My Current Organizational Systems

My favorite organizational tools recently -- my box of books, and my binder.

As for the box:

All the folders and binders and my books that I'm studying are in one place, so I'm not hunting all over the house or lugging big piles everywhere. I have my two binders (one for homeschool, one for general organization), my folders for this year, and my current books: Spiritual Exercises, Charlotte Mason's Home Education, Plato's Republic, The Intellectual Life, Wheelock's, and Norms and Nobility, along with a couple of others. This doesn't count the library books I'm reading -- it's just the ones I'm working at on a more longterm basis or want at hand for easy reference.


As for the binder:

I like the way I can write things that come up and then transfer them to the right places so I can have things together -- all the progym ideas in one place, Charlotte Mason book study in another, and so on.

I am simply writing down things as they come into my mind and putting them into the binder organized under various topics. I didn't plan the topics right away --- I made them up after I already had a sheaf of papers to organize. A pattern started to show up and after a couple of slight revisions, I had these categories:

1. Devotional Journal (right now I'm going through St Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises)
2. Daily To-Do Lists (I keep a running list of things I have to remember or get to -- this is where I file them once that day is past -- it is based on GTD which is helpful for my kind of mind because I just list them, I don't short-circuit my ADD brain trying to prioritize or sort them)
3. Book Notes (thoughts about various books I'm reading)
4. Thoughts (just miscellaneous things that don't fit anywhere else -- things I'm working through, things I might blog about someday, that sort of thing)
5. Resource Lists (here is where I've been putting lists and procedure -- some examples are -- a list of activities for the little ones, to bring out when they seem at loose ends; some lesson planning procedures; a morning routine)
6. Subject Resources -- (notes on specific subjects -- like how I plan to approach Latin, Nature Study, Math, Classical Writing, etc)
7. Active Projects

To explain that last category, which is actually the first in my binder -- I keep the present day's list of things to do in the front of the binder, and behind it I keep separate sheets for various projects that are in "active" status. For example, right now I have a sheet for our car, because it is in the shop with a broken transmission. I put details about phone calls, rental car information, cost of repair, and so on, all on that one page. When the car is back I'll put that sheet in some sort of record-keeping category.

Another active "project" is going through all the past school-related materials that are still unfiled in my closet. That is what this next picture is about:




I usually have an organizational backlog from the school year which I address during the summer months. It gives me a chance to see progress, reflect on how to do things for next year, note down ideas that worked in the past which I had forgotten, and in general review the past year (or two!). I am categorizing the materials I find into these categories:

• Past schoolwork and other personal mementos, to organize and file.
• Past lesson plans, resource documents, learning ideas that I plan to go through more carefully after I've done the basic organizing.
• Trash -- junk I don't need any more.
• Half-empty spirals -- I tear out the filled pages and put them into one of the three categories above. Then I save the half-used spirals for the little guys' drawing sprees.... they like to have a "book" like their older siblings have.

A few weeks ago I went through all the curriculum, organized what we had into age levels, and got rid of a couple of box-fulls. I brought the discards out of the closet and Aidan was thrilled with the Saxons (I'm junking them because they've NOT worked for several kids in a row now) and spend about an hour teaching "algebra" to anyone who would listen. Here it was me.

Maybe I should keep them, seeing as they are working for one kid, though not in the way planned. He just loves reading the numbers and talking about how X + Y = (6+7) squared, and so on.

Folder System for 2008

I've been working on making a file crate system -- the link is to Dawn's posts on that subject. Sorry, the picture is blurry. My camera was running out of batteries so I couldn't take another one.

More File Crate Systems:

Here's another one at Three Plus Two.

And another one at My Thoughtful Spot.

Last year I had a simple one. It is described here. It actually worked really well. I didn't use it 100%, probably more like 70%, but that is about 50% better than most earlier years.

The way I used it was mostly retrospectively rather than prospectively. I didn't generally get around to putting flyers and plans into the folders ahead of time as Dawn explained she did in her folders. Once in a while I did, but only when I was really cruising. Instead, I would put the kids' completed work and various little mementos of things we had done -- little art projects or maybe a bulletin for an event, that type of thing.

At the end of the last school year, I simply retired the whole box as it was, folders and all. Now I will be able to go back and look and save the longterm treasures; it won't be perfectly organized but it won't be a jumbled pile like it generally has been in past years.

This year I'm doing it a bit differently. Instead of seasons, months, weeks, and days, I took folders that were color-coded by semester. I haven't labelled them yet, as you can see, though I have put them in order. Each folder stands for one week so there are six for the next six weeks of summer, then 40 for the schoolyear (counting vacation weeks). The colors are as follows:

• Light blue is for summer and Christmas and other breaks.
• Burgundy is for the fall trimester
• Dark blue is for the winter trimester
• Teal is for the spring semester
• Grey is for the review weeks I put in twice a term. There are three weeks at the end of the third term for review/catch up.
  

