getting started and order for the momma -- how did you / do you keep track of your ideas?

[Momma Aimee]

DS is not even offically kindy age till fall and we have no desier to push academics at all (a big part of why I am home and why we want to home educate to start with).  But we do, do some stuff -- Bible daily, ASL pratice daily, and so on.

They boys are enjoysing a very simply workbox system i have for them (3 drawers of activities) and the chose of Bible or Book off the board for reading time.

My question is more about me keeping myself in order.

I have found tons of cute ideas, sites with great printables, craft ideas and so on

how do YOU keep all that 'in order' -- i have been on the sofa for 2 days with sick kids, that slept a lot and i have been sorting my bookmarks and so many of them i went "oh RIGHT I remember that" or "i like thatm that is cool" --

I am not specifically lesson planning yet, just putting out oppertunities and so on -- but still i can't get my mind around how to creat order for my self -- out of all my resources; books lists, web sites, on line activities and so on

do i make any sense at all?

I hate the feeling that i am missing stuff, and will find it again later when the boys too too old or it is summer and the idea is winter or ....

see what i mean?

what do you do?

[CCJWGM]

This is the exact reason I do "unit studies" or "weekly themes" despite not doing academics.  Really, our "unit studies" is a way to organize myself.  Each week we borrow many books from the library and our craft times revolve around the books we read. 

I do my internet bookmarks based on these themes.  Then I can revisit them when it comes along our time for those books.  The bookmarks may be seasonal or book related.  To give you an idea: some current bookmark names include "Christmas 2011, Valentines Day, Happy Lion, Jesse Bear, Dirt." 

I do not keep my book lists online.  It is far too confusing to me.  I have a whole notebook devoted to booklists!!!!  (Oh me oh my).  I print any booklist I want and stick it in the notebook or write down the books under the appropriate heading.  I have headings for the letters of the alphabet as well as topics.  I may occassionally put a amazon link under my topic bookmark folders to remind me if I don't have time to get out my booklist notebook.  In my booklist notebook is also a place to write down any ideas I have floating in my head about that topic. 

Once I week I compile everything for the topic we are doing the next week and pick a baking, painting, modeling, game, and coloring project for that topic as well as a few printables for the kidlets to do if I need them occupied.  I print it out in a template I made.  It is my weekly packet and also includes a calender, menu, shopping list, and reminders.

Even though we don't do academics either I find this way of doing "unit studies" is the only way I can keep myself organized.  I personally am a person that if it isn't written down it doesn't exist.  I have a horrible memory and can't pull activities out of my head when it comes time. 

Did any of that make sense? 

[Lakeeffectsnow]

Wrong forum, sorry!

[Momma Aimee]

:)

BUMP

Come on we have a lot of very ordely moms, .....

[konamama]

subbing - i wonder about this as well, i love resources but if i don't find a way to "keep" them they seem useless.

[yllek]

I think the type of organization system that you want is going to depend a lot on they type of homeschool mom you tend to be. If you're very curriculum-driven (which it sounds like you are not), then you might want to divide everything that you want to do into weekly files. I cannot work this way, but I tend to be very go-with-the-flow. 

For resources that I find online, I use Evernote to clip and tag. Finding the right resources is effortless with Evernote. I seriously feel like it's the homeschool mom's dream program. And it's free.

For many of my print resources, I like to use a file box organized by subject with topical themes as sub-headings. I collect and file, and then when ds is ready for ancient Rome, I grab that folder and put the papers into a binder. When we're done, everything goes back into the folder.

The hardest thing for me to organize is the resources in my books. I have lots of books about teaching, instruction, games, booklist, etc. I know that I have some fabulous ideas in my collection, but I don't have an easy way to access what I need when I need it. 

The other thing that I really need to work on is planning. I like being flexible, but it really is a bummer when ds wants to do a particular set of projects, and I keep forgetting to buy the supplies and make time to do them. I'd be interested in hearing how relaxed eclectic moms are planning. 

[kittywitty]

I have a file system like Dawn from Sun and Candlelight. I also have several binders divided by topic and my computer files are arranged by topic, as well. I have a seperate "homeschool" folder under my Safari bookmarks but that one really needs cleared out.

[Momma Aimee]

i going to have to look at Evernote -- can i just search that term?

[yllek]

Did you find it? Here's the direct link for Evernote. 

http://evernote.com/

I'll just say now, you are going to thank me.  It's so much better than bookmark folders. I cannot begin to tell you how much this program rocks. Have fun playing!

[kgianforti]

To keep my ideas in order of what curricula I want to use, I have a simple Excel spreadsheet. Right now, it's through 2nd grade and I have all the curricula listed that I would like to use.

I have an upright file folder rack that I keep all of our "active" workbooks in. So I pull stuff from there when we are going to work on something. I cut the top off of the Sonlight Science box and turned it to the side and store all of our science stuff in there.

I don't plan lessons at all though.

[Momma Aimee]

excell -- i should have thought of that -- making notes that vay -- ahhh

still gotta look at the notes programs, sound like i am gonna like it

[luv my 2 sweeties]

A super simple idea:  I keep a 3 ring binder with sections divided by age group (toddler/preschool, elementary, teen, etc.).  If I hear of an idea that I would like to remember when the time comes, I stick it in there.  Some are homeschooling ideas -- articles, websites, etc., Others are just parenting ideas.  I even have printouts of some discussions from this forum!    I'm glad to be reminded of it, because I haven't pulled it out in a while.  Time to do so! 

[nov05mama]

Originally Posted by yllek 

I think the type of organization system that you want is going to depend a lot on they type of homeschool mom you tend to be. If you're very curriculum-driven (which it sounds like you are not), then you might want to divide everything that you want to do into weekly files. I cannot work this way, but I tend to be very go-with-the-flow. 

For resources that I find online, I use Evernote to clip and tag. Finding the right resources is effortless with Evernote. I seriously feel like it's the homeschool mom's dream program. And it's free.

This. ^ 

I LOVE EverNote and need to get back to using it more regularly for online bookmarks. For book resources and science kits, etc, I just use my wish list on Amazon and put them all there to refer back to. 

I track all of our homeschooling in Homeschool Tracker Plus (although, they have a free Basic edition too that's good). 

For all of our curriculum books, etc. I have the IKEA cardboard magazine file things and have one for each 'subject' and just 'file' things that way. Our 'current' items all stay in our workboxes, so the files have mostly supplemental stuff and/or items for next year, etc.