Just thought I would write a quick post about our homeschool binders. This is the third year I've done this and it works really well for us.
Each girl gets a giant binder. Sometime in August I take the girls shopping for a few school supplies and let them pick out which color they want. Last year they each had two smaller binders, but I much prefer one giant binder each.
And mama gets her own binder as well.
Last year I chose a "theme verse" for our home education experience. I certainly need endurance and encouragement from God as this verse mentions.
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ Romans 15:5-6
In my binder I keep track of the following :
- calendar with any school-related happenings / outings
- book list for our read-alouds
- activities / lessons / craft ideas we might want to do
- record of our memory work
- contact list for our homeschool group
- copies of Ann Voskamp's parenting manifesto, 10 grace prayers and 10 helps for busy moms
In the girls' binders we keep track of their papers for each subject. They also have a list of books they have read independently and each month they make a calendar that also gets put in their binder.
If you homeschool, do you have a similar record-keeping system?
My kids have always been really good about keeping their binders with all of their papers. Just wish I had kept track of all the book we had read aloud over the years!
ReplyDeleteWe keep some notebooks. do most of my record-keeping on the computer. Do you make the book list? I like it. We keep a spiral notebook with everyone's books written in there. I love to look back throught it and see what we read years ago. Such sweet memories!
ReplyDeleteI got the book list from Mandi at Organize Your Way - she has quite a few printables and this one is actually a summer reading list. I just put a sticker over it and put the school year on it instead.
DeleteDo you have your printables available for us to DL?? I'm looking for ideas to make our HS binder. What do you put in "mama's" binder and what do you put in the kids' binders? This is our first year HSing on our own (not with a satellite school or virtual school). Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteI didn't make my own printables, but downloaded them from other sites. I got the calendars and reading lists from Life Your Way (http://printables.yourway.net/browse-all-printables). I haven't looked, but bet there are lots of options if you google homeschool printables or look on Pinterest. When I get ready to put our fall binders together, I'll post about it and post any links I find.
ReplyDeleteAs for what I put in each binder. Honestly, I dont' use mine much. I keep a record of our memory work, our read alouds, our homeschool group contact list and anything else I need for homeschooling records (which is almost nothing in our state). And the kid's binders....just a place to file the work they have done.
At the end of the school year, I go through and make a summary of the year's work which I'll keep in a separate binder and add to each year. This way I don't have to keep all the work every single year. I posted about it here...
http://jill-foleyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/07/homeschool-portfolios.html
Hope this helps. Good luck on your homeschool journey! It's hard work, but so rewarding.