So how do you organize everything!?

I feel the key to great homeschooling is good organization.

Here are five of my favorite organizing items.

1. Binders, Binders & more Binders. I can not say enough about binders. You can buy these real cheap. I put my lesson plans, attendence records, calendars, and Bryleigh's finished work in binders.

2. File Folders...File Folders are great. You can use them to make Mini-Offices & Lapbooks and they make a great filing system for all your lesson plans for the whole year. Here is a picture of the way I organize my school year. I have 36 file folders. One folder for each week that we homeschool. I put all the lessons I want to go over for the week in each of the folders. The Saturday before the week begins, I pull out all of the lessons for that week and place them in the folders labeled Monday-Friday. This really works for me and I always have lessons on hand.

3. Labels!!! I label everything! Things are much easier to find if they are labeled. I recommend buying Avery Labels, if you have a printer. If you do not have a printer, you can purchase a label maker. The picture below is of a Brothers Brand Label Maker. It costs around $20 on Amazon.com.

4. Laminator.... I love my laminator!! I bought it for around $20 and I laminate everything from my homemade educational games to my educational posters! It is great!

5. Boxes...yes, boxes...every size & shape!! They make wonderful organizers...You can store paper, pencils, markers, crayons and many, many other things!