Posted in Organization
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We have two children at our house and two ways of organizing their homeschooling. My oldest is a 13 year-old daughter who is an independent learner. Although we do some things together she is capable of doing the majority of her work on her own. My youngest is an 11 year-old son who needs someone to remind him that he should be working on math not playing with the kitten approximately every 5 minutes.
Homeschool Card Box For my daughter I have set up a card box that holds all of her assignments for the year. I used a small recipe box - the 3 x 5 size - 5 tabs, and 3 x 5 cards. I turned the 5 tabs around and wrote the days of the week that we "do school" on them. Then, using the booklist and 36-week schedule from AmblesideOnline's website I made out cards for each subject/book.
The Front of Each Card On the front of each card I have listed the name of the book that we are using in the middle. I have put the name of the subject in the lower left-hand corner - this helps her to know which card replaces a card she has finished. For example, if she finishes her literature card she knows to replace it with the next literature card. In the upper left-hand corner I have listed how often she is to do the card, e.g. math is daily, literature is Mon, Th, Sat, and Nature is weekly (I listed the day of the week I want it completed.) In the upper right-hand corner I have given an estimate of how long it should take to complete that assignment. I am planning to add a Priority Ranking in the bottom right-hand corner for those days when we know we won't be able to do everything.
The Back of Each Card On the back of each card there is a breakdown of all the assignment for the year. For math I have listed each of the lessons, ivestigations and tests in order. On the back of the literature card there is a list of the chapters in the book (I list something like Ch. 1-2 together if she is supposed to read more than one chapter each day.) The history card has a list of page numbers (24-36) on the back. We are using Apologia's Physical Science this year and she knows she is to work on the module for 30 minutes a day so I have just listed the modules on the back of the card rather than how far she should be in the book each day.
Using the System Each morning when my daughter starts her schoolwork she grabs her box off the bookshelf where her books and school supplies are kept. She opens it up and pulls the cards for whatever day of the week it is. She can then flip through and choose which card she wants to work on or set them up in the order she wants to do all th cards that day. If it's a day when we know we will be unable to get everything done she will be able to set the cards up based on the Priority Ranking and get the subjects we have decided are most important done first.
After she chooses a card to work on she flips it over to find out what the assignment for that day is. Once she has completed the assignment she marks it off the list - just puts a line through it with the pen that is kept in the front of her box. Then she can either put the card on the bottom of her stack of cards for the day or file it back in the box. She uses the frequency listed in the upper left-hand corner of the card to determine where to file it in the box. A "daily" card would be filed behind the next day's tab. If it lists days of the week then she files it behind the tab for the next day she is supposed to work on it. (If it's Monday and she has a M, Th, Sa card then she would file it behind the Thursday tab.) If it is a weekly card it goes back in the same place she took it from.
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