FEB
25
2013

Homeschool Storage Solutions: Long Term

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Homeschooling and storage needs go hand in hand. And depending on your state laws, keeping some sort of homeschool records is a necessity. In our state we aren’t required to keep student work, however we are required to keep annual record of our attendance and hours for each student. So how do I store and organize everything? Some simple banker boxes, heavy duty rubber bands, and sharpies can go along way in saving your sanity with all of the storage needs that homeschooling can bring on! I have three main storage needs for long term. Administrative records, student work (not required, but I keep it anyway), and curriculum. Right now I’m using Bankers Boxes as my long term storage organization solution. Administrative Records: I keep all of my annual school records in 1” 3-ring binders. In these binders I keep receipts, lesson plans, and any other legal forms required for each year such as a Notice of Intent to homeschool, Standardized Test Results for that year, a … [Read more...]

JAN
29
2013

Art Closet Video Tour

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Looking to de-clutter your art supply storage area? Today I made a quick video to show you how we organize all of our art supplies and keep everything easy to find and use! So if you’re interested, here is my video on our art supply cabinets! So welcome into my kitchen and I hope you enjoy it!  Our Art Supply Storage and Organization   Psst.... If you have any other video ideas for me, make sure to email or leave a comment below and I'll do my best to make another one! As promised, here are links to products mentioned in this tutorial: Small (10×11) Clear Project Cases Large Craft Glue by Lakeshore Learning Dust Free Powdered Paint No-Tip Water Pots by Lakeshore Learning Washable Tempera Paints by Lakeshore Learning Playfoam by Educational Insights Colored Sand Tissue Paper Squares by Lakeshore Learning Sharpie Fine-Tip Markers Craft Sticks and Grooved Building Sticks Beginning Leather Kit by Tandy Leather Small Aluminum Dish … [Read more...]

JAN
22
2013

Homeschool Supplies & Organization

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Hello fellow teachers! I have a much requested post for you today. I’m going to share some of my “must-have” items that have been favorites in our homeschool! Of course all of these things are totally optional, but they all have been well loved and used in our homeschool and I have absolutely gotten good use out of them, so I thought I would share.   Desktop Carousel: I know you’ve all seen my supply caddy that literally holds our Ikea school desks in place. I honestly do LOVE this thing! It’s called the Making Memories Desktop Carousel. I found ours at Michael’s craft store and bought it using a 40% off coupon. They range $40 or so. Here’s one at Overstock.com. I’ve also seen a new one called Recollections Desktop Carousel if that helps any of you out there! I keep the majority of our supplies in this caddy so everyone can share.   What’s in my desk: I keep all of our supplies in my drawer. The kids know to ask me before taking … [Read more...]

JAN
21
2013

Homeschool Storage and Record Keeping 2013

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I have received quite a few emails lately on how I keep track of homeschool attendance, hours, school work, records etc. I have one word for you today. Binders. It depends on your state requirements as to what you’re required to keep for homeschooling records. For our state, all I’m required to keep is a record of my hours and what curriculum I used and that’s it. You can find out about your state requirements here: www.hslda.org For my own conscience though I keep the following for each year: A Yearly Records Binder: This is my yearly binder. It has tabs for all of the items listed below, and I keep it on our shelf in the schoolroom for easy access. Legal Docs: I keep my annual “Notice of Intent to Homeschool” form, or enrollment in an umbrella school, etc. in this portion of my binder. Receipts: I keep all receipts together for things I’ve bought for each school year. We aren’t allowed a tax write off right now, but a girl can dream can’t she? … [Read more...]

JAN
08
2013

Homeschooling: Teaching Multiple Grade Levels

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I’ve received countless emails asking me how I organize our day, and how I manage to homeschool while teaching multiple students all at different grade levels. So today, I thought I’d share a little bit of how we do things over here…for what it’s worth anyway!   Being flexible is key, but not too much…or it just gets crazy: First off, I’d like to note that so far each year has been a little different schedule wise due to the ages of our children, and what extra curricular things we are involved in. In previous years, we’ve done school primarily in the afternoons during the Teeny Tot’s naptime, we’ve done it in-between nursing when we’ve had new babies, it’s been done in the kitchen, in the living room, and at the library. I’ve learned to kind of “go with the flow” so to speak which hasn’t exactly been easy for me. I like to be super organized, scheduled, and I don’t like change. Apparently no one ever warned me that maybe … [Read more...]

