Monday, August 28, 2006

My Son's Homeschooling Binder

For the last number of years I have tried to arrange a year's worth of homeschooling in a binder for each of my two kids (now just my son, 8, is still homeschooling since my daughter graduated this year). I put in enough dividers for all of the weeks of the year--each with the number of that week on its tab; behind each divider I have a master sheet for that week. The sheet has the number of the week and all of the assignments, books to check out, and other resources that I intend to use for that week--actually, way more than enough this year for the week so I have more from which to choose. I put all the worksheets for that week in that section.
The assignments are sorted by subject, and each week has its unique set of different themes of study. So if I have worksheets about birds, and art assignments, and books about birds, they all will be listed and/or contained in that section. The library books listed have a noticeable mark by them so I can notice to reserve them in advance. The resources, such as certain anthologies, I have coded so I don't have to type each name out over and over again. I've made a list of the codes for the front of the binder in case I forget what one is.
Until this year, I've tried sorting all these assignments by day, but it got way too cumbersome. This year I left it at sorting by week, and I found it delightfully easier.
I am very thankful for the computer, since I have arranged and rearranged the assignments and the themes to my liking and would have gone mad having to re-write them over and over.
So that is how I prepare for a year of homeschooling. I am almost done, to some satisfaction. If what I've arranged so far is all I'll be able to do, I think we will have done enough; still an overabundance provides for varying circumstances, and for one thing working out better than another. We definitely have a lot of materials on hand and will use up workbooks left over from my daughter 10 years back; I didn't go to any homeschool curriculum fairs this year and it's a good thing. I hope you find my description of my binders helpful if you are homeschooling pretty well from scratch, as I do.