Organizing Home and School

Last year, I used these really cool wall-adhesive charts to organize my life. But unfortunately, my WallPops did not survive the move. (They adhered to the wax paper and would not come off.) So I was left scrambling at the last minute before the beginning of school wondering how I was going to organize myself.

Thank the Lord for Target! I actually made the trip to look for toy bins for Middlest’s room and happened upon these terrific magnet dry-erase boards.

Organizing Home and School

Of course, with my aversion for putting holes in walls, I hung them with command hooks and adhesives rather than the actual mounting kit. But so far, they seem to be holding well. And I do love to feel organized.

I actually use the calendar to record our school schedule, placing the subjects in the Sunday box and filling in the rest of the days with assignments for that day. This system works really well for me because it’s up on a wall where I can quickly glance to know what to do next with each child, rather than hunting down yet another notebook or loose piece of paper.

Organizing Home and School

The larger week-in-view allows me to highlight specific events or appointments that we have during the week. I update it each week from our Google calendar so that I don’t overlook those important items. It might seem overkill for some people, but it has been a life-saver for me. While we were moving, I really felt lost without this item.

{sigh} So nice to see my life again, neatly arranged in little boxes with brightly colored markers. It helps me feel that everything is in its rightful place.

Vertical Homeschool Organization

On my quest to organize my creative self, I’ve revamped how my homeschool lesson planning system works and thought I’d give you a peak.

I’ve moved my lesson plans out of a notebook and onto a wall. I’m more likely to look at my wall, and I don’t have to have a notebook open all the time. It’s been a super-duper success. Love it! Besides the fact that it’s beautiful, too, and totally appeals to my creative side.

When I purchased my Wallpops for my command center, I had one left over—the calendar. I really had no use for it as a calendar, so I tweaked it and am using it as my weekly lesson planner. Instead of the month, I write in what week we are in. I use Sunday as my spot for writing our weekly subjects; then, I write my lesson plans and notes into the other spots for the corresponding day of the week. This has been awesome!

With Christmas money, I also purchased this really chic magnet board from Etsy. On this, I keep teacher notes. My larger written plan that I write out at the beginning of each nine weeks, any material I intend to read or show the kids during the week, etc.

I’m also made use of Martha Stewart adhesive pockets (decorated with duct tape) for my teacher pocket (rather than a teacher tray) where the kids place their completed assignments and a smaller pocket for me to place memory work or, currently, or mini-books for our human body lapbook until they are actually glued into a lapbook.

The system has worked so well for me. I really do like it much better than notebooks, binders, sheet protectors, file systems, and all the other traditional organization. This is so me, which is probably why I feel such gorgeous relief every time I look at it.

What is your best method for lesson planning?