Saturday, September 3, 2011

Week 2 in Review


This week hardly merits a weekly review. We did less work than we did last week, since we didn't start a new composer study. But we still covered the basics, and I've been hard at work getting everything organized. You'll be happy to know that the floor is clear again. Well, there is still one pile of stuff in the corner that needs to be sorted and my desk needs some help, but I have until Tuesday to get it all done.
My big project right now is finishing setting up the filing cabinet. I got this idea from The Well Trained Mind forums, and it made such a difference in my preparedness last year. Some people use file boxes, but I already had a big filing cabinet in our room so I cleared out one of the drawers. I added 36 files, one for every week of our school year.
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It took a while to set up the files, but thankfully that was a one-time effort. The files can be reused year to year. The next thing is to fill the files. I made copies of all the handouts we'll need for history for the entire year and put them in the appropriate files. Basically, anything that I need to make a copy of for the year will go into the files. Some people go a little crazy with the system and take apart all their workbooks, filing those as those as well. I don't do that because I would never be able to predict what we'll be doing in math week to week. Here's what I do instead: Usually on Sunday night I pull out the file for that week. I fill out my planning page and then rip out the appropriate workbook pages for that week and place them in the file. Now I have everything in one place for the week.

You can see that there are also two folders in the file -- one for Ryne and one for Grace. This is where I put their finished work, except for history/geography which goes in a 3-ring binder. At the end of the week I move the file to the back of the drawer so that I always have the current week in the front. It makes a great visual for how much progress we've made as we move through the files!
At the end of the year I go through all the papers, deciding what to keep. Actually, I hope to do that monthly this year, since it ends up still being a pretty big job at the end of the year. That's why I still have a big pile in the corner of our room right now -- I haven't finished sorting last year's stuff. : )
All in all, I've been very happy with this system. It was such a relief to know that everything was ready to go and my weekly prep time was easier. It's worth making the effort at the beginning of the year. Ideally, I would have had this done BEFORE we started our school year, but that unplanned Texas trip came right when I would have been doing my planning.
So that's what I'll be doing with my holiday weekend -- how about you?
Happy Homeschooling!

3 comments:

  1. That's a great system. I'm impressed with how prepared you are, especially since you had an unexpected trip.

    I was motivated by your last post and have spent a portion of my weekend getting photos and newspaper clippings into an album! I'm going to a house concert tonight, church tomorrow, and fun with M and the boys on Monday. In between, I'm fixing my blog. It was hacked!!!

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  2. Oh man. I love that idea!

    And I'm headed to check out your planning page. Thanks! :D

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  3. Wow, you've been a busy bee!! Your filing system sounds fantastic, and your weekly planner looks excellent! Every summer I attempt to put something similar together, but I've yet to create anything that I stick with from year to year. I think I'll take a closer look at yours :)
    Hope you have a wonderfully relaxing holiday weekend, and congratulations on wrapping your second week of school! We start on Tuesday... and oh, I am so NOT ready!!

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