File Crate Q & A: Post 1

Well I just have no hope of getting a mammoth file crate post done anytime soon (I always think I have SO much more time than I actually do), so instead I'll post a few Q & A's at a time. 

Hope you all had a nice holiday weekend!

Dawn,

I noticed that there is a menu section for the front of the weekly folder. Is this just for special items related to the week's lessons or do you list your meals there also?

I always write out my meals on a sheet of paper and then create my grocery list accordingly. I often debate if I should save my weekly menu lists (I never do as I tend to purge the house of paper quite often). I think of how interesting it would be to see a weekly menu and grocery list, handwritten by my grandmother when she had young children at her home and a husband away at war....

I wonder if you have saved such things, just as you have saved lesson plans from years past.

Nicole Coffin

Nicole, that area of the weekly planning sheet is just for writing down dinners. At one time I tried to write out all the meals for the week (breakfast-snack-lunch-snack-dinner-dessert) - which is great in theory, but near impossible in practice. (For me, anyways!) Now I write down a dinner plan for each night of the week. Typically they are not related to the lesson plan, but I do write the plans next to the itinerary because it reminds me what we've got going on - a busy day out of the house, a birthday to celebrate, etc. I try to plan the dinners roundabouts Thursday so I have time to list ingredients on my shopping list before running Saturday errands.

I agree those menu plans would make nice remembrances someday. :)

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Hi Dawn! 

I never, ever tire of hearing about the file crate system! It's terribly inspiring and happy to look at!

My question is where do you get the yellow lined paper with the pink line that is very usefully more towards the center of the page allowing for two columns to write in??? That would be a very handy thing indeed for planning and noting action items!

Thanks for the time it took to get this post out! Always fresh inspiration here!

Jennifer Mackintosh

Thanks so much, Jennifer! I'm glad these posts have been helpful to you. :) 

Now about the paper ~ I bought that pad at my local Office Depot, which unfortunately has since gone out of business. I bought several pads before they closed their doors, because I've never seen it at another store and have not been able to find it online. The design is convenient and the paper has a nice feel to it. (If you're a paper nut like me you know what I mean by that, lol.)

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I think this post answered my questions, but maybe you can clarify - do you use a year-round system of folders or only have folders for the time of year that you school? (I believe I understand correctly that you aren't a completely year-round schooler?) :) 

It seems to make sense to have a folder per week for the whole year because the activities don't quit just because the full gamut of homeschooling does. Thoughts?

Always love to hear about organization ... thank you for sharing. :)

stephanie

Stephanie, you have it right - I don’t formally school year-round but because I use this system for all areas of my life - household, homeschool, personal, family etc. - I keep folders for each week of the year (52). I do however run my year from June to June. I just find this works well for me.

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Dawn,

I never tire of opening your blog and seeing a post on organization of the home and school!!!!LOL. We have incorporated many of your ideas and I have to say, this was our best school year. So hats off to you! You are a kindred spirit (Anne of Green Gables). I do have a question. 

How does your spiral notebook with clippings and tidbits fit in with this system??? I have been using it also. That is where my menus have been written down and projects I sketch out to attack. I recently tore our schoolroom/ diningroom down and reworked it on paper first, then attacked it over a few days.

Does any of your systems overlap into which you are rewriting dates, meals, etc????
Thank you for answering these questions.

Teresa

PS. Thank you for sharing the spiral notebook. It has been one of those tools that has been a life saver. It is nice to save just a recipe instead of a whole magazine, or one decorating photo instead of a whole magazine and all those little scraps aren't cluttering the whole house!!!

Teresa, I LOVE my spiral notebook journal. My absolute favorite hobby is sitting down with my current journal, scissors, tape, pen and a stack of magazines/catalogs, etc. It is another facet of my life and organization that I have kept going for years - so that tells me it’s a success. I try so many different systems but only a few work well enough to stick - the journal and the file crate are two examples of things that work well for me. The household - or home management - notebook is an example of something I keep trying to make work but just can’t seem to. 

As for the journal, it’s kind of tricky to explain what I do and don’t keep in it because really it could have ANYTHING in it at any given time. I jot down random thoughts, or a quick action item - say someone calls and leaves me a number or bit of info. - and sometimes I add things I print out from websites. (Recently I pasted in a picture of a book coming out in October - I could have just written it in my calendar - which I did do - but adding the pretty cover to my journal along with a word or two makes me happy. 

I do paste a lot of magazine clippings inside of my journal. I might come across a recipe for something very seasonal - like strawberry-rhubarb jam - that technically, because it’s a recipe should go with my recipes files but because it is just SO pretty and inspiring to think about in June I paste it in my notebook. I do like the idea of writing everything in my journal - like menu plans, shopping lists, lesson plans, to do lists etc. - because then things would all be in ONE place, not in several. And I do on occasion start lists like this in my journal, but somehow that doesn’t always work. I need the journal to be undated and random - it just works better that way. 

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Oh no, another organization post, I'm being overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy!!!

Jane

Oh Jane, this is the last thing I want you to feel! 

Believe me, the whole reason I came up with this system is because I was feeling overwhelmed by my own inadequacies! My own tendency to let clutter and chaos build around me is the very reason I came up with this system. Because we all know how hard it to keep up with (nevermind on top of) it ALL - the household, the family, the homeschooling - I needed something to help me get a handle on things. If I don’t do something like this it all crashes down around me I PROMISE you. And as I say in every file crate post - this system is not perfect - I am not a professional organizational expert (the universe just laughed at that very concept) - just a busy mum (wife, woman) trying to simplify my life a little. :)

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Thanks so much for the questions, everyone! More Q & A to come midweek. :)

Comments

[Tasha]

I found your blog today. It is the most edifying home education blog that I have found. I have added your blog to my favorites to reference in the days ahead.