(see here for proposed calendar for the year)



Here is the binder I have been working on, that I described here. See, it's pretty basic but it is helping me. I start a new page for every new subject as I walk mentally through the first week. I probably won't have to have a page per lesson all through the year -- I hope not, since that would be one big stack of paper -- but I already have benefited from being able to mentally/spatially separate different things on different pages.



The folder system has the same effect. I can put things in where they belong and not have to shuffle through them again until it is time to do so. I am aiming to try to put things in there ahead of time, this time. Kim explains how she does this, (with photos of binders and crates) and here is another one about the nitty-gritty.

Topic Correlation

I cross-correlated the Year 7 and Year 1 Topics for the first term. Here is the doc form.

This is going to (hopefully) help me keep my head straight and also more intentionally gather resources for the topics for both the age levels.

By the way, here are a few thoughtful posts about the hows and whys of planning.

Stephanie
Elizabeth
UK Bookworm -- about filtering a learning goal through several different methods -- kind of neat : ).

B is for Balance, Basics, Building

A bit more on Plan B. I mentioned it before as an alternative to getting locked into plans. I wanted to talk about it a bit more because it's perfectly possible that people could read this blog and think that all these forms look incredibly complex and that our daily structure is that way, too.

Voltaire said that "the best is the enemy of the good." Charlotte Mason quoted that.... making the point that we can paralyze or wear ourselves out in a quest for perfection.

I think part of what I think of as "Plan B" is an antidote to this (I almost typed "Plan Be" and maybe that was a subconscious slip).

I think planning can be a good thing. St. Ignatius, in his Spiritual Exercises, structured things very carefully, trying to "scaffold" a retreatant's attempts to make progress in spiritual things. He wasn't trying to replace grace, but to support its workings by providing an order and goals.

But I, personally, have to watch out that my plans don't replace the workings of learning; that what ought to be a scaffold becomes something like an exoskeleton or a stockade, closing us in.

So that's where the "Plan Be" comes in for me -- it is a reality check, the "bottom line" of how I want my family to function. In homeschooling for quite a few years, I have seen that what really WORKED in the long run was the basic habits and traditions in my family. The conversations, the reading, the music, the nature expeditions, the reflections and examens and "family language" type thing that builds bonds (hmm, two more "B's" there)

Whether we got through X math book, or purchased Y curriculum, really mattered a lot less in the big picture than these basic family "Ways".

So when I'm feeling that we are getting either over-stuffed with "too much", too many things flying at us in the way of subjects, activities, plans--- or else that "starved" feeling of envying/feeling wistful about what other homeschools are accomplishing or purchasing.... then I return to those Plan B for "basics, bottom line, being" that help us restore our balance (one more B : )).

The planning does seem to help -- I am one of those who have to engage with something to make it work, and planning is for me a fun way of engaging. But I've managed before without much planning, because that part of it isn't really the essence. The essence is a book, a child, a parent, maybe some paper and a pen. Remembering that helps me use the planning as enrichment, as support, rather than having the planning take over and stand in the way.

It really is a practical coping device, so that's why I'm mentioning it here.

The gif is a basic weekly checklist which I use sometimes when I want to simplify things, and here is the doc Weekly Checklist.

Weekly Planning Routine

Since I need some sort of routine in order to access my resources, I made this one (doc) -- it's a revision of one I had last year. It allows me to work at different things on different days. To be honest, I don't always refer to it, but having it around is very helpful for those weeks that I have trouble figuring out the next step.

The one below is a sort of Getting Things Done lesson planning flow. Again, it's helpful not when I'm on a roll and doing fine, but when I'm having trouble figuring out which mental foot to put in front of the other. This is one of the ADD-type issues I have to provide for. When I first started homeschooling, I varied between being "on" and being decidedly "off". When I was "off" the kids just played -- which wasn't so bad, since they were all pretty young. But it frustrated me because it wasn't "Masterly Inactivity" on my part -- it was a sort of mental lapse. So I try now to provide fall-back options for those seasons when I'm distracted. They DO help -- they do not add up to perfection -- and part of my challenge is remembering to use the helps ;-).

Daily Planning Strategy

This is what I am looking at when I'm planning out the day. It gives me a basic idea of what we will be doing, in daily and hourly order, so that I know what things to have ready.

I have been making a binder where I am putting down notes as they occur to me. I mentioned it here, and I finally managed to find a way that sort of works for me... for now, anyway.

I got a fairly big binder -- just a basic binder. I filled it with all these various forms I've been making (they are mostly linked on my sidebar), put in plastic page protectors.

