Tuesday, October 7, 2008

My Teacher's Notebook

I have spent a lot of time in the past few weeks putting the final touches on my Teacher's Notebook. It will always be a work in progress but I am very pleased with where it is now. I wanted one place for me to keep all things homeschool related. Last year I had lesson plans in a notebook, inspiring quotes in a file on my desktop, ideas for next year in a spiral in our schoolroom, goals for the kids filed away in my brain...Not so efficient for sure.

Here are the different sections I divided my book into:
  • Inspirations: These are quotes, scripture or other sources that encourage me and remind me why I do what I do!
  • Year-at-a-Glance
  • Family Rules
  • Weekly Schedule
  • Family Goals: I typed out objectives for myself as well as for each of my boys this year. They include academic, social, emotional, physical and spiritual goals.
  • My Reading List: Books I want to read, homeschool related or not.
  • Future Curriculum Ideas: One central place to keep track of all the great programs I read about mostly on the Well Trained Mind Message Board or on other mom's blogs - probably many of yours :) .
  • Thatcher's Reading Log: A place to keep track of all the books we use as read alouds as well as all the books Thatch reads to me. These are only the non-history/science readers as I keep track of those in my lesson plans for each subject.
  • Wishlist: Books, manipulatives, videos, software, learning games, school room supplies/furniture or anything else I would like to buy for our school.
  • Weekly Lesson Plans
  • Things to Make Me Smile: A place for those precious quotes my kids spout off, a sweet drawing offered when I am sick or down, a copy of this hilarious cartoon I first saw at Mater Magistra's blog or anything else that makes me happy!


Is there anything else important I left off that you would include?

Photobucket

7 comments:

Andrea said...

This looks great - so organized!

How do you map your progress - do you just check off what gets completed on your lesson plan?
I have found that Jason (2nd gr) is motivated to do his own work each day if I have his lessons printed out (in list form - per day or week - whichever) for HIM to check off as the day goes. I use this to track what we have completed and what needs to be shifted/skipped/repeated. These sheets go into my teacher book.

As far as Future curriculum ideas, I just can't seem to throw out catalogues (ie. Sonlight, Christian Liberty Press, Sandi Queen) so they don't fit into my book. I assume that you mean you notes on these great programs?

So glad that you have this put together! I'm still working on mine - *sigh*

LOVE the cartoon - oh so true!
Blessings,
Andrea

Jennifer said...

You have inspired me!

I started a teacher notebook over the summer, but never really got it together. I love the idea of having a inspirational section to turn to when needed.

Melissa said...

So simple, yet so brilliant! You mean all my lists and notes could be in one place!! :) Honestly, I need to do this because it's the most sensible thing I've heared in a while and I love some of your extra ideas that I wouldn't have thought of, like "family rules" and "things to make me smile." Thanks for sharing!

ByHISgoodGrace said...

Hi there!
I made up a planner as well and a couple other things I included was a checkoff list to make sure I'm praying for my kids every day. Maybe you don't need this, but it holds me accountable.
Another thing is a little section of what was the child's favorite part about the week. I believe it will help me to see what they really enjoyed.
I love all your ideas on here. Would love to see it in full.
My planner is more of a blank one for me to fill out each day and week as we go along. (It is in my blog as a pdf.)
In Him,
Katrina

Manderly Ringor said...

This is such a great idea! I have a binder that is a "pretend" homeschool binder since I haven't paid it much attention. Thanks for some great ideas! I tend to keep everything on the computer so it never makes it to the binder...I will need to work on that! :) Thanks for sharing!

Darcy @ m3b said...

I made one of these last year, invested a lot of time. Then, I never referred to it. I thought it would help me, but it wasn't practical enough that I followed through. Not sure if I made it in a way that was impractical, or that my intentions were greater than my actuals.

I hope yours serves you well. I admire your organization, my friend!

Brenda @ Tie That Binds Us said...

I just posted about my planner on my blog a few days ago if you'd like to come check it out. How's yours holding up?