Yesterday I shared why I decided on using a large, mega binder for my homeschool command center this year and I shared half of the contents. (Click here to read part 1.)
Today I want to finish sharing the content, by telling you about my last two sections of the binder. Just as a recap here are the four sections of how I have it broken up:
- Morning Time Routine, And Daily Schedule Section
- Instructor’s Guide, Maps, and Reader Questions Section
- School Administration: Attendance, Calendar, and Field Trips Section
- Home Management Section
Section Three
This section is where I keep up with the days we have school, our holidays, field trips, and our homeschool calendar.
Behind the first tab is my attendance sheet. Each year I create my own attendance sheet where I keep up with school days, sick days, and holidays. This is not a mandatory thing for our state, but it just makes me feel better to have, just in case.
The second tab is a calendar. I print out our public school district’s calendar every year so I can keep track of normal holidays, as well as any important dates. Our third child attends the public elementary school across the street from our house once a week for a 30-minute speech therapy session, so this calendar comes in handy for his schedule. On this calendar I just keep count of the number of days we accomplish.
The last tab in this section is for field trip planning. For field trips, I like to plan ahead and write out if there is anything that needs to be done ahead of time or if it will cost money or if there will need to be any supplies. My field trip section just helps me keep all of that straight and organized.
Section Four
This last section is where you will find our home management lists. There are only two tabs in this sections and both deal with home management chores.
All of my kids have a morning, afternoon, and evening chore list in their binders. In my binder I have a sheet for recording whether they did those chores. If they do their chores during any of those chores times during the day, they earn electronic time. Electronic time is either TV, kindle, ipod, or wii. They can earn up to 40 minutes for each day.
The second tab in this section are my chore charts, the master chart. I pull the kids’ chores off this chart, as well as my chores. They are laminated and all in one place, which makes it easier to remember.
Extras
In the front of the binder I have two pencil pockets that hold pencils, pens, dry-erase markers, and post-it notes in the first, and language art and math cards in the second.
This may seem big and bulky and a pain to carry around, but I am sold on my new system this year!! It has been such a time saver, as well as a sanity saver.
What is your favorite part of the binder I shared? I’d love to hear!
