Martha Stewart and Post-It Notes - Match made in heaven!

Today, I had a moment while doing errands to stop in at the dollar store and Staples. I found what I wanted.

And now I have my planner/day timer that will come with me where every I go.

So here we go... it's very very simple. I have lots of color, but nothing is color coded, I just like bright and cheery, although with 6 in the family, there is merit to color coding, I may just do that yet, but we'll see. It's adaptable.

My Martha Stewart Journal with Martha Stewart Repositional tabs
:

Here is the inside cover - with extra sticky notes. I couldn't find pastels, but these are vibrant and make me happy.

The next page, I printed at 60% scale a year at a glance calendar. It's actually quicker to grab the book to find a date than to find the calendar in my phone. Go figure.

This is my "to do" list. Anything that pops up, and since I seem to easily forget, I like to write things down. Now I have a spot for all those notes. I have the left as to do and the right as completed, some things are  repetitive, my daily list of chores, checking in to make appointments is a weekly thing, so end of day, I'll just transfer to the next day/week of tasks to do. 

Next is "This Week". Here it's divided into 6 columns, I bunched Sat/Sun together. I like the weekend together, my calendar of choice the weeks start on a Monday  Not ideal, but there is still lots of room.

This is laid out for next week, and it's a pretty quiet week...yay!! I am a little upset, my new black Bic Atlantis pens leak.. bringing them back.

Here is the "Next Week". Again a quiet week.

Then the next 2 pages are split, one is 3 Weeks, the other 4 weeks. These are busier weeks by the amount I've added.

Then I have the following sections:  Next Month, in 2 Months, Within 6 months. Someday - Maybe, and Wishlists.

There are still several pages. This will last me easily the year, or longer. I like to write on a note pad, and carry a larger post it one in my purse along with various sizes.

Still need to add my contact list. I'm taking it out of my phone, making a digital and print copy. I will glue it to the inside of the back cover, and a blank sheet to add things to. This way, when the phone crashes, and I do mean when, haven't had one that didn't, I'll have a current list to input once again. Or on those days when the phone is dead, or when I forget it at home, I will still have my contacts list at my finger tips.

Don't get me wrong, I love my technology. But so far it hasn't proven infallible. I need a back up.

There is still places to doodle when needed. I will still add sections as I find necessary. Probably a curriculum section, or a blog section, or websites to visit. never fails, we're out and some one raves about how wonderful something is. Now i have a place to keep it all :)

There is nothing fancy about this. I just think it works with how I work. I'm very flexible, I go with the flow. sticky notes are flexible, you can shift them where ever. I look forward to using this! Well, I already am, I'm curious how it will evolve.

I am totally becoming a Post-it Note Junkie!

I have to admit, from the time I was in elementary school, I have loved office supplies. I saved and bought my own typewriter in grade 6. Now I'm dating myself!

Anyway, I have found that those stickies are what is going to work for us. I like the concept of the calendar in my phone... but phones crash, die, batteries die, people mess it up, yadda yadda. And it's how my basic nature, I like paper, but I'm not good with a daytime, planner, etc.

I have dd9 organized for her school year with, of course sticky notes.  I have her short term(within a month) set up for up to a month in the future, and for grade 5, that should be sufficient.

And I'm feeling a little envious! Well I was.. not anymore! I have a plan!

But I'll have to share tomorrow :) No time today, I'm working on my lesson plans. Science is done, LA half done, leaving math, and art, and the rest will need to wait for the curriculum to come in!

Have a great day!

Planning our week

I really do love when a system comes together. Sometimes, it just takes awhile.

When we started homeschooling, I knew I wanted to use workboxes. No hunting for books, notebooks, supplies. Keep it simple. I didn't care for shoe boxes, so I opted for drawers. I didn't like dumping finished work in a bin(things get wrecked), so we just put things back in the drawer. I didn't like the time it took restocking them, so I made the drawers static.  Is it workboxes anymore? I think so, just modified.

Last year, I designed my planner. It worked great. I tackled all the issues I didn't like about the planners I was using, and made my own. It will evolve year to year, but doesn't everything?

This summer, I have a few tasks to tackle

This week it's about getting dd9 organized. Sure, I have her workboxes ready for her, but it's not perfect.

