It's July, so that means it's time for me to start thinking about school stuff again! :) My brain needs a summer break. (It gets this long break after the excitement of planning in May for the fall while sighing over the stuff that we're still finishing up).
I do some fall planning in May, but I wait to finish up our current Wonder Book in late summer. There's a good reason for this. Finishing up the Wonder Book before finishing school prep for the coming year reminds me that we actually accomplished a ton. I can see it there before me, a much needed visual reminder that my sons have been doing many things other than fighting over Legos and groaning over their 3rd spelling curriculum of the year.
I start with a quality 1 1/2- 2 inch binder. It's got to have nice inner pockets for stuffing in fliers from events we've attended, random brochures, and things that won't easily be hole punched. Then I get the 5 divider pack. At this age, we don't need more than that. I label them History, Language Arts, Science, Music and Arts, and Misc.
I keep a list of books read for different subjects in Microsoft Word all year long, so at the end of the year, I can print that off. Books that the boys have really enjoyed get noted here. I also type up what resources we're using for table work.
I keep a few samples of copywork and math worksheets here and there so I can see how they've progressed.
I just sat here and typed up what we'd done for composer study and picture study and the resources we used, and I hit "Print." I forgot to mention the art class we'd taken through Parks and Rec, so I wrote it under that in pen. It's a super classy and professional book, y'all.
It's been a goal of mine to print out pictures and put them in the book using these handy dandy clear photo pages. I even bought them. It hasn't happened yet. We'll see if this is the year. :)
If the house ever catches on fire, I'm grabbing these books. The boys may never care to go through them, but they're a priceless record for me of the years we've been learning together at home.
