Tips and Tools to Organize Your Homeschool for Insanely Easy Planning

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

homeschool organization tips

Are you a homeschool mom gearing up for a new school year? Or perhaps you’re considering homeschooling for the first time? No matter where you are on your homeschooling journey, one thing’s for certain – staying organized is key to a successful and stress-free experience. Homeschool organization doesn’t have to be hard.

In this article, we’ll explore a plethora of great ideas, tips, and tools to help you create an organized and efficient homeschooling environment, even in small spaces like your living room or kitchen table. Plus, we’ll provide you with some fantastic ideas for homeschool organization that will make planning a breeze. Get ready to streamline your homeschool!

1. Create a Dedicated Homeschool Space

While a dedicated homeschool room is ideal, it’s not always possible. Instead, designate a specific area in your home, whether it’s a corner of the living room, the kitchen table, or even a cozy nook in the dining room. This helps create a focused environment for learning and ensures that your homeschool supplies are easily accessible. A dedicated space may be all over Instagram, but you homeschool in your home, so create a homeschool storage system that makes sense for you, even if it’s the dining room table.

2. Utilize Small Spaces Efficiently

For homeschooling in small spaces, think vertically and use wall space for storage. Install shelves, pegboards, or wall-mounted storage units to keep art supplies, craft materials, and books neatly organized. Milk crates and wicker baskets can also be stacked or hung to create storage pockets for various items. The organizational system that works best is the one you’ll actually use.

3. Invest in Practical Storage Solutions

Storage bins, supply caddies, and glass jars are your best friends. Use clear glass jars to store art supplies, small items, or craft materials. Label storage bins for different subjects or grade levels and consider using different colors for easy identification. Keep in mind your younger children will need easy access to craft supplies in any given week. Creating a great place takes a little time, but you can make it your own space.

4. Establish a Homeschool Planner

A homeschool planner is a must-have. It can be a physical planner or a digital tool. Use it to jot down lesson plans, homeschool days, and weekly assignment sheets. This will keep you on track and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. Teacher planners are great for homeschool families who need to keep track of a child’s assignments, kids’ work, and a homeschool schedule. Student planners, especially for high school, are great if you’re using a digital homeschool curriculum that has a typical week, easy steps, and to-do lists. Daily work can be tracked and simple tips for your student to make the most of the planner can go a long way. A good fit when homeschool planning is, at the end of the day, the one that works for you.

5. Morning Basket and Routine

Kickstart your homeschool day with a morning basket. Gather language arts materials, engaging books, and any other resources you want to cover as a family. This is a great way to ease into the day and cover subjects that all your kids can enjoy together. You can create a little basket for each of your younger grades and your young children can take ownership over their homeschool books. During morning time, you can relieve some of the overwhelm and amount of time it takes to get focused. Think of your daily plan when setting up this type of homeschool area, what extra space you might have, and the different ways you can create the perfect spot.

6. Individual Workstations for Older Children

If you have older kids, consider providing each child with their own desk or workspace. This encourages independence and responsibility. They can keep their textbooks, notebooks, and assignments organized in their designated space.

7. Use Chalkboard Paint and Whiteboards

Chalkboard paint or adhesive whiteboards can transform any wall into an educational space. Use it to display the weekly schedule and important dates, or even as a creative outlet for kids to express themselves. And a bonus during family game nights is the ability to grab those lap-sized whiteboards for tracking scores, etc. #winwin

8. Keep Teacher Manuals and Resources Handy

Designate a shelf or a file folder system to store teacher manuals, curriculum resources, and educational materials. This will save you time searching for materials during school time when you need to access those file folders. This can help make homeschool organization a breeze.

9. Plan Meals and Breaks Ahead

Meal planning is a game-changer. Prep meals in advance to save time during the day. Incorporate regular breaks and physical activity into your schedule to keep your homeschool family refreshed and energized. One of the best things about homeschooling is the freedom to incorporate real life into your favorite homeschool organization ideas.

10. Regular Homeschool Records and Evaluations

Set up a system for keeping track of your homeschool records, including assignments, completed work, and any assessments. This will help you gauge your child’s progress and make adjustments as needed. At the start of the new homeschool year, think ahead to the type of records you’ll need to keep and the different methods available to you to track and document.