Earlier this week, I dealt with the issues of the schedule strip. I didn't care for all the velcro, it seemed tedious, and I still needed to write out all the assignments. Why not combine it? I don't need to deal with the littles messing around with the velcro labels.  And her 'schedule strip' or rather 'Today's plan' is combined, it has her detailed assignments, her schedule and anything else for her day. Perfect.

Today's project...

Since the daily stuff is handled, now it's time to work on short term plans, somethings that dd9 can participate in, as somethings aren't school related but needs to jog her memory to get it done.  Agenda's have never really worked for me or my older girls, so I decided to tackle this a little differently. I loved how the folder for 'Today's Plan' worked out. I decided that I should continue with that stream. 

 
We took a 2nd folder. Labeled it 'What's happening?' 

 Inside, I labeled it Mon-Friday. I'm thinking I should have a weekend spot, but not sure. I may need to modify it as we go.   Then I have 3 extra labels: Next week, In 2 Weeks, and Next month. 


Voila, a format which allows dd9 to participate in her planning.  It gives her some ownership of her week, some responsibility in getting some of those odd things done - she wants to paint, or sew, not part of our homeschool, just a hobby, but she sometimes gets upset when she forgets. It will give her the ability to create her own reminders. 

 When I lay out her next day's work, I can grab this folder and transfer the relevant stickies, or have her check each morning. This will also act as a graphic organizer for projects. This will also be used during our Monday meetings, we'll make stickies for her Elive, online assignment due dates, etc. We'll work together on her project planning and plot it out. I think this will be a fabulous tool. I think this is the transitional step to having an effective daytimer. I love the simplicity of sticky notes. It's easy to transfer, make changes, and plan with. 

I think I'm becoming a sticky note addict!

Let's talk planners

I have tried a few planners. Homeschool Tracker, Old Schoolhouse Planner, Ultimate Planner, I have formatted a few myself.... I liked Homeschool Tracker, I really liked the concept but it didn't work for me, I'm much too adept and clicking wrong boxes or pushing wrong buttons. I've tried it twice, and I might get back to it, but not for this year. I liked certain aspects of the other planners, too, but many features we didn't use, and the overall format didn't work for me.

This past year, I thought a little more about how I work, what works for me, what didn't work for me, what do I need to make a planner practical and useful.  That was the jumping point.

Before I share my planner, I must say,  I loved how my planner worked for me this past year, so I'm going to do it again. This the planner I have USED. Yes, I did fall behind in keeping some parts of it updated, but not for more than a few days, it was so simple to use it was quick to update. But I used all my lesson plans consistently.

 I will share last years planner with you. I have a couple minor tweaks I want to do and a couple add-ons, but otherwise, it worked very well for me. AND, the new one isn't still in production.

This is my planner......

 a basic white binder that has clear pockets front and back. A simple binder that is sturdy. I decorated it with scrapbook paper I had laying around, even the spine. Love it. Is it necessary? Not at all, but it made me smile and it was easier to find in the collection of binders on the shelves. It was the only robin egg blue binder, I heart robin egg blue.

This is the inside of the planner.  I used an adhesive pocket inside the front cover and slipped in my planning guide. This one was from CHC, I will adapt it to the upcoming year, or put in the one from the next set of lesson plans, if I get the CHC plans this year. Or maybe I'll put in an inspiring article or quote. Or my daily checklist of must do for homeschool. It's flexible.

The first page is a page protector, I have a very basic schedule. It shows which topics we cover on any given day, and approximately what you could guess to do next. This is a schedule that if I'm sick I could hand it to DD, and she should be able to pick out what she can do next. Many things are 'next page', 'next assignment', 'read next chapter', so while not perfect, if I am ill and can't do her daily planning, she could get something done, better than nothing. Thankfully, this last year it wasn't needed, but it's a back up plan. Plus, the planner is so simple, she could flip through it and figure most of it out as to what she had to do next.