Then I put in dividers -- five of them for now, one for each day of the week.

Behind each divider are several pieces of simple notebook paper. We always have way too much notebook paper around -- I went to some of the Target back to school sales and ended up with enough extra supplies that I didn't even bother to hit the sales the last couple of years. So I have enough paper, I just have a natural Scottish tightwaddish tendency that I have to fight -- that a paper should be filled and then some before you start on a new sheet.

Getting past my Caledonian frugality, on each piece of notebook paper I put the title of one lesson. For example, if you look at the timetable on the left (click to make the gif bigger) -- for Monday there is Creed (abbreviation of Creed in Slow Motion), then Reading, Review, Therapy, Handicrafts, etc. For Year 1 there is Bible, Reading, Painting, etc. So I put a piece of paper for each of these headings, and then scribbled down notes, basically anything that occurred to me but mostly in these categories:

• Materials to Gather
• Connections (ideas for combining subjects, or combining the age levels)
• Further Resources
• Ideas, Notes, Thoughts to Ponder
• Possible problems
• Plan B -- alternative approach

OK, I admit it looks complicated. One of my main challenges in life is to get my head in enough order to access ideas, plans, thoughts WHEN I need them. I think I am like a lot of ADD people in that I am always buzzing with lots of thoughts and ideas but then forget to tie my shoes, practically, or when I get a chance to plan all the ideas fly right out of my brain (to recur when I'm trying to cook dinner or pray a Rosary, usually).

So I thought that by having a physical place for each lesson -- ie, a piece of paper -- I could keep things in order in my head. I always liked the Avilian system I linked to last time (more here and here) with all the workbook pages behind dividers -- but we aren't really using very many workbooks at all. So this page-per-lesson system is sort of a substitute, with the same physicality. When my kids did more workbooks, I used to just pile them up beside the child and that was how they knew what they had to do that day. It "worked" in that they knew what to do, and it worked in that they did learn the basics, but I want to try it a bit differently this year.

I should add, if you do look at the Avilian system, that we are not quite as impressive or structured as Andrea is. For one thing, I have a crew of boys, and 2 of the three next year won't be able to write, or not very much. And they don't like to decorate notebooks; they'd rather do messy science projects and draw dragons and soldiers. And they are not very close in age, so we don't do much multi-level stuff. It's the logistical part of the system that I like.

One more thing -- in the past all these "systems" have fizzled out within three weeks. Once upon a time I felt guilty about this. I finally figured out (D'OH!) that I don't NEED complicated systems once I have the thing internalized. What a breakthrough! Yet, I DO need them very much until I train myself to follow the routine. So, if you have some type of lapse you've been berating yourself for, perhaps it's not a lapse at all. It's worth considering, anyway.

Now back to the piece of paper for every lesson -- I'm trying to get the first week down now, and see approximately how long it takes. Then I can estimate from there how long it will take me to plan every week. Part of my planning is always going to be a Plan B and C. Plan B is "go with the flow" where things are going so well for whatever reason -- the kids are playing wonderfully, or a book or experiment is fascinating -- and we just decide to keep going. Plan C is for Crisis -- it's the barebones version of the Plan. The one that the kids can basically do even if I have little to no time -- even, theoretically, if I'm at a hospital in another city. It's happened before.

Week at a Glance

A simple Week at a Glance (doc form).

I modified a template from Microsoft to make it. I liked the look of the Week at a Glance on a folder at By Sun and Candlelight, so that was my inspiration.

I am not sure if I would actually use it or not... I have a pretty nice 8 x 5 planner that I am comfortable with --which has a 2-page spread for each week.

So really, I was just amusing myself when I worked on this. I like little boxes. : ). Still, when the planner runs out in January I will have to decide whether to refill it or switch to something else, and maybe then this will come in handy.

OH! another way I've used these Week at a Glances is to post them up on the fridge. That way, the family can see where we're zipping off to and when, so it's easier for them to plan too.

Analyzing and Synthesizing

I found this neat post Wrestling with Homer at a blog I hadn't seen before, Fanning the Flames.

I am sitting here with a pile of books:

Classical Writing Aesop, Homer and Diogenes

PLUS Connecting with History (a Catholic resource somewhat similar to Tapestry of Grace, designed by two internet friends of mine from way back)

Oh, yes, and Composition in the Classical Tradition.

I think I've mentioned before that I have a lot of trouble using any "teacher" resources. The basic rule of thumb is: If I can't simply hand it to my kid, I can't use it. That is why I end up using workbooks and living books more than almost anything. My preferred approach to education is the tutoring model -- the kid works with the material, and I help him by (sometimes) introducing the lesson and (sometimes) helping him solve difficulties and (sometimes) correcting or helping him go over his independent work. Books and workbooks lend themselves to this, while teacher-intensive resources generally don't.

