Personal Organization and Study

I just finished reading The Organized Home Schooler, and I have many things to tidy up, inclusing my own personal organization.  I learned a lot from studying some Montessori books on "classroom" environment, but every homeschool book I read seems to add something to help me on my journey, so I am very glad I read this one as well.  I took an evening to get organized and here are the results:

A few years ago, I made up a binder under the influence of Marla Cilley's Fly Lady book.  I loved the concept, but just had too much extra paperwork that I didn't know where to store or how it fit into the system.  I knew I had to make her system my own, so I did.  I have an expanding file holder that I use to file away the "overflow" from the binder, which is for more everyday stuff.  I also picked up a Teacher's Lesson Plan Book from the Target $1 section, but I can already tell I won't be using it.  It just isn't set up the right way for my purposes, unfortunately, so I'm looking into the Day-Timer Family Plus planner and another suggested by a friend.  In the past I've just used our family calendar, but I'd like something more for homeschool and to organize the household better.

 

 

Below is something I've wanted to start for a long time, and so glad I finally did!  I read a lot of books.  I really can't stand it when I can't remember the things I've read, or when I want to go back to a book to find that one page that had that really cool quote and I just can't find it.  So I started a notebook.  What a novel idea!  I just jot down page numbers and quotes and words that I want to look up the definition for.  I've also copied pages and pasted them in when I don't want to write down huge quotes, and I like to add my own ideas and notes as well.  I also make a box for each book so I can scribble down the names of any book titles or articles they reference that I want to look into.  Ahhh!  It feels so good to have it written so I can go back to it!  This is just for me and I love it.  This is part of the "You, Not Them" aspect of Thomas Jefferson Education, I'd say.