Organization Tips   

by Amelia Harper    

Summer is a great time to get organized for the coming year. As we sort out the old curriculum and order the new, we can also take time to create better ways to organize our homeschool days for the future.

Organization is not something that comes easy for me. In my mind, I picture an organized existence, but the reality is that organization takes time and a degree of discipline that gets lost as we immerse ourselves in too many activities and projects. Some organizational systems work great for some people but fail with others. The trick is to find the one that fits your lifestyle. Below are two tips I try to implement in my own homeschool organization.

First, organize school assignments. I used to try all the cool books that have little lesson plan charts. But my kids (or I) would lose the charts. What then? Now I create my own lesson plans for each child on the computer in a format that works best for me. It is easy to cut and paste the format from one child to another. Then you can print out the child's assignments for the week and, if they get lost, you can print out another copy. This has saved me many times when the kids claim that they cannot do their work because the assignments are lost!

Next, find a special box to collect each child's special assignments: things like major tests, writing assignments, and reading lists. I like the boxes with lids that lift off. You can find great decorative boxes at craft stores and some discount stores, or you can cover plain craft boxes with contact paper and let each child decorate his own with art or stickers to express his personality. Having a special box to collect the work makes the assignments seem more important in the child's eyes. And, at the end of the year, the schoolwork is organized and easy to store or file away.

Organization helps foster a sense of tranquility and can make us all a little more patient when dealing with our families. Here's to a happy (and organized) homeschooling year!

~Amelia 

Amelia Harper is a homeschooling mother of five and a pastor's wife. She is also the author of Literary Lessons From the Lord of the Rings, a complete one-year literature curriculum for secondary-level students. For more information, go to www.homescholarbooks.com.

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Are you organized? This is one of those questions that can bring an otherwise confident homeschool parent to her knees. I must start this article with a confession. I have never been as organized as I wanted to be. (You can read it aloud and consider it your confession as well!) I have also never been as organized as the people who write or speak about organization. Some of their ideas have helped me, but it was difficult to put into practice those helpful nuggets if I was busy trying to revamp my life and the personality that God gave me into someone more organized! Then there was also trying to bypass the guilt that inevitably followed a conversation with an organized person.

Here's the good news. My children grew up anyway. They finished high school, received scholarships, and got jobs. My lack of organization did not permanently impair them, largely due, I believe, to the mercy of God, which I must gratefully point out is new every morning. So, from that lengthy disclaimer, let me tell you what I think is my best organizational tip: Do whatever works for you!

Here's one thing that helped us. The children each had a crate where they kept all their school stuff. About once a month, or every other month if life was crazy, we would clean out the crates, putting finished papers we wanted to keep in an accordian file with a slot for each month. This helped us when we ended our school year and provided a dandy review of learning. I knew enough about myself to know that I needed their help to do this organizing, so we included these days as part of our schoolwork, rather than it being a mom-only activity.

Find what works for you. Don't buy into the idea that you have to become someone else to organize successfully. Find ways for the children to help you. Tell them what you need and then ask them how they would do it. Take school time to accomplish this task, letting your children know that everyone can help do what is needed. You may be pleasantly surprised. There just may be a budding engineer or event coordinator in the house, who can't wait to help you organize! That may just be part of His mercy to you as well. 

~ Debbie