Wednesday, April 22, 2009

How I organize for school

This year, my daughter and I are doing My Father's World. Mary Helen is four, and "should" be in pre-k. We tried out a couple of pre-k curriculums, but none of them were a good fit. Then we took a few months off from school, and I decided to go ahead and buy the My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum. I had planned to use it anyways for kindergarten. We began in March and plan to use it through May or June of 2010, then start her with first grade.

Anywho. . . I wanted to share some pictures of how we set up and do school around here.


This is her school bag. It normally is home to a pencil as well. Keeping all the supplies in this bag is a lifesaver since Mary Helen love all things crafty. These items are only for school time. We have had too many frustrating days looking for scissors, glues sticks, and crayons!

An action shot!

These canvas bins house our craft sticks that we use for counting sticks and our picture cards for each letter. The jar with the white lid has our number cards for math. The green basket has our counting sticks.
Our magnet letters. The letters on the left are letters we've studied.
Shot of the whole area. I hang our badges to the left of the chalkboard and keep the week's truth written on the chalkboard.
I keep all our unit stuff organized in file folders. I write a general plan on the outside of the folder so I don't forget anything.

My folders in a cute magazine rack I got at a yard sale :)

Mary Helen's school folder. I wrote her name the way she should write it. She tends to only use capital letters or make cutesy letters, which is fine by me anytime except school time. There's also a chart with numbers, shapes, colors, etc. on it taped on the front.

Inside she keeps her calendar and 100 chart on the right and her weekly work goes on the left. Days of the week are taped in here.

I can't say enough good things about MFW so far. We are enjoying it. I love that I can get by with 20 minutes a day if I choose to, or I can extend things out as long as I'd like.

13 comments:

Sarah Mae said...

Man you are organized! I could only dream of being such! :)

Homeschool Friend said...

I LOVE seeing how other people organize their homeschools! Your school looks fantastic!

I wnated to add that I ahve a similar situation. My son "should be" in kindergarten. He's in 2nd grade for everythign except math. Homeschool is so awesome for many reasons and one is that children canwork at their own pace.

Thanks for sharing!!! You're so organized and I love that!

Homeschool Friend said...

Can you elaborate on your handy display of the magnetic letters, please? I want to know what those are and how they are hanging there.

Also, I'm interested in MFW...for 2010-2011. (I've got 2009-2010 covered.) So, over time maybe you can share more about the pros and cons (if there are any) with MFW.

Thanks for everything. I just love this post!!!

DairyQueen said...

Under the chalkboard, the bar is a curtain rod. I put curtain clips on them (all purchased at walmart). I use the clips to hang various stuff as you see in the pictures.

The magnet letters are on pizza pans that I got at the dollar store. I just hung the pans with the clips. I got the magnet letters instead of the textured letters sold by MFW. I may/may not get the textured letters when we get to using the blend ladder.

you can look at my delicious bookmarks to see ideas I've saved for MFW. http://delicious.com/dairyqueen03

I will try to do updates throughout of what we love or don't love about MFW. Have you been to the MFW website on their message board? It is also very helpful :)

Heidi Boos said...

Wow! I am super impressed at your organization. I love all the special touches you've added to make your "schooling area" unique and fun. I am a former teacher and I have always wondered if I could be a homeschooling mama.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and taking a peek at my lollipop party!

Elise said...

I love, love, love your school area!! I am thinking we are going to do MFW this fall with Jackson and depending on how the summer goes, do K with Lilly.
So funny, Jackson asked me today what language you speak. I must have given him a blank stare, because he said, "English and a little country?" I thought I would die laughing!! Yep, English and a little country!!!
We need to plan my next trip and I am sooo excited to come and help you on your playroom!!
Elise

Jaime said...

I really like your idea of the curtain rod to hang things. What a great way to display art work! Thanks for sharing your fun, functional, organized room!!

Jenny said...

I love your organizational skills!

kw said...

You need to change your name from Dairy Queen to Homeschool Queen! Thanks for the look into your classroom. It is amazing! And the curtain rod/clips idea is genius...don't get mad if you come over to my house and see that I copied you! ;o) I have so much to learn from you! We are NOT organized.

♥ Noelle ♥ said...

hi! great lookin' classroom ya got there! you are very organized:)

noelle~

Anonymous said...

Very neat! I like the magnet letters idea. And your room is so cool with a chalkboard and everything! Lucky kids. :)

tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

Love the layout! My "classroom" is a bit smaller than that, but we are still so new to it!

Homeschool Friend said...

Hey! I have been to the MFW website, but not their message board.

Thanks for explaining all this! I am anxious to see all your MFW and Kindergarten FUN!

I just finialized my 2009-2010 subjects, booklists and schedule! I am so excited! Maybe I can post about it...II dont know. I'm having a hard time getting online lately. It's so gorgeous out!

Which reminds me...I need to email you about something regrading our locations. ;-)