beginning

Just like your banking records, there are certain papers that are useful for you to stash away for the future, whether for a school official, or for your children, or for you to reminisce!

It is helpful to put together a portfolio each year, even if you use a testing option to verify your progress to the school officials. Because I use a homeschool lesson planning/recordkeeping book that is fairly comprehensive, all I need to add to my lesson plan book are some photos and samples of my girls’ work. Your portfolio for the year might include:

• Your school calendar, with field trips, outings, sports events, etc. marked (as well as any attendance records).
• Your typical daily schedule. You might even include your teacher lesson plan book or journal.
• Lists of the materials you used this year. I like to include how much I spent and where I purchased my materials, for future reference.
• Report cards/grades, if issued, and any standardized test scores or evaluation reports.
• List of...

Lesson Planning and Recordkeeping

1. Set goals for each child (intellectual, physical, spiritual, social—see Luke 2:52).

2. Determine what will be covered this year.

3. Order appropriate materials to accomplish goals.

4. Decide on “school” schedule.

5. Peruse materials and determine what you will cover and what you will not. Your curriculum is a tool, not a master.

6. Divide materials by number of weeks or number of days.

7. Build in some “down time.”

8. Lay out a framework (1 math lesson per day Monday-Thursday with math game Friday; 1 LLATL lesson per week, 1 A Beka literature unit per month, etc.).

9. Write out a plan to accomplish your goals. Use pencil!

10. Measure yourself...

Time management is not about finding the ultimate planning notebook or a calendar with stickers or adopting yet another list of to-do’s to get you caught up. Time management is about identifying what is important to you and then ordering your days to reflect those priorities in such a way that you can accomplish what God has for you for today.

There are lots of great resources to help you develop routines and systems that will work for your individual needs; a partial list follows. I surely don’t need to re-invent the wheel; even if I did, it would be my wheel, not yours. And time management is something you have to tailor to your own unique personality and family, not fit into my cookie-cutter calendar (although that certainly won’t stop me from giving you samples throughout the site).

Our goal is to give you some practical ideas for starters and to give you encouragement that you can do this!

Margin is the distance between where you are and your personal limit (emotional, physical, financial, time, etc.). This will be different for everyone (for more on this topic, read Margin by Richard Swenson). Just as...

Organization at a Glance

• Pray about what God wants you to work on for your particular family.

• Ask your spouse for guidance as to which areas are important to him.

• Find a balance: “Our house is clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy.”

• Be careful not to be such a perfectionist that people are uncomfortable living in your house.

• Our goal is to glorify God with our lives and, as homemakers, with our homes. We can do that better in an orderly home because we can be more gracious to our children when we aren’t rushed or hunting for the car keys or always behind, and can be hospitable. Our home is more peaceful and calm.

• This is a spiritual work because the end result is to bring peace to our homes and to glorify our Creator.

• Look for ways to bring order to your home, but don't allow...