have orange stickers on the spines

Manila: This one is my folder. I put everything in here that goes in my binder. Teacher's manuals, scripted texts, SOTW Activity Guide pages, etc.

Light Green: Miss Green's work, ie. Math Mammoth, Wordsmith, Growing With Grammar, Vocabulary From Classical Roots, copy work, and Checkbook Math

Light Blue: Mr. Blue's work; Math U See Delta, Checkbook Math, First Language Lessons 4, copy work,and Writing With Ease 3

Light Pink: Miss Pink's (are you noticing the pattern here?) pages including Math U See Beta/Gamma, First Language Lessons 2,copy work, and Writing With Ease 2.

Light Purple: Miss Purple's Kindergarten work, i.e. Handwriting Without Tears, Explode the Code, and Math U See Alpha

Light Yellow: Mr. Yellow's busy work, which includes Patternables, extra maps from history, and shapes.

Tomorrow: how we organize each week into days...