Incorporate these homeschool organization tips into your routine to ensure a smooth and successful homeschooling experience. Remember, what works best will depend on your family’s unique needs and preferences, so feel free to adapt and modify these ideas to create the perfect homeschool space for your family. Happy homeschooling!


Get Your FREE Monthly Planner & have Homeschool Organization Help At Your Fingertips!

 

Organizing Digital Homeschool Resources

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Organizing Digital Homeschool Resources

219: Organizing Digital Homeschool Resources with Brooke Poston

Our guest in this episode is Brooke Poston from Homeschool Resource Co who has some great tips to share on organizing digital homeschool resources.

Brooke explains what she means by digital resources and supplemental content and where one can find this content. She then details how to create an inventory spreadsheet to keep track of everything.

Finally, she breaks down the 3 main ways to organize content and the benefits and drawbacks of each.

Listen to the episode for some easy-to-implement ideas.

The workbook and course on Digital Organization Brooke mentions

The digital resources Meryl mentions are

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Take a look at show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy to see what they offer for online classes and web-based unit studies.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode

Organizing Digital Homeschool Resources

Best Of HomeschoolCPA: Board Binder: Board Training All Year Long

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Board Binder: Board Training All Year Long for Homeschool OrganizationsIn the new Board Member Manual, Carol Topp, CPA offers has important topics your board should discuss every year. Make a plan to cover one topic a month and do board training all year long. She shares those topics on today’s podcast.

 

Visit Carol’s website here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEATURED PRODUCT from HomeschoolCPA:

 

Homeschool Organization Board Manual

This is a real life conversation:

HomeschoolCPA: Do you have a copy of your EIN letter form the IRS?
Homeschool Leader: No. It was gotten by a former treasurer 15 years ago. All I have is the number handwritten on a sheet of paper from the bank.
HomeschoolCPA: Do you have a copy of  your Articles of Incorporation filed in your state?
Homeschool Leader: No; I don’t think so.
HomeschoolCPA: Has your homeschool group ever applied for tax exempt status with the IRS?
Homeschool Leader: I have no idea! All I was given when I took over leadership was the checkbook. 🙁

This is a sad, but true reality. Sometimes current group leaders have none of the important paperwork for their organizations.

Homeschool board  members should keep all their organization’s important papers in a safe and accessible place. Usually, a 3-ring binder works well.

The Homeschool Organization Board Manual comes in a Word file to make it easy for you to customize it for your organization.

The manual (a digital file) costs $9.95, but you only purchase one copy for your organization.

You are allowed to print off copies of the Manual for all of your board members, but please do not share the original Word file with them. And do not share the original Word file with other people, email it or post it on the internet. TIA!

Click Here to request more information!

 

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Evernote Online Filing System

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Evernote Online Filing System

84: Evernote online filing system with Rachel van der Merwe

The guest for this episode is Rachel van der Merwe, a Ph.D. candidate in media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Rachel has four years of teaching experience at the undergraduate level and currently teaches the upper-level course Media and Popular Culture for CU Boulder. She is also my daughter and the teacher of the Visual Literacy class for show sponsor, FundaFunda Academy.

What is Evernote?

The Evernote app describes itself as a digital notebook, but Rachel thinks it’s more helpful to think about Evernote as a digital extension of your memory—an external hard drive or archive for the central processing unit that is your brain.

Evernote for Homeschoolers

Evernote has many uses within the context of homeschooling, or really any educational setting,

Some useful features are:

1. You can take a photo of a page of notes, or business cards at a homeschool convention, and save it as a note

2. You can create notebooks for each course, inside the notebook

  • Drop any articles/PDFs/lesson plans
  • Drop in audio files and images too
  • Use Tags “to read” “read” or on the subject matter or content
  • Can add reminders to notes

3. You can take notes in notes
EN has its own annotation system built-in. You can open up a PDF and highlight, underline, jot down notes, draw arrows, etc in an assortment of colors OR you can open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat or Preview, annotate there, and when you save and close the PDF it automatically saves to the file in Evernote.

