Organization Station
Monday, May 11th, 2009I think a large part of successful homeschooling is having order. Granted, my orderliness may look totally different from your orderliness, but having some type of system in place for assigning work, following through and record keeping helps us reach our individual goals.
As far as assigning work, we are still learning about the Workbox System.
This post is about what I do with the work once it’s done.

This hallway storage chest used to have pictures on top of it, but it is now my work station. I find that I’m constantly moving around during our school days, and this chest is the perfect height for me to stand in front of and work. I stand here and grade papers; I stand here and work on our schools notebooks and portfolios.
On top you see:
- A few books we are working on
- Michaela’s 5th grade notebook. It’s a combination scrapbook/portfolio of work done during 5th grade.
- An accordia- style file folder in which I stand papers and items I’m currently working on. For example, one section holds brochures and Michaela’s journal entries from a recent field trip, but I’m waiting on pictures being developed from that day so that I can glue them into her notebook all at one time.
- Glue, scissors and paperclips so I can work and organize without delay

Some of the things in her notebook include some work from a Five In A Row Fold-N-Learn completed during the election, only we stored our information notebook-style.

Some work done from our Angelo unit study.

Some pages from How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World.

Recent nature pages including bunny sketches.
I love how this “station” lets me keep Michaela’s notebook filled up in a chronological fashion. It helps me not to procrastinate! I used to have little stacks of paper everywhere thinking that at some point I’d “catch up,” but knowing all along that I wanted a pretty and detailed record of some of Michaela’s best work by the end of the school year.
I have changed my procrastinating ways! Right now I probaby spend less than half an hour a week placing things in this notebook and it’s all because of organization. As soon as Michaela is finished writing a story or coloring a map, I glue it into the notebook. Of course she also has a three-ring binder which is organized by subject that’ll hold regular worksheets and math work. I love, though, that her 5th grade notebook/scrapbook is getting done day by day now! The only time I wait to put something in is, as I mentioned before, if I’m waiting on photos to go with it.

Sitting catty-corner to my notebook station is a bookshelf that holds art books, sketch books, and a lot of craft books. This is my home notebook station, the place where my home notebook stays open (unless I’m in my purple chair writing herbal information into it).
My notebook contains my current shopping list, menus and many other things that I like to be able to look at throghout the day.
What keeps you organized?
Lynn















for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com





