Homeschool organization

 Today, I am going to show you some of the ways that I organize our homeschool room. Ever since I was in junior high,  I have used 3-ring binders to organize papers. When we began homeschooling, I bought a large 3-inch 3-ring binder for each of my children. My oldest has a binder for every year of her homeschooling. When the year is over, I put the binders in a bank storage box and into storage. I have kept them just in case a lawyer or someone from Social Services comes to my house and says they need proof of our homeschooling. Now that my daughter is graduating, I can probably get rid of most of her binders!

I usually have the kids decorate a paper for the front of the clear binder cover. As they get older, I just print one from the computer for them. They can color on it or decorate it if they would like. I just like to have the binder labeled. 

 Inside the binder, I have each subject marked with a section and a divider. At the end of each week, I take all of their papers and divide them into the subjects and put them into their binders. When I have a meeting with an advisor, I can grab their binders and go to the meeting. I have all of their papers for the year in it, and it does get quite heavy by the time May rolls around!

In the binder, there are sections for spelling, grammar, handwriting, reading (younger kids), science, math and art. We have a separate small binder for history/ geography. A lot of moms leave the pages in the workbooks for different subjects. I have always torn the pages out, partly because they have answer keys in the back, and partly because I want them stored in the binder. It is easier for me to keep track of one book than several small workbooks. I like to reuse the workbooks from year to year, so I usually copy the pages out of the workbooks to use. Then I can use them with my other kids, and sell them again when we're done using it. After I make a copy of the page, I always punch holes in it, because then it is easier to slip it into the binder when it is completed and graded.

This is how I organize their papers after they are graded each day. I try to keep up on the grading as I can, in case they have learned something wrong, it can be corrected quickly and they won't continue on working in the wrong way. This is especially important for math papers.

 I have three crates to keep their binders and other papers/ projects in. It is handy to divide their things so I can easily grab something if I need to refer to it.

This is our bookshelf with curriculum, dictionaries, answer keys, games and math books. There are math manipulative on the bottom, as well as extra spelling cards and science kits. 

I know this is not the only way to organize, but this is what works for me right now. I like the binder system, and have told several friends about it. My advisor is always telling others about my binder organization. It is much nicer than throwing a bunch of papers in a box to show the advisor!

How do you organize your homeschool papers?


1 Corinthians 14:40
But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Genesis 43:33
The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment.

Proverbs 24:27
Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.