Our filing system for school this year

I am always on the look out for a way to streamline our homeschool. I floundered around quite a bit the first couple of years after Kate was born but last year went much more smoothly. Still things fizzled out by the end of the year and it was hard to maintain our stamina. But I think I may possibly have found our groove for this year, thanks to a monster thread on The Well-Trained Mind forum I frequent. That thread was not only possibly the longest thread in the history of long threads, but it was very informative with parents sharing their filing systems and what works (and didn't) for them.

Grace is easily frustrated with things that are not laid out in an accessible fashion. I tend toward laziness and do better with an organized plan. So the filing system seems perfect for us. I especially love the idea of a LOT of work at the beginning, but then being done with all planning for the rest of the year! I bought all the supplies and spent two weeks tearing apart workbooks, copying pages and organizing Grace's year. It started out like this:

I actually got trapped in there the first night I worked on it. I just sat in the middle yanking out pages and made a circle of stuff around myself. When I got up, I had no way out except to move stuff... which was not fun b/c it was an organized mess.

But then it got a little better:

And ended up like this:

Now isn't that a thing of beauty??? Although many people don't recommend labeling your files with dates, I felt it would help me stay on task if there was a date there rather than "Week 1". It's just too easy for me to say "Oh well, Week 12 can be NEXT week" and I can totally see myself at the end of the year with still 10 weeks to go.

Grace loves her new filing system as well because all she has to do is grab the folder closest to the front of that week, do all the papers in there, and the rest of her schoolwork is Mommy-led. There is a great sense of accomplishment when her file is empty. It also motivates her to read her own instructions on the papers because it's self-led and to ask me for help means it's Mommy-led. I am of course, available for help; and do give it to her if she asks, but it helps her (and me!) to have a "do it myself" section. ;)

When she is done and I have reviewed her papers with her, she puts them here:

Each color is labeled with "Tony's Math" or "Grace's handwriting" etc so it's easy for me to keep their completed work straight. Now the plan is for me to go through those once a month and keep a sample and toss the rest. We haven't schooled for a month yet so I don't know how I'll do with keeping up with that but we'll see. Most likely, when they get so cram packed full of papers that nothing else will fit and my desk becomes the overflow, I will go through and toss stuff. :D

Tony was going to have a filing system but as I started pulling books apart I realized he didn't have alot of "tear apart" books. PLUS he is a super organized little dude who really doesn't need anything more than a bookshelf , bookmark and a list of work for the week. So when I remember I will go take a picture of his school area but it's in his room and he's sleeping so that will have to wait for another day.

Oh wait! I found this picture I took on first day. You can't see his organized area well but you can see him studiously working at his desk. I'll take the picture of the completed area tomorrow when he's awake. He tweaked it a bit from this picture. Isn't he just cute??

One last thing before I go. I MUST show off my beautiful new desk! Yes indeed, I have a desk. No more stacking papers on the floor or in giant piles on that tiny desk I had. Nope, I have a wonderful desk that I will love and cherish for the room and space it provides (thank you to Office Depot for the crazy awesome sale!). AND now I have a place to put my school tools that is off limits to the kids. I am going to really appreciate being able to find my tape and pencils when I need them.

And there you have it. A long rambly explanation of our system. :)

(Disclaimer: No children or husbands were harmed in the making of this file system. They were fed and loved as I came out often from the pile of milk crates, papers and books to feed them.)