Weekly Wrap Up 9/3/21-- Organization for 12th grade

 I thought since this is our last year of homeschooling I would do an updated post on how we organize ourselves in keeping track of lessons and the endless paperwork.  I have been doing this system for many years and it works for us.  I keep a record of everything the kids do and never throw anything away (just ask my husband)!  I have never been asked to show proof of my children's work but I have it just in case!  

I always start the School year off with a brand new 12 month expandable folder.  I label the inside by month and it sits on my desk.  

It is labeled with the kids name, grade and school year.  

I even do the summer months so any activity that is done can still be counted towards hours, for example I have several practice Driving permit tests already in the July slot and Study skills paperwork for the August slot.  Now that school started each section will fill up very quickly 

Any assignment that MarioFan has paperwork for he turns it in here.  Every morning I review whatever was done the day before and then file it after reviewing it with MarioFan. 

Empty at the time of the photo but everyday there is something in there I need to look at. 

I will be honest I keep almost every piece of paper including rough drafts stapled to the final revision so I can see progress.

This is what the expandable folder looked like for the end of the school year last year!  I can't even close it!  I have 12 of them for MarioFan (including this year) After he graduates I will par down the paperwork and put it in a box like I did for Firedrake.  Eventually they will find this box in the attic when I am gone and hopefully smile at all the stuff they did with me:)

Lesson Planning book for ME

Every week I try to gauge what assignments we need to get done.  I have learned over the years to always do this in pencil as things happen and changes need to be made.  This was our first week of school so not everything in listed as we start pretty light.   I don't assign times to any subject as he works until he is done.  If an assignment takes longer then we thought we simply move things around.  Since I don't always know the assignments for online classes I leave that up to MarioFan to keep track of on his excel spread sheet.  This just gives me an idea of what he needs to accomplish and it is up to him when and what he does at what time.  

Another system that I use (which might sound redundant) is the app "My Home School Grades". It cost $49 a year but it helps me keep track of grades, and hours more easily.   I also have to rewrite the lesson (the redundant part) but since I am so worried about losing data (either the paper form or the technology crashes) I don't mind.

I list all the classes MarioFan is taking and how many hours are needed and how I plan on grading

 At the end of the year I print out the reports that I need and add it to the folder above.  There is a way to send assignments to the student but we found that it doesn't works as easily for us if we need to move things around.  So I fill it in at the start of every day for the previous day's work, and I grade (if it is needed) as I input the work, it takes 10 minutes tops 

This is from his Chemistry online class last year.

 

Next I gather all of the school books that we are using for the year.  Student books along with teacher guides.  They start here but eventually they move around the school room.  I have learned to never allow a school book to leave this room as it will get lost and take days or weeks to find:(.  I haven't gathered all the books for the year when I took this picture but you get the idea.

On Fridays before closing down the school room MarioFan works on his next week's assignment sheet. He will look at my planner to add in what I wrote and then fill in what his online classes want done.  He prints it out and then uses that to help get his work done the following week.  IF something gets missed or needs longer to do he just added it to the next week when he redoes his weekly schedule.  He also adds any clubs or extra activities that he has for the week so he knows when he must be done with his work for the day. Sometimes he even puts down work that needs to be done on the weekend, but he does his very best to not to have to do school on the weekend;) 

His spread sheet example-- this also allows him to break down larger assignment into smaller chucks so it is more manageable and less intimidating for him. 

That is our system and it has worked very well for the last several years.