Organizing Homeschooling Ideas

I've had the opportunity lately to speak with some moms who are beginning their homeschool journey.

The whole process can feel a little daunting: there are so many resources available and it's hard to know where to begin.  

As I scoured my shelves the other day to look for some Kindergarten materials to lend out to a friend, I found an index-card box I used when we were beginning our own homeschool journey.

At that time I was doing a lot of reading: I checked out several books on homeschooling from the library and I borrowed copies of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine from a friend.  I was gathering a lot of ideas and taking notes.  Eventually I decided to organize those notes and to write the ideas down on an index card and file them by subject. I would read an article about a particular curriculum or way of teaching and I'd jot it down and file it.  I'd hear about a math game, and I'd file it in my box.  I'd hear of a book recommendation from a trusted friend and I'd write it down and file it. 

This might seem a little outdated to some of you, but I am much more a pen-and-paper kind of a girl than a computer girl, so this worked for me.  And it gave me a way to file ideas that weren't from the computer.  (Actually, I think this was before I even started reading homeschooling blogs.) 

As I pulled this out the other day I began looking through it and it was fun to see how many of these ideas I have implemented over the past four years.  Others I had forgotten, but still want to do.  And I realized that I should still be using this little box.  Often I'll be reading a homeschooling blog and come across an idea (or book or curriculum) and don't necessarily want to bookmark the whole page: I just want a single title or a name.  So I end up grabbing my journal and jotting it down there (my journal is sort of my catch-all).  But then that idea gets lost in the pages of my journal and it's hard for me to track it down later (IF I can even remember that I wrote it down!)  One of my new goals is to start using this again in order to organize homeschooling ideas.

So as I thought this week of some of you newer moms starting out, I thought this might be a good way to start organizing some of your ideas! 

Blessings to you and yours,
~Stacy




4 comments:

  1. Lol, and I thought I was the only one who still enjoyed paper-and-pencil notes. I think this might work for me, as I squirrel away titles and ideas too in my notebooks which get mixed in with all of my life's notes. :)
    Do you put a little notations next to items indicating whether they were accomplished or purchased or used? Sometimes I check out a book title, like for history and realize it is will be better for my son in a few years. I won't be using my current notebooks then, so your box seems like a better idea.

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    1. Heather~
      Yes, I do. Or I cross things off as I've seen the item and realized it's not for us. And yes-- I'll often write "later" or "older", if I've perused something and like it but we're not yet there.

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  2. Thanks for this post. I'm a pencil and paper girl too and it's nice to see a system like this...:)

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    1. How did I not know you were a pencil and paper girl, too? ~smile~ Love you!

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