I have admitted, numerous times, that I am a list-maker, an organizational freak. This is not something I can change about myself very easily. It is just my nature. I have, however come to accept it and use it to my benefit.

When it comes to homeschooling, I've found that by allowing myself to be organized I am able to make our homeschool days feel very relaxed and be largely child-driven.

I've tried out a large number of forms and planners and journals, ones I'd found on the internet, ones I created myself, and those from friends. They all have their plusses and minuses. You can find a listing of links to some of my favorite sites for these items at the bottom of this page.(Coming Soon!)

What I am currently doing to feed my need for organization and planning is this:

I have an attendance sheet I keep. It is one page and shows the ENTIRE year at a glance. I simply write what "school day #" we're on for each day we do school. It lets me see that "Oh, at such & such time we only had 2 days then, but on XYZ we schooled 5 days ".... and lets me see how many days running we've done and how many days we have left to do to meet the proverbial "180 days" requirement.(I found this form on the internet someplace, but have no idea where it was. If you know, please contact me,so I can give proper credit.)

We only school "formally" four days a week. The days of the week that school is done varies according to our other happenings. We school year-round as well so we truly have the utmost flexibility in our scheduling.

Secondly, I keep a BRIEF record of what we do each day. Five columns on a page, one column per day and I've recorded our day. If I need more notes for a particular day I can insert a separate sheet or take notes on that day's worksheet or something.. but that is a rare need. A sample can be seen as a PDF file.

I only write on the sheet shown above at the end of the day and only write down what we DID (not what I planned.) If one week we were only able to get 3 days of schooling in, then across the top would be 3 days of school, then the next week we did 4 days, I'd stay on that same planner/journal page and just keep going. The day of the week gets filled in as we go, as does the number of school day we're on. So with this, the dates may span two weeks, but the school days numbering would be consecutive. Got it?? *smile*

***NOTE*** A few weeks into our kindergarten year and I'm still really pleased with my method of organization. Everything is still the same excpet I've decided to change the form I use to log what we do each day. I've made it a simpler form, with room for two days per sheet (I print out on both sides of the sheet, so I can fit four days) and made it very generic... only filling in the section that pertains to that day (the stuff we actually did.) You can download a PDF of this sheet. I hope it inspires you to plan a form for your own homeschool needs.

Third, I plan each night what to do the next day. It is easier for me that way (usually do it right after dinner time.) I write on my small white board the activity/book, one after another in a column. This sort of gives me an order to work from. Then I stack up all the books needed for that list on the school table. Last things on bottom, first things on top. Then I put the white board on top of that and I'm done until we start for the next day.

Within that pile I also include any worksheets (like preETC) flashcards, etc. The only things I don't put in that pile are things that are too small, might get squished and our "tea time" read aloud. Those I keep just to the side.

What this book stack & white board do is allow me flexibility, readiness, and a general plan. I'm extremely flexible, taking cues from my DD, my DH and my own desires as to what to stick to/do when. If some stuff doesn't get done that day, then it stays in the stack but becomes the TOP of the stack (well, Bible study is ALWAYS the first thing in the stack regardless) and I fill out the stack starting underneath it. Oh, one more thing on that stacking method... I also made up some cards to use with the stack, intermingling in there every so often... cards that say WIGGLE TIME (we have 3 of these, but generally only use 2 a day).... this is when we BOTH get up and do various things to get moving... skipping, dancing, take a walk outside, etc. There is also 2 cards that say SINGING TIME that we use each day. Other cards that get included (usually one of these a day, sometimes two or more) are: computer time, felt board play, Legos, File Folder Games, Geosafari, Card Game, Board Game, Pocket Chart, Guitar Time, free choice, etc etc etc.... These "activity cards" help me rotate all the different learning/playing resources we own. Right now, *I* pick which ones to put in the pile, but eventually, I'll let my DD pick her activity out on her own, picking from the ones that have not yet been selected (which makes for a good variety of use.) I'll continue to add to the cards as we get more things/abilities for things.