Getting Organized

I spent a lot of time the other day trying to decide a better way to present the boys with their workbooks. I had originally planned to leave their worksheets in the original binding because I thought it would be good for record keeping. However it has not taken me very long to decide to go ahead and tear out those pages! The books are bulky and in the way!

I realized how much time we were wasting waiting for them to say "Mom, I'm done. What's next?"

To make things go more smoothly, I made an excel spreadsheet list similar to the one below for them to use to guide them each day. It goes in front of all completed worksheets and into a 3 ring binder at the end of the day. This is so helpful with my record-keeping!

It looks similar to this (beside "pages assigned" is a box for them to check when work in each subject is complete):
_____________________________________________________________________________
Jonathan's daily assignments

Today's date: ______________________________

Subject/Name of Book used Pages assigned ck box
1 Reading:Fun with Pets (read orally to Mom) ______ ______
2 Italic Writing ______ ______
3 Arithmetic I ______ ______
4 Phonics Letters and Sounds I ______ ______
5 Language I ______ ______
6 Spelling I List # (write or orally spell to Mom) _____ ______

Notes, Other subjects, Extra books read, or Learning activities: ___________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________


I found some nice folders for them to keep their daily assignment sheets. In the first pocket is the assignment and worksheets for the day, and the next pocket is the place where they transfer their completed work. When it gets on that side, it is ready for me to check for errors.

On their daily assignments, I do not mark them wrong with a big red "x". I circle the number they missed in pencil, and then they correct their errors. When the work is corrected and I have checked to make sure it is right, they are allowed to erase the circle. I have found this to be very effective in helping them to understand the lesson, and it shows me how they are doing. I have actually taken several days to re-iterate a point. For example, one of the boys was having a hard time understanding a certain mathematical issue. I was able to have him do supplemental pages (ABeka has lots of these in the very back of the workbooks),read extra books about the subject, and watch the appropriate DVDs from the library. It has really helped! He seems to truly understand now. This is a definite plus with home-schooling. You can make sure your child understands something before you move on. "No child left behind" takes on a different meaning!

When the boys complete their papers, they have a large selection of stickers to choose from to place at the top of the page. :-) This is so important! hee hee (I love stickers!)

Bible & Bible Memory, Character, Manners, Science, History, Art, Music, and anything else we study are all listed separately in my journal. We do those subjects as a unit instead of individually.

We have been using the new, more-organized method for a couple of days, and it has made a huge difference!