Week of Feb. 9: In Which The Stars Align Perfectly, or, Our System Works

Did you feel the effects of the strange astronomical anomaly this week? I didn't feel it directly, but I can prove that there was one for sure, because everything on our board managed to get checked off this week! What? That almost never happens! There always seems to be something that gets left dangling out there to be picked up for the next week or (worst case scenario) be finished over the weekend. So, if you are reading this wondering if you are the only one whose kids can never quite seem to get it all done, you are not alone. Guess What! They don't get everything done in school, either! Or they may, but there is this thing called the bell curve. Right...no one has the opportunity to really master their educational content except the students at the highest end of the spectrum. So don't worry, you (and I) are doing just fine. 

Everyone seems to work out their own system for what works for keeping track of assignments but it seems that they are always on the hunt for what might work better. For what it's worth, I have found that in spite of all the wonderful spreadsheets and assignment charts I have ever made, my kids will never, ever look at them and check things off unless I write it on the board in front of their faces every week, so that is what we do. I've been doing this for a couple of years now, and it is with this system that I have the greatest return on their work. I have a huge white board in my basement where we do most of our school work. I write their assignments up on the board, pull the necessary books for the week and fill a folder with any math, grammar, and writing exercises they need to accomplish for the week. They have a cubby with their books, a cubby for their notebooks, and and bookshelf for the "books on deck." I try to keep only the ones we are using in a particular school year on this shelf, to avoid confusion. Books from previous years are stored away, unless they are reference books. I have a special shelf for atlases, encyclopedias, and art books. 

Handy reference shelf

End of the week - time to clean up!

Mom, am I done???

In general the system has worked now for me for several years. This week it worked flawlessly. That is not the norm, but hey, it's getting done.

Happy Friday, and Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow. I'm more than ready for the weekend.