These resources are so good, however, that I would like to make them work....somehow... so that is why I am sitting here with this pile. They are teacher resources, yet the methods are high-quality and so are the related philosophy and resources.

We are not studying ancient history this year, so I didn't dig out Connecting with History because of the material. Rather, I saw it with the other resources : ) plus I wanted to revisit their method, summarized here. It is somewhat inspired by the Ignatian method, which I talked about here.

Classical Writing advocates a "routine" for Analysis and Imitation. I wrote a bit about that here.

From Classical Writing: Models

It seems to me, firstly, that what a man seeks through his education is to get to know himself and the world; next, that for this knowledge it is before all things necessary that he acquaint himself with the best that has been thought and said in the world; finally, that of this (best), the classics of Greece and Rome form a very chief portion and the portion most entirely satisfactory.

~ Matthew Arnold

Yesterday it occurred to me that I have been having trouble using resources like Classical Writing because I am focusing on the "teaching" part of the thing; when in actual fact, I have always had much more success focusing on a source or model, and then doing the teaching "by the way".

It's a bit difficult to explain, but the way the Ignatian educators approached literary models was to focus on the models themselves. They did it in two ways -- one was to use the literary model as an example of a precept. This was the "deductive" approach. Another was to focus on the model, and then use it as an example of a given precept of style. This was called the "inductive" approach.

This is the analysis component of the literary lesson. The "imitation" followed. It was almost an enactment of what had been learned. The lessons have often been compared to "practicums" -- putting knowledge into practice. But the point I am trying, not very well, to express, is that the model itself was the key thing. As Charlotte Mason puts it in a different context, the object is outside of ourselves.

I am not sure why, but I think that this is the source of my past difficulty using progym activities, though I am so in love with the idea. I think I was approaching it too much from the "improvement" side of things, and so I was bogged down in an internal contradiction.

So I'm approaching planning the progym from a different perspective, in light of that. I'll try to be clearer and more specific some other time. Right now I just wanted to write that out in order to see if I could ;-).

History Correlations

Valerie Malott has a chart aligning Story of the World with Catholic resources Old World and America and Story of the Church.

I'm not doing this period in history this year but thought it might be of interest to some who read this blog. (I have had more viewers at this blog recently, maybe because Rosie linked to me at Well Trained Mind.)

Also, Martha at Yes, They're All Ours made a list of saints books correlated with feast days.

And probably most have seen this, but there are a lot of SOTW-correlated-with-other-resources listed at Paula's Archives.

I love the way blogs and websites allow homeschoolers to share resources.

Revised Year 1 Timetable

Year 1 Timetable -- tentative.

Follow-up on this version.

Here is a doc version.

What's Next

I love devising forms. So much so that I am having trouble going on to the next stage of planning. This would be the process of planning/writing out resources, where the ideas matter more than the structure ;-).

What I'm trying to do now is walk through the first "week" or so in my imagination, trying to get a big picture of what habits to establish and method to follow. Sounds vague, I guess! I'll try to be more specific, later on. But I got the idea from Katie of being very detailed in the plans for my first week or so -- listing chores, EVERYTHING I can think of -- and keeping it on a clipboard so that I can:

(1) remember what I'd planned and
(2) see for myself what's unrealistic, what will be harder than I expected and therefore will take time, and
(3) memorize the routine (very difficult for me -- I have a very slow physical memory -- I can mentally memorize FAST but "walk-through" muscle memory is very weak in me, which is why I was never good at sports or cooking or anything where you have to master a physical process and think actively while doing it)

Anyway, thinking about this has already helped somewhat, even though it is so vague. For instance, knowing that I want to focus on reading aloud to the little ones and the "outdoors" life, I am already almost unconsciously finding ways to fit these things more intentionally into our present-day-life. Intentional and unconscious sound like opposites but they aren't quite, at least for me.

For now, I am listing things that I want to make sure I include. I am going to start a binder just for that. I may even do the Avilian Method thing where I physically put every worksheet, assignment idea and resource sheet IN the binder in sequential order. (I am not using many worksheets this year, but I can at least put a blank piece of paper with the proposed assignment on top).

I can't imagine having to do this every week for all year and I don't think it would be necessary but I think it may be very helpful indeed in getting started on good habits (for myself and indirectly for the kids).

Still wondering what I'm talking about? (especially since Andrea Chen's great Avilian pages aren't always available for viewing on the geocities site?) I'll try to write out what I come up with.

trying to work with liturgical year

I am trying to start planning how to approach the liturgical calendar this year.

There is a beautiful liturgical planning form by Jenn Miller here, in pdf.

Here's an online list of resources I hadn't seen before.
Catholic Mosaic Book List (PDF)