Organization is

a beautiful thing.
I will be doing several posts on organization in the upcoming weeks.

Several things which help me stay organized are...

The Laminator.
I've used it recently for recipe cards, ABC flashcards, game pieces, and math tables.

These are Ashlynn's (my 2 year old) ABC flashcards.
She is madly in love with penguins, thus the reason for penguin themed flashcards.

The Label Maker
A sweet friend gave me this beauty.
Let me tell ya'
.Best. Toy. Ever.
I am slowly replacing all my handwritten labels with nice, neat printed ones.
You can even buy cloth label tape. How awesome is that!
Look out kiddo's, your camp clothes will be fully labeled.

And on extremely challenging days, you can even label the kids.
Brilliant!

I also L.O.V.E....

*Storage Boxes.
Labeled of course

*Hanging Files
Labeled & important documents Laminated.

*Calendar/Planner
Keeps me at the right place at the right time.

*Weekly Lists
I love crossing off things!

Jewerly & Hair Clip Organization

Ladies, do you need to organize your accessories?
I had been putting off the job for a long time. Friday I finally did it.

I know there are more creative ways to do such things, however this was easy & quick!
I started by purchasing a cork board & clear thumbtacks.
Then I mounted the cork board to the wall.
Pressed in the tacks
Hung my jewelry

And...PRESTO!
Organized :)

I organized the girls' hair clips too.
I purchased a cute, girly, plaque, flowers & 6 different ribbon rolls (3 thick & 3 thin) at Hobby Lobby.
I laid one thin ribbon on top one thick ribbon and hot glued the two together every few inches. So I could hang scrunchies as well, on one of the ribbon sets I hot glued mini clothes pins.

How do you organize accessories?

Keeping Things Organized part 1

We use crates to keep our school books organized and the loose paper under control. If we decide to go somewhere to work on school for a day or a week, everything is portable. It is easy to pick up and go.

Each child has a crate.
Above are the boys' crates and below is the one for the girls.
The boys have hanging files for each subject and filing folders for lose paper drills, tests, hand writing papers, stories, schooling ideas... The girls have activity books, reading (picture) books, coloring books and a few toys.

In the back of Tyson's crate is my 3 ring binder with weekly work schedule pages for each boy, our calendar of scheduled days off, home-school legal papers, test answer keys, record keeping logs and other misc items.

Each child has a weekly work schedule page. I normally make these the end of the week for the following week. Their workload depends on what activities and appointments we have scheduled for the week. These pages help us keep on track.
Braden (5th grader) is responsible to do what is required for the day and ask me if he has questions. We normally go over Math and English together as those subjects can be troublesome if he has issues and I don't get his work corrected that day. I ask him questions about what he is reading in Heritage and Literature throughout the week to make sure he is comprehending what he is reading. I try to check Braden's work every day. The following day he begins with corrections. Since I have implemented redoing things that are incorrect, he has become very thorough about his work. We do Science together as a family.

Braden's weekly work schedule, minus his science assignments.
This is what works for us. Each family is different. I'd enjoy hearing how you organize your school life or any ideas you have.

School starts today!

The books are waiting...

The School Crates are organized...

The pencil boxes are full...

The school closet is stocked and everything is in it's place...

The kids are at the table... well not yet, but by 8:30 they will be!

Wish us luck as we begin our new year with a toddler and an infant along for the ride.
I'm sure it will be exciting at times most of the time!

I will be posting about our curriculum and schedule as well as how we organize things soon.