Turning the page, I have another page protector, this is my detailed weekly schedule. I like to have times written in. It's just the way I am wired. Do I follow this schedule? Loosely,  it is my guide to make sure her day doesn't get too long. And again, if dh were to have to take over because I had to be away, wasn't well, etc, he'd know what was happening, especially in the blue sections where kids were expected to be at outside activities, I will add addresses and phone numbers next year. Again, praise God, it wasn't necessary for dh to use it. The schedule just keeps the day flowing a little better.

These are my dividers, they are Martha Stewart sticky tabs. I chose to write on them in pencil so I can re-use them, again, I like to save money where I can. I'm happy I did, as they have since been discontinued. Aren't they pretty? Many of these will not change, a couple will.

What did I need in a planner?

 I love simple plans. My problem with many lesson plans, especially boxed curriculum, is they are plotted all subjects on one table for the week, at least the ones I've seen. In theory, a great idea.... until you fall behind in one, get a little ahead in another, way ahead in yet another, on track with another... now you're all over the place, hoping you didn't miss anything. I decided, that for myself, I'd rather not deal with that. I do partially use a 'boxed' curriculum,  I use SOME of their stuff, but love their lesson plans for those subjects and it's well worth the purchase price for me, even if I am only using 1/2 the plans.

However, their lesson plans don't allow enough room to add plans for other curriculum as it is a plan for a complete year of curricula, not just a single subject.  So I had to create something else, something flexible; as I mentioned, we end up all over the place so plotting a standard week with all subjects just wasn't the way to go.

This is what I came up with. 

This is my planner from last year. It shows 4 weeks per page. None of the curricula we used needed detailed notes to work for us, we simply needed referring page numbers and a few supplies.

 The second picture is actually 5 weeks, as we only did it 2 times a week.

.
  I'm anticipating that I might only have 2 weeks per page for some of our curriculum this year, as we chose some new things that will require more detail for me to be ready to teach or set up the daily assignments in her workbox system, but some will still be 4-5 weeks per page. I do think I'll add another column so I have room to jot down  notes if needed as I go over the teacher manuals in more detail monthly and as I assign things. I really love it over all.

Does it work? YES

I do still have to flip through the binder, but it is done efficiently. I clip together all the finish pages to the divider, so it opens to exactly where we are, I know I have to go through each tab, there is no guess work here, it's methodical. In a traditional weekly planner, I never end up consistently in the same week,  it's harder to track. BTDT

Our home school is, I guess, what is called ecclectic. We are, at the core of it all, academically driven. I plan in detail, I need that structure to keep us moving forward.  This is my children's education, and we can't afford to mess up; it's too important. All that said, I still need something that allows us to go with the flow within set parameters. My planner allows for all of those things.  It's just keeps things simple in my mind.

My planner pairs up wonderfully with my workbox schedule for dd9. When I get the folder back from dd9, I just check off all the completed work, grade what's needed, comment where necessary, remove the old stickies from her folder and reset for the next day. Easy-Peasy.

One thing I will add to the 2013-2014(does that school year look odd to anyone else?) planner is the  sticky note templates behind each divider. This will make planning simple, and easy to add the next sticky to her daily assignments folder. I can set up a full page at a time. Easily a week's worth for the larger stickies and a couple weeks worth for the smaller size. I would just need to book time every week to input her assignments and print.

I really love planning :) This is a keeper for at least a couple more years. We are doing a few online courses this year, so not sure how that will fit in to our planner, but it's adaptable. DD and I many simply plot a week at a time.

How do you plan your homeschool year?

My workbox 'schedule strip'

So much has changed, I haven't blogged in a really long time :( but I'm looking forward to it again. 2 of my girls are looking forward to school in the fall. DD14 is in an arts program at a Catholic school. And dd16 is in a French immersion program.

So I am left with dd9 at home, rising 5th grader.

I have used modified workboxes with her since the beginning. The system hasn't really changed for us a whole bunch.  I changed which drawers I used, but over all, it's the same. Each subject has a drawer to go into, it's static, doesn't change much day to day.

What is evolving though, is how things are planned. The velcro tags just aren't working for us. My littles thieve them!! LOL  So I got to thinking... how does dd9 work? What makes her thrive? What does she enjoy?

She loves lists. I can give her a chore list, and she is SO happy. Not to do chores, as much as to have a list to tackle.

But a list of assignments with details can seem so daunting... so how can I break it down?

