Today's Project: Refreshing the Files

There comes a day in late June, sometimes early July, when a certain letter in the mail interrupts my summer reverie, and I suddenly realize it's time to get my story straight - it's time once again to "report in."

That's right, the annual school department letter arrived today, reminding me they need the end-of-the-year report I promised them way back last June (which I did), and, should we plan to contine home-educating our children for the coming year (which we do), we must send in our "stuff" ASAP - or by the latest, July 15th.

Well, you and I both know how quickly July 15th will arrive. It behooves me to get started right away.

• Step one: Write the end-of-the-year reports.
• Step two: Write the educational plans for the new year.

So I got down to work this morning, beginning, as always with my file crate, the hub of my home office (and described, by the way, in a ridiculous amount of detail, here).

First, I pull out last year's weekly folders (pictured at top), make sure they're all accounted for and in order, and set them aside. I will use the contents of these folders to help me remember what we did, books we read, places we went, etc. Once I've gone through them all I will file them away, probably in a cardboard storage box. Ideally I would purge the unnecessary stuff and file the rest in a large binder marked 06-07, but I probably won't take the time to do so.

After a year's time, the 52 folders are all too abused to be re-used, so I start again with all new folders. (This pains my environmentalist husband, but satisfies the office supply geek in me to no end. Ah, fresh manilla ...) This year I decided to change up the color scheme a bit. Last year I used all pale florals, but this year I'm going with soft Americana colors - red, gold and green. I think it suits my "boys' school" just right. ;)

Now some folks might say that messing around with a bunch of scrapbooking paper and matching folders is just a fancy way of procrastinating the real work to be done ... and I would say to those folks: True - but I really find that setting an inviting stage and refreshing the materials (I even dust out the crate) is a great first step when moving from from one year to the next.

Here are some photos from the project:

Here we have the crate awaiting new folders, the old folders stacked to the right in back and supplies for the planning binders in front.

Oh yes, the planning binders:

A new idea this year. I decided to break the year into three sections - gold for July to October (Ordinary Time/summer/fall), maroon for November to February (Advent/Christmas/winter), and green for March to June (Lent/Easter/spring). I'll post more about the planning binders soon (still a work in progress), but for now I will say each one will have an overview of the season and a planning page for each week of that time. 

The new files were dated and filed in the crate (that's my homekeeping binder sticking up in the back, and I chose a plain magazine holder to hold the three binders.

For the time being I parked the crate on a small tv-tray by the bookcase in the learning room. I used to keep it on the longer dining table, but I am no longer using that as a desk, but rather a true dining table.

The contents include, from left to right: my homekeeping binder, 52 weeks worth of manilla folders stored in bi-monthly hanging folders, a set of three planning binders and at the far right, my month-at-a-glance calendar.

It's not the most convenient spot for it, but it works for now.

Once I've looked through all the folders and have made my notes, I'll work them up into a narrative - one for each son over six (that would make two so far). To further flesh out my reports, I also look through my month-at-a-glance calendar going back to last fall and I peruse the bookcases as well.

With the reports written, I'll shift my focus from past to future, and I'll launch into a plan for next year. And I'd very much like to talk more about that, but it looks like my computer time is up for now. I hope you enjoyed this peek into my "file crate day" - it feels good to have gotten this done! And now I'm off to start supper. :)

Comments

[Alice Gunther]

Beautiful as any magazine, Dawn!

[Nori Coleman]

Great Post! I find it so helpful to see your crates, folders,and the way you so beautifully put your heart and soul into your vocation. I just turned in our 2006/2oo7 portfolios June 30th was the deadline.I said a Glory Be and a Hail Mary that our work would show forth God's Glory! I extended my hand right over them and prayed. A good practice to start with the kids. Extra graces be yours for your wrap up!

[Elaine]

WOW, you are one organized lady! I know that I need to be that "on top of things" or I will feel a loss of control. This coming year is my first year of homeschooling and your ideas are SO APPRECIATED!!!!!!!

~Elaine
(I just wanted to note that my blog site has changed, but not the name)

[KC]

I love reading about how you plan. You've inspired me so much and this post comes at a time when I'm starting my planning for the new year. Thank you!!!

[Cheryl]

It's time for me to do the progress report and ed plans too. I think I have until Aug 1st to get them in. I look forward to reading about your plans for next year.

[Baleboosteh]

Golly, I am in awe of such organisation! Drooling too at the necessity of such lovely office supplies. In the UK we don't (as yet) have to provide this sort of detailed evidence for home education. We have to supply 'reasonable' proof that the child is receiving an education but how 'reasonable' is defined is a bit of a grey area. Some parents just send in a statement of educational philosophy and that's that. You don't have to submit lesson plans or samples of work. In some areas, however, the local education officials insist on visiting families (though legally they can't just insist) but I know of families that have never been visited in years and others who get chased up every year.

We begin homeschooling 'officially' in September when my oldest son is 5 and I think I am going to adopt your 'week in a file' approach. It will be good to have a record and if we ever did need to have contact with our Education Authority, invaluable.

[Jennifer]

So inspiring. I love your time line - the three sections, that is. Our organization sort of fell apart at some point, but this is just the motivation we need to keep at it.

[Jennifer]

Ugh, I'm trying not to panic about our end of year evaluations. Our usual lady has not confirmed our appointment and I'm thinking she might not be doing the evaluations this year! What to do now? I hate the thought of finding someone new at the last moment...

[Heather]

Dawn, this is great! I have a couple of questions for you... First, do you attach scrapbooking paper to plain manilla folders or do you buy patterned folders? If you do the former, what about decoupage paper, which would be lighter? Also, do you keep ideas and plans in these folders or do you keep work samples in them? If you do not keep samples there, how do you tackle that job for each of your three boys? Thanks!

[Ann C.]

Yummy.
You are so kind to share all the nifty details... Office supply geeks unite!

[Beth]

On the one hand, reading posts such as this leaves me feeling grateful all over again that I don't live in a state which requires homeschooling parents to submit lesson plans and portfolios.

On the other hand, what a wonderfully attractive method for record keeping! Thank you for sharing: I am always inspired by your organization skills!

[Theresa ♥]

Another timely post as I am gearing up to start lesson planning for this coming school year sometime next week.

First however we have been de-cluttering our house because we had no more room in closets, cupboards, storage rooms etc. We are just about finished (Praise God!) so I'm excited to begin planning my year.

[Dawn]

Thank you all for your very kind comments. :)

Heather, I only use scrapbooking paper on the binders and the front of the crate itself (the label). The binders are translucent and have a slot in the cover so you can change the image.

The folders are plain manilla, but I buy some colored ones for fun - this year it's green, tan and cream.

I keep materials in the folders (like flyers, photocopies, emails, etc.) that I will need for that specific week. I always pull that week's folder out at the start of the week and use it to keep any and all things from the week - the Magnifikid, the Book Group notes, a party invitation, etc. Most work samples do get filed in there too, but I have an "in-basket" for overflow. I didn't mention it in my post, but I'll be looking through that stuff too when I write my report. Like I have a bag of itty bitty graph paper pieces my oldest made into a board game for a math lesson - they are in the basket. The outline he made for the game is in my folder though.

Check out the link in my post for the original post I did on my file crate - it should give you a better idea of how I use them. :)

[Angel]

Another great planning post :-). It's that time of year for me, too... I had to get my end-of-the-year reports in before the end of June, and I'll have to get our curriculum submitted by mid-August.

[Fiddledeedee (It Coulda Been Worse)]

Well, that made my heart skip a beat. I'm going to refer back to this post, yes I will.