I really like the organization using file folders. That is just the best idea.

Thank you for sharing your ideas and the things that work for your family. I will be reading your blog regularly.

Tasha

[Michelle]

Thanks for this info, I am not organized by nature. I hope to implement this!

[Penny in VT]

Hi Dawn :)

I have six hours to myself on Wednesday. The first 6 hours I've had to myself in 11 years. And what am I going to do? Why... set up the crate system of course! What could be more fun?

Don't answer that LOL ;)

Hope all is well in your world...

[Elaine Schienvar]

Thank you so much for ALL your WONDERFUL ideas. As a busy mom of 5 with children in private, public, and homeschool ... life is a little chaotic to say the least. I have never found a planner that works for my life. I use iCal for schedules and that does keep me knowing where I NEED TO BE, but it's all the other stuff ... the ideas, the plans, the projects that I need to place somewhere.

I'm so glad your system works for you. I really think I will try it too!

[Jennifer Mackintosh]

I was just going to pop back and thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! I'm glad I'm late! :) I see someone has found the lined planning pad!!! YAY!!!

Thanks again, Dawn!

[Rachel R.]

Another question: What do you do with ideas that don't go with any of the topics you'll be covering in the next year? Or does that not happen?

We use unit studies, and I have often come across activities that I think will be great for xyz unit (or for a particular math skill set, or whatever), but we aren't doing that unit (or covering that skill) in the coming year. I don't want to lose (or forget about) the idea, but I can't figure out what do with them! (And then I lose/forget them, anyway, because I have no method for organizing them.)

[Sarah]

I'm pleased you're posting on this subject in installments vs. finding it too cumbersome to address and scrapping altogether! I'm intrigued by your crate system and have been going back through your blog entries about it to draft out my own for this upcoming year. I'm always striving for efficiency and organization but I adore my notebooks, magazines and lists...the problem is they're everywhere and I can never recall where I put that one thing I need at this moment!
Thank you for your blog-- it's posts on home & schooling are an inspiration.
Blessings,
Sarah

[Barb]

Dawn,

Thank you for sharing so much of your life with us. I can't tell you how many of your ideas I have implemented in our home and homeschool. I have been intrigued by your journal for a long time but I always wonder how you find something, whether a recipe or a seasonal idea, or whatever! I always have loose papers I have saved but putting them in files and binders has not been successful. I am ready to try this but I am unsure how I will access them later.

Thanks,
Barb

[OSG]

Hi Dawn, thank you for this great post and I can't wait for the next :)

I am by nature a very organised person. Love planning things and buying the pretty stationery to help me along. But I always find that theory and practise are two very different things and I often quickly see how much I have overorganised, or put unrealistic expectations on myself. I always felt blah when I couldn't live up to my own organisational expectations!

A current example is my new implementation of a weekly schedule: I write down what I plan to achieve with the homeschooling (ie what I would like my son to do that week). Initially I was going to a daily schedule but I could see I was setting myself up for failure because history dictates that many of my daily plans just don't happen and I end up feeling bummed out by the whole thing!

Dawn, your blog is the last thing that makes me feel inadequate, in fact it has boosted me in to becoming more organised and I assure you, when I am more organised, the entire house and family runs smoothly. Thanks for the inspiration because I really believe I would still be floundering around if I hadn't come across your blog!

[Greta]

Thank you for sending out the first installment of this post. I have been eagerly anticipating its arrival. :-)

I have been mulling over the journal idea. All the notebooks I have seen in the stores have perforated pages though, and you said those don't work as well. I'm thinking either a sketch pad or 3 ring binder would work better for me. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Jane]

Dawn,
I decided to try out your file system. My husband came home one day and saw me writing dates on files and said, "what on earth are you doing?" I told him about your system and said I was trying to get organized. I could see he was laughing inside(not at your system but at the idea of me getting organized). I don't tend to stick to schedules or finish projects and this is something that's always bothered me about myself. Anyway, your filing system seems so easy that I thought I'd give it a shot. I'll let you know how I do! Thanks for responding to my comment. You are an inspiration to all of us disorganized moms!!!

[Betty Beguiles]

Somehow I missed the spiral notebook journal post. Would you mind posting a link to it? I'd love to see it but I can't seem to find it by doing a site search. Thank you!

[Angel]

I like Levenger's paper/pads, too -- http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Category=18-867-944|Level=2-3-4|pageid=6106 -- but it's pricey as well! I think I'm still working on a stock I got for Christmas one year.

[Dawn]

Thanks for the link, Briar - I believe it IS the same pad! I've bookmarked the page for myself and will update the post with this new information! :)

[Milehimama]

The paper with a line down the middle is called a "Steno book". Staples.com and OfficeDepot.com both had lots of sizes you could order, and I've seen smaller ones at WalMart.

Thanks for sharing about your file crate - it's helped me a lot!

[Briar]

Dawn, I just wanted to mention that I think I've found your planning pad on Amazon (it's outrageously expensive, though) here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0015ZUSHO/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

And I did find it at my local Office Depot--at least, I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff. =0)