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(Not) Back to School Supplies: Items to Organize Your Homeschool
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items In our family, keeping our homeschool materials organized is a must. I hope these “school” supplies help other homeschoolers keep papers, books, and students organized. If you purchase through our links, we may earn a small commission at no cost to y...
Sections
4
Organizing Paper in Your Homeschool
Keeping Books Organized
Keeping Multiple Students Organized
Keeping Yourself Organized
Organizing Paper in Your Homeschool
Keeping paperwork organized is a must for the home educator's sanity. It's also essential if your state requires you to keep a portfolio of your student's work. #commissionearned
We use these sheet protectors because they're non-glare. We put papers that aren't 3 hole punched into sheet protectors if we want to keep them for a portfolio or future study.
Amazon Basics Polypropylene Sheet Protector, 200 Pack
What's nice about these binders is you put your child's name and school year on the outside. I give each child a 3 ring binder for the school year. We divide samples of student work by subject to serve as that year's student portfolio.
Cardinal Economy 3 Ring Binder 2 Inch Black 4 Pack
These are the dividers we use to separate subjects in our portfolios.
Avery 5-Tab Multicolor Binder Dividers
Keeping Books Organized
We homeschoolers tend to love books. If you have multiple students, use lots of library books, or both, you probably need a way to organize books. #commissionearned
Plastic crates are great as book bins. Each child can have a bin for his or her books. We sometimes keep a special library crate to keep library separate from other books.
Sterilite Stackable Storage Crate White
If plastic isn't your style, here's a wood storage bin.
KIRIGEN Stackable Wood Storage Cube Organizer
Or just go old school (pun intended) and use a bookcase
Furinno Luder 2-Tier Cube Bookcase Pink
An alternative to the pink bookcase that's also on this list
Furinno Luder 2-Tier Bookcase Light Blue
Keeping Multiple Students Organized
If you're teaching more than one child at home, keeping everyone's work separate is important. #commissionearned
We use a 10 drawer cart similar to this one. We label the drawers. Each students gets a drawer. The other drawers are for supplies like math manipulatives, sheet protectors, etc.
COSTWAY 10-Drawer Rolling Storage Cart Clear
A five drawer cart might be better for smaller families or those who don't have a lot of stuff to store.
Honey-Can-Do 5-Drawer Rolling Storage Cart
I like to give each student a daily agenda in their own composition book. Since the paper isn't loose leaf, the agenda never goes missing.
Mead Composition Wide Ruled Notebook, 100 Sheets
We keep extra pencils in a pencil case.
Amazon Basics 4-Pack Large Multi-Color Pencil Cases
I like each kid to have his own pencil pouch. He can keep his pencils and a manual pencil sharpener in it.
6 Pack Pencil Pouch for 3 Ring Binder, Zipper
Keeping Yourself Organized
As home educators, it's important to keep ourselves organized. While there are many ways to plan lessons and keep track of course research, these are tools I find practical.
I use Google sheets to record course research. I make columns for the course name, cost, source, notes, etc.
Google Sheets: Online Spreadsheets & Templates | Google Workspace
I use Google Docs to create record keeping logs for our portfolios. Think reading logs, field trip logs, subject activity logs…
Google Docs: Online Document & PDF Editor | Google Workspace
I use a simple spiral notebook to do my weekly planning.
Five Star 5-Subject Spiral Notebook, 200 Sheets