In case you hadn't noticed, I'm in the midst of a new organizational kick with routines, schedules and the whole nine yards. It's an evolution to get there, but already I can tell that I like where I'm headed - I just wish I could hurry up and get to the end already!
One of my new ideas is to make prepping for the next school day part of my evening routine. I've always thought that planning for the next day - laying out clothes, packing lunches, etc. - made a lot of sense, but until recently, my "evening routine" consisted of finishing work at 2AM and collapsing. My solution has been do complete my evening routine before starting work for the night, and although it's far from perfect, it's definitely been an improvement.
In the classroom especially, having all our resources for the next day out on the table makes it so much easier to get going, even if I'm still a little foggy from lack of sleep. When the kids are a little older, and I'm a little more experienced at being organized, I plan to have them help with preparing for the next school day.
How do you prepare for your upcoming school days? Daily? Weekly? By the seat of your pants? I'd love to hear some new ideas!
Well you know I HAD to read the post on organizing things, since it's my favorite topic! This year I have to prepare school from a lesson plan and teach on M/W. I plan for about an hour Su/Tu nights, so we are all ready to go on M/W mid-morning. I have our supplies we use every day out on the desk in little buckets, and I literally put out every single thing I will need for each lesson, in order from start to finish, bookmarked, etc. so I can stay completely on task.
ReplyDeleteI keep the Materials we use in 2 boxes, since we don't use the same things every day. Then put the Used stuff in a box, like anything we're finished with, maybe a worksheet, whatever. Then the Lesson for the day (all subjects) itself has a box. I pull all 4 boxes out and have a little sorting party upside down into the Lesson box, starting with our first subject and ending with our last. Next I turn everything over right side up, put the lesson plan on top, and I'm ready to go.
I have some activities always ready that I can use for 'fillers' if I need my child to be on her own for a bit, such as an online reading program, or some cute cut/paste 'build a story' books. I have an art book, The Great Masters, that she knows she 'has to' go and look through if she has a melt down in the middle of a lesson. (A Botticelli or the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel calms her right down!)
That is awesome, Tonie! I strive for that kind of organization, but I'm taking baby steps to get there. It doesn't come all that naturally for me. :)
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