JAN
07
2013

Homeschool Room Tour Video!

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Hi everyone! I wanted to do something fun and unusual today, so I made a homeschool room tour video to share with you all! I’m so sorry, it turned out kind of long, so I had to break it up into two parts. But for those of you interested in seeing our room “live” so to speak, grab a cup of coffee (you’ll need it to stay awake) and join me on a tour of our homeschool room! Also, keep in mind this is my first real video…um. yeah…just keep that in mind ;o) and it ended up being really long! Sorry I'll try to talk less in future videos LOL! Our Homeschool Room Tour Pt. 1   Our Homeschool Room Tour Pt. 2 (Yes…there’s actually more!) So that’s our current homeschool room for 2012-2013, I hope you enjoyed the video! Here are links to all of the items mentioned above! Cropper Hopper 10 Drawer Rolling Carts or 10 Drawer Workbox Carts Calendar Poster (This is held onto a cork board with small thumb tacks. Click here to see a closeup of … [Read more...]

OCT
22
2012

21 Days to a More Disciplined Life

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Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be taking part of the launch of Crystal Paine’s new Book 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life! You probably already know Crystal from her totally awesome blog Money Saving Mom. If you haven’t popped over there, make sure to stop by and share some love! Crystal always has great tips on saving money, coupons, giveaways, and more!     As if her blog wasn’t enough, Crystal just launched her new ebook 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life. And for the rest of today you can snag this sweet nugget of information, motivation, and step-by-step help book for just $0.99! And that’s not all! She has offered to giveaway 50 free copies to my readers! Yipee!! My personal thoughts… One of my favorite things about 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life is that at the end of each chapter there is a practical application section that is a check list of items to complete for that day. By the end of the book not only will you have completed a … [Read more...]

OCT
01
2012

2013 Blog Planner FREE Printable

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Hello fellow bloggers! If you don't know me by now, I'm a planner! I love planners, and I especially love pretty ones! So...back by popular demand is the new and *improved* 2013 Blog Post Planner! I made some modifications based on your comments, so there are now two versions of the planner for you!   Option 1: Calendar Style Layout: What’s Included? A Year at a Glance Calendar Style Post layout: Each calendar day includes a check box for if the post is scheduled, if it’s a review/giveaway, and if you’ve shared it with the popular social media of the day; fb, tw, G+, Pin. A Blog Notes Page: This page has room for giveaway and review vendor information, post ideas, and a place to track monthly statistics.   Here is a close-up of the post planner pages for the month of May. Each month is a different color scheme just to keep things beautiful!     Option 2: The Lined Format Post Planner What’s Included? A Year at a … [Read more...]

OCT
20
2011

Letter of the Week Storage

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I’ve had a few questions on how I organized all of my Letter of the Week and K4 Kindergarten Curriculum, so I thought I’d show you all some pictures! Since I’ve printed ALL of my printables, I had to come up with some way to store them all! I decided binders full of page protectors was my best bet. Along the top of my Ikea Expedit Shelving unit, you will find binders…lots of binders! (They are cheap 1” binders from Wal-m*rt)   Each binder has a spine label on it indicating the letter, then inside are page protectors housing all of the games for that letter. (The spine labels are part of my Letter of the Week Curriculum  in the “extras” folder and K4 Curriculum as well.)   I store small game pieces in snack size Zip-loc baggies, then put them inside the page protectors for safe keeping.   I also put several pages into one page protector, for example all of the Large Floor Numbers for Letter A are in one page … [Read more...]

SEP
02
2011

Well Planned Day Planner: September Sale!

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Hi everyone, I just got an email from the lovely people at The Well Planned Day and they’re having a September Sale! YIPEE! Of course I wanted to let you all know as I’ve had several emails about their planners from my first review! For the month of September you can order any of their Well Planned Day Products for 25% off! To receive your discount, visit The Well Planned Day , select your product, then enter coupon code: septsale Hope that helps some of you out! And Happy Planning! … [Read more...]