This is what I came up with. Thanks to Pinterest! I'm a Pinterest addict, I admit it!

First I found this blog: Sugardoodle - it has a template to print on sticky notes. I must have pinned this a year ago. Neat idea, but really, what would I use it for.

Since I want dd9 to be working efficiently, knowing when to get me as it's a work with me, but be prepared to work with me when needed.  We have littles in the house, who need me too, so the more prepared SHE is, the easier it is to get right to it. I needed to figure something out.

I create my own planner on my computer,  it's easy to use the sticky note template to transfer directions with slight modifications for her.

Step 1: Print template:

Step 2: Add sticky notes:

you might notice I wrote 'top' on the templates as they aren't vertically centered. Just a little something to make life easier.

Step 3: Added in the lesson plans/instructions and printed on the sticky notes.

 Step 4:

 I was going to decorate a folder and have it laminated, but we found these folders at Dollarama, and they are heavy duty. 15 sturdy folders for $2.... can't beat that price! And I'm all about saving where I can for sure.

I placed the printed sticky notes on the left side of the folder, she can transfer to the right side as she completes them.

How we use it:

I think this assignment folder is the best of both worlds, in my universe, anyway. It's interactive like the velcro tags. Remove from one side, and place on the other.  She will see the 'list' physically diminish, more apparent than just a check mark on a list. Less fuss than all the schedule strips nothing for the littles to thieve, but doubles as a schedule strip, too. It's flexible, it can include more than just school work, but assistance in planning, time management, chores and anything else she wants. We can add reminders to call friends, make plans, etc.  She has been upset when she intends to call a friend and later forgets, she can start using either the folder or her agenda - with a note to check it, to help with these things. Essentially a daily planner in a folder.

I am really liking how this idea is shaping up!

 The labels are marked 'Things to Do'(on the left) and 'Assignments completed'(on the right). I am adding circles marked 1-2-3-4-5.  That way, how I order and organize the planner is also apparent to her.

 The first 3 stickies on the left are Monday planning - Getting ready for the day, setting up for Monday meetings - she has a couple online courses that she needs to check in to get assignments and see if she has any Elives to participate in, and then a meeting with me - where we'll mark it in her weekly folder(another post for another day) and plug into her alarms of her iPad, as a reminder. My older girls were terrible for forgetting those. They do record them, but attending it  live allows for some interaction.

The next 5 stickies are below are the things that don't require a lot of instructions - in this case, get out spelling lesson 8, and get mom, get out math, pgs 12-13 and get mom. etc. In the right column, there is a reminder to go burn off some energy, trampoline for 10 minutes, helps us refocus, then there is a couple larger stickies, for 2 more subjects. And the final blue note is after school chores.

I will  have her transfer stickies to the right side as she is completed, so I can sit down later - during nap time, or in the evening - and record things in my planner completed, grade anything that needs it and set up for the next day. It offers so much flex. If I have a sick day, it means those things with mom, won't get put in her folder, or if they are, she just leaves them for the next day. If we go off on a tangent and spend a whole day doing science, no biggie, the others will just stay where they are until the next day. My planner is set up with that same flexibility, but that is another post for another day.

Funny how a few years experience changes everything :)

Have a wonderful day!!

Heading to the finished line!

The girls are starting to finish up their school year ;) The 2 older girls are a little panicked realizing that things they have been avoiding, are now needing to be done! I allowed them a little freedom to decide what they were working on, and they decided to avoid some things LOL.... guess what? It needs to be done. So they have to really focus. It is totally doable, not excessive, just no slacking.

Guess I need to not let them have so much free reign next year.

What a find!

I've been staring with dread at my one book shelf. I don't like it, it's cluttered, it's overfull, we can't find anything on it.

As a result, the kids don't want to put things away, it's too difficult so the desk was becoming a catch all. It was driving dh and I C-R-A-Z-Y!

I was looking at buying a new shelf. Up for consideration was the Expedit shelves from Ikea. They recently lowered the price. But still, it was $80 I didn't really want to spend. Then Zellers advertised a similar style shelf for $40. Much better, but still, not really in the budget.  I was going to see if I could skim off the grocery budget for a few weeks and get the cash for it.