4. Organization

  • Notes are stored in notebooks, notebooks can be placed in stacks
  • Each notebook can be private or shared.
  • Each student could have a notebook for each class and maybe your kids would organize their notebooks in separate stacks for each semester.
  • You as a parent could have stacks for each of your kids

5. Relocating info
You can find items you have saved using

  • notebooks/stacks
  • tags and geo-tags
  • dates

With Evernote Premium, everything is OCRed and becomes searchable – even handwriting!

6. Evernote Web Clipper
Whenever one comes across something online, clip it and tag with specific keywords and choose which notebook to add it to.

If you want your teens to learn how to use it, this is one of the resources covered in FundaFunda Academy’s Computer Applications class.

Join our Facebook Group especially for the listeners of this podcast! You can ask questions and get advice as you try integrating technology in your homeschool.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and give a rating and maybe even a review! Subscribing will help you make sure you never miss an episode.

Evernote online filing system

Tool Time

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Tool Time|Back to HomeschoolTool Time

Podcast #55

It’s that time of year again! Back to Homeschool!  This makes it Tool Time.. Who else is excited? It’s always fun to get ready for the new year. Kids enjoy it as much as parents! Don’t go into the new year unprepared! In this episode, we take a look at the tools you need to get ready to tackle the near year. Whether you are new to homeschooling, or a veteran, we have you covered. What should you fill your “tackle box” with? What do you need to do to get ready? We go over the list of items you might want to have in your arsenal.

Plus, there is something so fun about picking out new school supplies and having all of your household areas covered and ready to go! Get the kids involved. Let them help make a list of items you need to pick up. It is fun for younger kids to pick-out their own supplies (with mom’s help, of course)

Some of the tools you may need:

  • Crayons
  • Colored Pencils
  • Washable Markers
  • Pencils
  • Pens – colored and black/blue
  • Pencil pouches
  • Notebooks
  • Notebook paper
  • Graphing Paper
  • Construction paper/Colored Paper
  • 3×5 cards
  • Binders
  • Erasers
  • Pencil Sharpeners
  • Rulers
  • Scissors
  • Laminator and laminating sheets
  • Backpack
  • Glue/Glue Sticks
  • Folders
  • File Folders
  • Tape
  • Staplers
  • White Out
  • Post-it Notes
  • Journals
  • Composition Notebooks
  • Planners
  • Calculators – graphing or regular
  • Laptops/tablets/Computers
  • Appropriate software and apps

Also important tools:

  • Co-op and support group memebrships _ You can find co-ops and support groups here www.FPEA.com/groups
  • FPEA Membership

Here are a few links that can help you with your shopping:

https://www.walmart.com/cp/back-to-school/1071204

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/tips/a17427/school-shopping-lists/

https://www.target.com/c/school-office-supplies/-/N-5xsxr

The above lists should give you the help you need to find the right tools to get you on the right track this year! We hope that you are as excited about the new year, or refreshing your year, as we are!

Join us this September in Sanibel Island for both fun and learning. Make a staycation of of this FPEA STEM Conference. Sanibel is a beautiful area with lots to explore.

Sanibel STEM

Board Binder: Board Training All Year Long

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Board Binder: Board Training All Year Long for Homeschool OrganizationsIn the new Board Member Manual, Carol Topp, CPA offers has important topics your board should discuss every year. Make a plan to cover one topic a month and do board training all year long. She shares those topics on today’s podcast.

 

Visit Carol’s website here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEATURED PRODUCT from HomeschoolCPA:

 

Homeschool Organization Board Manual

This is a real life conversation:

HomeschoolCPA: Do you have a copy of your EIN letter form the IRS?
Homeschool Leader: No. It was gotten by a former treasurer 15 years ago. All I have is the number handwritten on a sheet of paper from the bank.
HomeschoolCPA: Do you have a copy of  your Articles of Incorporation filed in your state?
Homeschool Leader: No; I don’t think so.
HomeschoolCPA: Has your homeschool group ever applied for tax exempt status with the IRS?
Homeschool Leader: I have no idea! All I was given when I took over leadership was the checkbook. 🙁

This is a sad, but true reality. Sometimes current group leaders have none of the important paperwork for their organizations.

Homeschool board  members should keep all their organization’s important papers in a safe and accessible place. Usually, a 3-ring binder works well.

