Thread: Weekly Poll: What homeschool reorganization are you doing for the new year?

I've come across some blog posts about reorganizing this week.

• OMSH over at Pioneer Woman talks about her "White Out" organization system
• SassyMama is taking control of the book clutter
• Petra School is re-thinking her homeschool planning time
• Melanie over at 52 Weeks focuses on dealing with digital clutter: specifically pictures!!

The week between Christmas and New Year's has often been a time of taking stock and reorganization for me. What about you? What do you most need to reorganize for the New Year?

(you may choose more than one in this poll)

I have to check out those links. I am constantly trying to get reorganized. I have two problems right now - completely lack of space and having to keep everything out of reach of my kids. Right now I have a file folder/crate system where all our reading is in one folder, all our spelling in another, etc. with all workbooks pulled apart - this sits on the kitchen floor next to our table. I have two trays made out of cereal boxes where I put a week's worth of work in the order it should be done that sits on a shelf that is (theoretically) out of reach and I organize our large projects - units, themes, history, science, etc. in a set of large plastic drawers that also sits in my dining area. Theorectically my kids don't come in our kitchen/dining area but they both know how to open the baby gate so...

We're building a new house that should be done late Spring. I will eventually have a 12 x 15 room that is a dedicated school/play room and I can't wait.

I seriously want OMSH's school room. We use our dining room with all our homeschool stuff crammed into a built-in china cabinet. Our books are under control and organized at the moment (we're new to homeschooling, obviously), but all the little stuff is scattered around or stuck in little baskets or shoeboxes. I would love to get a bunch of Sterilite boxes and drawers to tuck away flash cards, math manipulatives, craft supplies, etc. It should also organize my "desk", which is a raised countertop in the pantry where I keep office supplies, school journals and logs, and work waiting to be filed away. It is also where we keep the bills, the phone, and lots of other random stuff, so it's pretty messy. I think that will be my project after the cleaning/baking/wrapping paper frenzy is over in a few days.

Oh yes, the school room in the Pioneer Woman's post was dreamy...maybe someday...Actually I'm pretty organized, but we're new to this too. I'm surprised by how much "stuff" some people use and it makes me feel a little insecure, because other than workbooks, curriculum guides, a repurposed wooden mandarin box full of science gear (cause you know, sometimes it really it is necessary to wear safety goggles while doing math) and a few miscellaneous things, we don't have much in the way of "homeschool supplies". One (okay, minor) stroke of brilliance I had late last fall was to purchase a clip board (well, a fancy one because boring things like clipboards really should be pretty IMO) that I use to for our daily worksheets. That way they are all in one place when we start each morning and they get filed away as soon as we're finished. I also keep my daily log there, which I update after something has been completed instead of as a "to do" list. Even though we have lots of extra spaces in this house that could be set up as dedicated school areas, we use our dining room and that works fine for now. Someday when we are more settled I'd love to deck out an area, but that will have to wait.

I'm a bit frustrated with this break - i'm sick, dh is injured and cranky, and i'm struggling to do the holiday basics. I'd really LIKE to do a major house clean, and i MUST create my history curriculum. MUST! We dont have a physical room, tho I could see turning my daughter's bedroom in to one at some point - after all, it has a map of the world painted on the wall. the people who lived in this house before us were both history/socail studies proffessors, and that was their 3 yo's room. I asked for the ladybug paper border to be removed, but NOT the map!

We really need to get on the ball about social studies. Our semi-annual review with the board of ed. is on Jan. 5, and we do have some things to show them, but honestly we've done next to nothing in that regard in December and don't really even have much of a plan. That'll be our main focus come 2011.

We are extremely organized over here...however we are moving in 4 weeks to our new house (YAY!) and my daughter will finally have her own bedroom. I found this beautiful desk with a hutch that I plan on buying her so we can organize all her books, workbooks and lessons.

Homeschool-wise, if we can keep going as things are now, I'll be pretty happy.

I want to blog more/keep in touch with family and friends better/keep a better record of what we're doing for school, but I'm not sure that really counts as organization.

I need to organize our digital photos and get them backed up better. This was actually supposed to be a Christmas present for my family (my grandmother requested copies of our photos because she has trouble downloading the ones posted online), but it turned out to be a much bigger job than I'm anticipated.

Our curriculum at home is pretty well organized. We have what we use, and it's on a shelf. But I have boxes and boxes of stuff in storage that I should probably do something with. One part of me wants to hold onto it in case something different from what we're doing now works better for the younger kids (very likely - DS and DD1 are very obviously different types of learners), the other part wants to get rid of the stuff we're unlikely to use so I can buy more of the stuff that does work.

But at least the boxes and boxes are, for the most part, well-organized and labeled

The kids' bedroom needs to be gone through and decluttered/organized. But again, that isn't really homeschool-related.

There are going to be some big changes to our school room. We converted our garage into a school/play room a couple of years ago, then for some crazy reason I bought dh one of those big, honkin' flat screen TVs which now makes our living room look like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Mama ain't happy. I've pleaded with him to move it into the school room so I don't have to look at it, much less hear it. I'm not a big fan of TV. There are a couple of shows I like and when they're over I turn the idiot box off. DH turns it on as soon as he walks in the door and doesn't turn it off until bedtime. It's driving me MAD. MAD, I TELL YOU! Oh the noise, NOISE, NOISE!! DH has agreed to move the monstrosity but to do so I'm going to have to get rid of the desks in there to make room for the sofa. So be it. I'd rather not have a schoolroom and have my living room back. Besides, that's what the kitchen table is for, right?

I guess everything here is pretty organized, but I'm sure it could be better. I've got notes everywhere and on everything pertaining to curriculums and subjects. I've been surfing the net so much lately, checking stuff out, blah, blah, blah. Who knows whats going on here at this point. I've got to make some definite choices soon as I'm in surgery sometime over the next 2 weeks and if I find a job.....man, things could really get interesting if THAT happens! And I have to start planning our first two weeks of January classes--Oh well, it could always be worse.