Organizedhome.com

7I love Organizedhome.com . I am going to post some of the information I have found on this web site for you to enjoy. I would encourage you to go to the webiste and look around. Check out the Household Notebook. I have started one and it keeps information where I need it. It's great! I hope you'll find some good ideas in the posts to come.
Marsha

Home's Cool! Get Organized for Homeschool
By Cynthia Townley Ewer Editor, OrganizedHome.comAuthor, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

In my years as worker, mother and home manager, I have experienced a full range of life’s little organizational challenges.

I have run a business from a home shared with two tiny children and moved cross-country (and back). I've merged two cluttered households into one small city apartment, and lived for eighteen happy years with a card-carrying packrat husband.

Home schooling a child beat them all hands-down, organizationally speaking.

How do I count the clutter? The books. The papers. The biology experiments on the kitchen window. The adult-sized child sprawled on the floor, reading. The record-keeping. College admissions and testing and letters from the correspondence school.

Homeschool families, like Tolstoy's happy ones, are all alike: drowning in a sea of clutter! Whatever the organization arena--time, space, money, computer access—-homeschool families have it worse. They have more stuff, less time, more distractions, less money, more chores and less space than just about anybody else. How do you get organized for homeschool?

Don't despair, homeschoolers! Here at OrganizedHome.Com, we've assembled the best tips, ideas, resources and links to get your new school year off to an organized start.

You don't homeschool? Hang around anyway! The principles used to organize full-time home schooling families also work for every other family where you find children and learning and love.
Ready? Get organized for homeschool, because home's cool!

Storage Strategies for Homeschool Families
By Cynthia Townley Ewer Editor, OrganizedHome.comAuthor, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Get your stuff together! Here are OrganizedHome.Com's best storage strategies for homeschool families:

Stowing Kid Stuff:
A place for everything . . . but not what you think! Use "school" as a model for homeschool storage, and you're apt to think "bookcase" and "file cabinets." For homeschool, storage outside the box may be more efficient:

Plastic dishpans are a homeschooler's best friend. Stand picture books on end in a dishpan for a flip-through library.

A set of dishpans holds a younger child's school materials subject-by-subject: math manipulatives and workbook, language arts flashcards and materials, art supplies store neatly in their own dishpan. Put-away is a breeze!

Plastic storage cubes and hanging file folders solve paperwork storage for an older child. Color-code hanging file folders by subject. Inside each folder, individual files hold work-in-progress, worksheets to be corrected, daily lessons.

Bookcases can be frustrating storage tools for smaller children. Use magazine storage boxes, clear shoebox-sized organizers, dishpans or shallow cardboard boxes to store homeschool materials on bookcase shelves.

Replace flimsy cardboard boxes with see-through plastic storage ontainers for easy-to-find storage of games, puzzles and toys.

Game pieces, manipulatives and puzzle pieces live happily in large zipper food storage bags. Heavy freezer bags can be hole-punched and inserted into notebooks to hold art supplies, cut-outs, and desk materials.

Color-code it! Creative use of color simplifies homeschool storage.

Color-coding simplifies life in multi-child families. Assign each child a color. Colored organizers, file folders, storage cubes and report colors sort Kid A from Kid B in bedroom, schoolroom and on the desk.

Color-code subjects and activities. Use colored pens to add entries to a parent's planner or child's study organizer: red for math, green for English, blue for science. Colored file folders hold papers and worksheets subject by subject. Use assigned colors to highlight daily assignment sheets or schedules.

Color-code labels. Using a computer, it's easy to add color-coding to computer-generated labels. Slap them on everything, from storage boxes to file folders to maps to art supplies.

On the desk:
Homeschooling parents know paperwork is a big part of the job. From record-keeping to selecting curricula and materials, homeschool parents must sift and shuffle papers, catalogs, and documents. Try these ideas for efficient paper-handling:

Use lightweight, sturdy records boxes to hold homeschool materials. Hanging file folders fit these boxes nicely. The boxes stack neatly and are easy to handle. Sort by child, curricula, subject or year. Labeling is easy with permanent markers.

Stackable letter trays serve many functions on the desk. Use them to sort papers to correct, correspondence, or lesson plans.

Color-code, color-code, color-code. Use color in hanging file folders, file folders, pens and labels. Whether it's child by child, subject by subject or unit by unit, color does the job! Tab position is another tool to organize homeschool records. Bought a box of third-cut file folders? Don't just use them 1-2-3, 1-2-3. Instead, use all "first cut" folders for Child 1, "second cut" for Child 2, "third cut" for Child 3. Tab position can help you sort by child, by subject, by topic.