Organized?.... HA!

It is that time of the week again.... I know you expect me to say, cruise time.... but really what I was going to say is... confession time.

Today...  we are going to keep it real.

I am going to expose, worldwide, a hideous disease that lurks in my house.

The disease of DIS-organization.

There, I said it....
admitting it is the first step to recovery....  isn't it?
We are all friends here..... at least I would like to think so..... please don't hate me because I am disorganized!

Today's topic on the blog cruise is: " How do you organize your homeschool?" 
I will tell you, when I read this question a few weeks ago.... I started to get hives.  Really?  I am supposed to come up with some great way that I organize our homeschool?

As I looked over my shoulder to the homeschool area in the kitchen.....  I figured I should just let a picture speak a thousand words, and let you know how real life looks over here.

Is there anything redeeming about this photo, if I can tell you what is in every pile?  Will you believe me if I tell you it really doesn't always look like this? ( It doesn't... I promise!)
The missing workbox is over by the couch with books in it for when we read in the afternoon....
oh wow... that is a mess and it looks even worse... posted here.... I will, however, resist my overwhelming urge for self preservation, and leave it up.  Hopefully, it will encourage someone else.  Maybe, they will see that homeschooling doesn't require perfect organization.

Now, if you were to ask my kids, " Is mommy organized?"  My kids would say yes.... Especially my oldest son.  He thinks I am the most organized person in the universe.  I think it is just because I can keep track of things better than he can at this stage of his life. Honestly, I don't know why they would say I am organized.  They need only look around them to know that I am not.  Maybe it is because I know what is in the piles...

Things we do that work...  ( organizationally speaking )

• I write things down in my day timer, rather religiously.  This keeps track of appointments, field trips, large assignments that are due.
• I have created email forms, for the highschoolers, to fill out when they have completed assignments.  I can add paragraph boxes so they can answer essay style, and all of the information is collected in a spreadsheet for my easy tracking.  One look and I know who has done what assignment.  They just open up their email, and enter in what they have done.
• I still have a toddler, I structure the day so that most of the intensive one on one, or out loud reading for the 3rd grader is done during nap time.
• We try ( and really we do...) to follow a sort of a schedule.  I like to have the kids starting work by 8 in the morning. We break for lunch ( high school kids ) around 11:30 - 12:00... and get back to work around 1:00 when the nap has begun for Jeremiah.  The workboxes dictate the work for the 3rd grader, he completes the first 6 boxes, and then has time to run and play.  He and mommy work on the last 6 boxes during nap time, much of it read aloud work.  The High Schoolers are free to choose their order of completion, and the amount of work they do each day, as long as their weekly work load is complete by Friday. ( I figure in college, they get a syllabus, assignment lists, and test dates. No professor in the world is going to micro manage their time for them....might as well start this time management skill while they are home)

So that's it.
Our disorganized life.

I am sure that there are some wonderfully organized homeschoolers who have shared their tips and tricks on this installment of the blog cruise....  don't forget to click on the picture of the cruise ship at the top to read what they have to say...  ( I know I will be!!!)

Now, if you will excuse me.... I have to go clean that mess behind me, before someone thinks they need to start a new reality TV show.... "Homeschool Hoarders"