Organizing Your Homeschool- The Box System

If you're searching for ways to organize your homeschool lessons this year I want to share the system I've opted for with you! Organizing our homeschool lessons and worksheets this year was something that consumed most of my planning this summer. I am homeschooling three children this year, have a toddler underfoot, and a baby on the way. So keeping things organized (and me sane) was a must! I knew that we would be starting school early and breaking for at least two weeks once baby came so my goal was to plan out ten weeks of lessons and to find a system that would work for us weekly so I only have to get things prepped once a week. I was still suffering from some trauma over last school year when I was prepping things the night before or more often than not the morning of! Much of what I had wanted to get done didn't, mostly due to a lack of planning effectively. My type A self couldn't handle another year of that! And as the saying goes....

I certainly didn't want to go into this new school year as a failure before I had begun and I didn't want to feel the stress I had the last year. So plan I did and I'm happy to say that it has been working wonderfully :) Now, obviously, that doesn't mean we are without our problem areas (remember that toddler that is "underfoot") but it does mean that we have found a weekly set up that is working nicely for us and that makes me a happy homeschooling mama!

Anyway, you're probably ready for me to let you in on what we do! Right? Okay here goes! 

1. Lesson Planner I found a weekly lesson planner that I absolutely love! You can find it HERE at Money Saving Mom. There are three different planners. Attendance keeping, a six week planner for one subject, and a weekly planner for all subjects. We use the weekly planner for all subjects so we can see our whole week at a glance. These planners are editable PDF's so once they are downloaded you can print them blank or you can type in your lesson plans and print them or save them. 

2. Folders Next I found a wonderful multi-pocket folder at Walmart that will hold all worksheets or activities for the entire week. My kids can grab this folder to do any worksheets/activities that are scheduled for that day. I couldn't find a link to them but I found them in the back to school section of our local store for $2.88. You can find more like them on Amazon too! So far they are very durable! 

3. Storage Box The final part of our system uses small storage boxes. They should be long and wide enough to hold a workbook.  

                        

So we have materials for the week set up in their pocket folders. Each child gets their own folder and workbox. The front of these particular folders have a slot for putting a cover paper in so we put our planner there so it's clear to see what is planned for that day. Then each tab in the folder is labeled with the day of the week. Any workbooks they use that week are placed in the box so they can grab their box when it's time to begin school. In some cases I just took pages from their workbooks and placed them in the folder instead of putting in the workbook. That all depends on how you want to save their work for their portfolio.  

If you've taken any time to google homeschool organizing or planning you've probably noticed that we use a combination of other systems. Ours is similar to workboxes but a more condensed version of that. Really, figuring out what works for your homeschool can be a trial and error thing. We are on our third year homeschooling and have found one that is working for us now, but that could change in the future as our needs change. We are on our fourth week of school and I found this system to be a great way to grow independence in my children. Even my less-than-excited child is enjoying grabbing his box and beginning on his work because he knows what is expected already. It has made it an easier transition from summer! 

I hope you were able to get some ideas for your homeschool! Enjoy your year :)