When I first started homeschooling I made a binder for all of our records and plans. Oh, it was a beautiful binder! It had tabs for each subject. It had the state standards printed out. It was perfect. Perfect.
I also had a beautiful little daily scheduling system. There was laminating, pictures, and velcro involved. Perfect.
The thing I forgot is that *I* am not perfect. I never took the time to put the right things in just the right spot. I couldn’t remember. I didn’t like changing all the velcro and there were never enough little laminated pictures for what we were doing that particular day.
My organizational system was totally judging me.
So I quit that nonsense.
Do you know what I use now? A cheap little white board and a single accordion file (affiliate links. Disclosures.) for each kid, with month tabs. Everything from chores to subjects to practicing violin goes on the whiteboard. Every paper item we have goes in the accordion files. I buy a new one every calendar year (school years are too hard to remember) and I put the kid’s name on the front in sharpie on masking tape.
My organizational system is ugly, handwritten. It’s under $20/year for the whole thing. It’ll never show up on Pinterest. But you know what? It gets me. I’m keeping the important stuff, I keep a routine going, and my system is no longer judging me.
Here it is. As one of my favorite writers, Bunmi Laditan, says: feel free to pin.
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Getting Started Homeschooling
When You Want to Press the “Reset” Button….
What it Really Takes to Homeschool
Sonlight or Bookshark: What’s a Progressive Christian Homeschooler to do?