The Homeschool Organization Board Manual comes in a Word file to make it easy for you to customize it for your organization.

The manual (a digital file) costs $9.95, but you only purchase one copy for your organization.

You are allowed to print off copies of the Manual for all of your board members, but please do not share the original Word file with them. And do not share the original Word file with other people, email it or post it on the internet. TIA!

Click Here to request more information!

 

Save

Best Shows Replay: How to Get Organized with the FLYLady

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Homeschool FLYing: Get Organized with the FLYLady podcast; The Homeschool Sanity ShowHow to get organized with the FLYLady

While Melanie is on vacation this month, we have a few of her best episodes scheduled! Do you want to learn how to get organized with the FLYLady?

I am so excited about this episode of the Homeschool Sanity Show and if you have struggled to get organized like I did when I started homeschooling 16 years ago, I think you will love my interview with Marla Cilley, the FLYLady. Even though I’ve been FLYing for years, I found myself incredibly motivated to make this year an even more orderly one after chatting with her.

If you share my enthusiasm for homeschool organization, I think you’ll love my new book, The Organized Homeschool Life. It will help you organize your entire homeschool life 15-minutes at a time.  

The Organized Homeschool Life | how to get organized with the FLYLady

Links

Sink Reflections

Body Clutter

FlyLady & Friends podcast

Amy Kuddy TED Talk

Simply Homeschooling with Tami Fox

Homeschool Teacher Control Joural

Little Hands to Heaven Preschool curriculum (15 minutes at a time)

FLYLady Events page

The Power of Homeschool Routines with FLYLady

 

Have a happy homeschool week!

How to Get Organized When Life is in Chaos

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

You’d like to get organized, but things are in chaos. If that’s you, you’ll love the six steps I share on the podcast that you can take today to break through the chaos and get organized.

How to Get Organized When Things Are in Chaos podcast

Read the blog post

Watch on YouTube

You’ll be encouraged to pray, identify your must-do’s, plan dinner, do the dishes and clear the table, declutter, and take time for self-care. You can do this! This episode will show you how.

Links

Podcast sponsor: Apologia

What We Believe series from Apologia

Interviewing David Webb, co-author of Apologia’s What We Believe series on Tuesday, June 20 at four Eastern, three central, two mountain, one Pacific on my Facebook page

Homeschool Mom To Do list

Must Do List

MelanieWilson.TV

post on marriage

The Organized Homeschool Life

the podcast on self-care I did with Andy and Kendra Fletcher of Homeschooling in Real Life

Pomodoro technique

Have a happy homeschool week!

What Homeschool Leaders Don’t Know About Fundraisers

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

FundraisersWhat Homeschool Leaders Don’t Know About Fundraisers

Carol Topp, CPA, the HomeschoolCPA will share tips on important issues that homeschool leaders may not know about. This episode will focus on helping homeschool leaders know the tax rules about fundraisers.

Visit Carol’s website here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEATURED PRODUCT from HomeschoolCPA:

 

money management in a homeschool organization

MONEY MANAGEMENT FOR HOMESCHOOL ORGANIZATIONS:  A GUIDE FOR TREASURERS 

Does your homeschool group manage their money well? Do you have a budget and know where the money is spent? Do you know how to prevent fraud? This 115 page book will help you to open a checking account, establish a budget, prevent mistakes and fraud, use software to keep the books, prepare a financial statement and hire workers. Sample forms and examples of financial statements in clear English are provided.

Click Here to request more information!

 

 

 

 

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Organizing Challenges for the New Year

A Production of the Ultimate Homeschool Podcast Network.

Organizing is a popular goal for the new year. If you’re a homeschooler wanting to get organized, it can be hard to know where to start. Consider the six areas I share in this podcast episode.

Homeschool Organizing Challenges You Should Take On This Year podcast


Want to read the podcast as a blog post? READ HERE or SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES or ON STITCHER

Links

Free Stars Unit Study

Airtable.com

a comprehensive post about the best places buy/sell used curriculum

Konmari method  for folding clothes

Plan to Eat

Tastefully Simple’s 30 day meal plan

free meal planning book

The Organized Homeschool Life

theorganizedhomeschoollife_2piecemockup

 

Which area are you organizing first? Let’s chat about it on Facebook.