Mom to Mom - Home organization tips
One of the most asked questions at Providence is,
"How do you organize your school room?"
One of the great benefits of the Patriot Moms blog, is that we can all share our ideas for staying organized in our "satellite campuses" at home.
By Michele Lee, Providence mom
Here are a few organizational ideas that help us with our at home school days.
Have a cabinet or shelf area where all at-home books, supplies, teacher keys, etc. are kept. I have a specific shelf for each of my children. When they need something, they know exactly where to go for their own things. This saves time and energy. Some of the things we keep on their shelves are teacher keys, notebook paper, card stock, page protectors, all required school books that aren't kept in their backpacks, dictionary, latin dictionary, everything they use when working on history timelines, a box of supplies (pencils, markers, scissors, glue,etc...)
For loose papers that come home in the blue folders, I keep an accordion file for each of my kids. Sometimes their papers need to be filed in required binders for their classes. If not, we file them in their accordion folder under the labeled class. We don't throw away any papers in case they're needed for studying or possibly were forgotten to be turned in. We try to keep folders cleaned out each week.
We have a computer that is accessible near our work area. For the older kids, this becomes essential. If your younger kids haven't started learning keyboarding, you might want to invest in a computer program or find a website and make keyboarding lessons part of their at home work. They use the computer A LOT in the upper grades for compositions, research and many writing assignments. We are so blessed to have the new computer lab, because they will be able to do some keyboarding at school now.
And finally, the teachers and staff at PCCA have extended a welcome to all emails when you have questions. So, I take advantage of that often. If we don't have clarity on an assignment or have any questions regarding their class, we email their teachers. They're always gracious and helpful.
Most importantly, we do try to start each at home day in prayer asking God to help us get through the hard stuff. Our first year was the hardest in trying to establish a routine and becoming organized. After that year, things began to fall into place. The kids know what is expected of them and begin to work toward those expectations. We are so thankful for Providence! Hang in there!
Have a cabinet or shelf area where all at-home books, supplies, teacher keys, etc. are kept. I have a specific shelf for each of my children. When they need something, they know exactly where to go for their own things. This saves time and energy. Some of the things we keep on their shelves are teacher keys, notebook paper, card stock, page protectors, all required school books that aren't kept in their backpacks, dictionary, latin dictionary, everything they use when working on history timelines, a box of supplies (pencils, markers, scissors, glue,etc...)
For loose papers that come home in the blue folders, I keep an accordion file for each of my kids. Sometimes their papers need to be filed in required binders for their classes. If not, we file them in their accordion folder under the labeled class. We don't throw away any papers in case they're needed for studying or possibly were forgotten to be turned in. We try to keep folders cleaned out each week.
We have a computer that is accessible near our work area. For the older kids, this becomes essential. If your younger kids haven't started learning keyboarding, you might want to invest in a computer program or find a website and make keyboarding lessons part of their at home work. They use the computer A LOT in the upper grades for compositions, research and many writing assignments. We are so blessed to have the new computer lab, because they will be able to do some keyboarding at school now.
And finally, the teachers and staff at PCCA have extended a welcome to all emails when you have questions. So, I take advantage of that often. If we don't have clarity on an assignment or have any questions regarding their class, we email their teachers. They're always gracious and helpful.
Most importantly, we do try to start each at home day in prayer asking God to help us get through the hard stuff. Our first year was the hardest in trying to establish a routine and becoming organized. After that year, things began to fall into place. The kids know what is expected of them and begin to work toward those expectations. We are so thankful for Providence! Hang in there!
