Papers flying, workbooks getting lost under beds, lists on loose papers finding their way to the trash can, assignments covered in coffee or food, books stacked high and unorganized, lesson plans that don’t seem as productive as I need them to be. Total chaos! I cannot function when there’s massive chaos.
It can get pretty crazy when trying organize everything for our homeschool days. From day one, I have struggled to be productive if I didn’t have an organization plan. Those of you that can successfully fly by the seat of your pants amaze me!! I need to learn a little from you, to help loosen me up!! I’m wound tight, I can’t help it.
Because my need for organization, a few years ago I came up with a plan that will serve my family well, hopefully until my children graduate from high school. My goal in starting this, was to help my children learn to balance their work and to eventually learn to manage (good time management) their work on their own. I also needed a plan that would help me stay organized until they reached that point.
What I came up with is not rocket science and it is not something new, in fact I know others probably do the same thing. I simply created a chart in a Word document, added mini boxes, space for a date, and added subject headings. Viola! I have an assignment sheet that is easy for everyone to use. 
I would like to outline how I use this tool and why it is so helpful.
On my assignment sheet, each subject has five columns for each of the five school days during the week, each day has a blank to fill in the date, and each subject box has a tiny box to check after the assignment has been completed.
After filling out this assignment sheet, I place it into a file folder that labels which week of school we are in. In this folder I place all of the worksheets that, that particular child has to accomplish for the week. I actually pre-fill all of my folders before the school year starts, BUT I don’t fill the assignment sheets out in advance. I want to give ourselves some wiggle room, and wait until we approach each week before filling in the assignments.
I place all 36 file folders, one for each week, in a file caddy. When they are all filled, organized and ready, my kids or I just have to grab the weekly folder and get to work. It makes it easy and helpful when my husband has to step in and help. It also trains my children to see what work they have and what they have to accomplish each day.
For example, my eleven-year-old daughter likes to take her folder and get going on her list, and she can do that independently. My hope is that she is learning for the future, when she will be given a job, and she will be expected to independently get the job done in a very efficient manner, and hopefully she will be able to do this because she has learned the art of time management and productivity.
I also hope that this file management system will help her be self-motivated. I want to her to see a list of things she has to accomplish and then I want help her understand how to knockout the tasks one by one without feeling overwhelmed.
I shared with you my binder organization system for myself, but this file system is more for my children and keeping their worksheets and assignments in their place, while teaching them responsibility and self motivation.
If this sounds like something you would like to incorporate, I have added a blank assignment sheet in my free resource library that you can customize and type in your subjects. I would love to share this with you!
You can get access to all my free print outs in my resource library when you sign up for my weekly email.
Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
