Not Filing This Year

I really liked having my whole year planned out, but I discovered that different kids worked at different levels than I expected. So, I was constantly having one work on a week or two ahead, another 2 weeks behind, and our together stuff could be anywhere. There were some things that consistently didn't get done, so I ended up starting a file for each book that I ripped apart to put them back together eventually (still haven't got that done.)

The other problem I had was the teacher's manuals. It was a pain to have to put things back into binders at the end of the week and I ended up having months to do at one time.
I think filing is awesome, and if I didn't have so many kids to homeschool I would continue to file our year at one time. This year though, I'm going electronic! My tablet will replace my instructor's binder. It should make my bag a lot lighter to carry around.

I love that Peace Hill Press offers almost all of their curricula electronically. I am purchasing the instructor's manuals to put on my tablet. We also buy the mp3s of Story of the World to put on our iPods and my iPhone. I can't put everything on there (Rod and Staff I don't think will ever go electronic,) but I will put everything I can find in that format on my tablet.

Our Math Mammoth is pdf based, so I have put that on there. I'm still printing Miss Purple's papers, but at least I can view what she's doing.  I haven't put the Sequential Spelling dvd on, but I think I could. I just wish Teaching Textbooks had an app of some sort.

Closer look at our filing system

Here's one weeks hanging file folder. From left to right you have my items, Miss Green's folder, Mr. Blue, Miss Pink, Miss Purple, Mr. Yellow, Science, and History.

This is my binder. I have post-its, a pencil holder, and lined paper in the front. I use the lined paper for writing narrations quickly before adding them to their illustrations or dictating them back to them. Below is the same binder on the side. From front to back you have history and science together, Miss Green, Mr. Blue, Miss Pink, Miss Purple, and Mr. Yellow.

Major breakthrough!

I'm reading The Well-Trained Mind yet again, but I was forced to take a break when it fell apart. I've since rubber cemented it, and am waiting, ever so patiently to crack it back open. While I was reading the science section for the elementary grades, I once again was motivated to "do narrations." After reading from the Apologia Anatomy book I had each one tell me what they remembered. Then we pulled out the paper and they drew something to go along with it. I wrote their narrations all on one page for them to copy, but they all ended up writing a lot more to go with their illustrations. I really can see how much more they learned using the narration method. They also made sure to pull them out to show Daddy when he got home. They don't usually want to share what they've done and only will under duress. For them to be anxious to share is a huge accomplishment. I'm looking forward to doing more for history and science.

Filing has worked surprisingly well for us. Every Sunday evening we pull out the file and put our papers in our respective binders. I've been slowing adding things to the files as we go, and we've abandoned some things that I to put in their own special file for a later date.

So, for Miss Green, now an 8th grader, we've got a short line-up. I'm still tweaking what she needs, and while we do that we're keeping it simple.

English in Blue and White.

She really, really likes this one, and insists its the best grammar program she's ever done. It was written by two 8th grade teacher's to make sure their students knew what they needed for high school.

Vocabulary From Classical Roots C

She completed the A book rather reluctantly, but after about a month off has attacked this one voraciously. I think she's realized that its fun to learn finally.

Vocabulary Cartoons

This one is quite enjoyable to flip through. I've learned a few new words.

Aleks

This is one of the few maths she's like thus far. I'm not sure what she likes about it, but she's learning, enjoying learning, and gaining confidence.

Writing With Skill

We just started this today, but I can already tell we're going to adore it. She never did Writing With Ease, but I've loved it with the younger ones.

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...