To Tell You What's in My Binder. . .

Okay, there is nothing magical about the binder, but I love it! Here is a tab-by-tab description of what is in mine:

~ Calendar - I printed monthly sheets from www.donnayoung.org I try to write everything down so each morning I can take a look at today and the next few days.

~Schedule - I have a copy of my daily schedule so I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I've made one for school days, and I'm trying to decide if I want make one for non-school days, or just wing it. Probably, I will just wing it since we are going to do school 4 days a week instead of just 3 like last year.

~Homeschool Plans - I have sheets for my unit plans with ideas, goals, and other notes. I also have my workbox planning forms in this section.

~Grocery List/Menu Planse - I have a table type form with sections of the grocery store - produce, frozen, paper products, etc. I currently have a 3 week rotating menu. On the fourth week I either start over or try to clean out the pantry and freezer of things that I've purchased but haven't eaten for whatever reason.

~Homeschool Misc. - I keep little tidbits here like things I would like to have in our art center, or great ideas I print off that I want to remember for later.

~Telephone/Address - Currently, there is only my Homeschool Co-Op group's contact information. I plan to put my Christmas list in here too.

~Travel - Places we want to go, ideas for keeping the kids entertained, sample packing lists, etc.

~A tab for each of my girls - yearly homeschool goals (for my kindergartner this has things like learn 200 sight words, count to 100 by ones, twos, fives, and tens; it also has things like learn to load the dishwasher, learn to tie shoes, learn to think of others before herself) I have a similar list for my 3 year old.

~Craft tab - things I want to make or sew, handy tips I read on the internet, etc.

Other tabs you may have:
~Ministry (I had one of these last year when I was facilitator for a women's mission group at our church)
~Household chores
~Loan/Borrow list - what you've loaned to someone or things you've borrowed so you can remember who has it or who it belongs to
~Gift Registry - who you need to shop for, gift ideas, sizes, etc.

So, what's in your binder? I might be missing something life-changing!!

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Do You Have a Home Management Binder?

div>I do. I plan to utilize it more for our homeschool plans, grocery lists, and menus. But, I like to do planning at the library sans the kiddos on my afternoon "off", and a big, bulky binder just gets in the way. So, today, I fixed it.



Here is my boring, run-of-the-mill binder.



Here is my new, fabulous binder that I can carry on my shoulder like a pocket book!

It was VERY easy to make, I made it start to finish in about an hour and a half, including phone calls and a pull up change :). I like pretty organized!

Chores!

Since I am homeschooling, I am going to be with my children almost everyday for at least 16 more years. I figure I shouldn't be doing all the housework on my own. Besides needing some help to keep up with things, the girls need to learn some responsibility. So begins training the children. Mary Helen is my first victim.

Actually, Mary Helen loves being helpful, so she's happy to have things to do to help Mommy each day. I try to be near her for some of her chores (I'm doing something in the kitchen while she unloads the dishwasher for example) so we are spending time together. To make the job easier and more fun, I created some charts. I have also made labels for our toy bins that I hope to get up today.

Here is her chore chart. It is laminated so I can write in a chore under afternoon, and she can mark off what she's done if she wants to. Click on the picture to make it larger. Please don't tell me if I misspelled a word. It's too late now!

So, you see she has to clean her room and get herself ready for the day. How do I define clean and ready? The same way she does? I doubt it. So come these charts that will hang in her room.





If you want to make your own,I used free digital scrapbooking kits from www.shabbyprincess.com and copy and pasted them in publisher (though I'm sure you could do the same thing in word). It was a lot of fun, actually!