Teaching Series | Ch. 4 | Organizing Your Curriculum

When that new stack of books arrives for the next homeschool year, what do you do with it? In chapter two, we learned about setting up the homeschool room and in chapter 3, choosing your curriculum, so now, with your stack of books, you are ready for the next step, Chapter 4: Organizing Your Curriculum.​

You will need:

• Homeschool Schedule (below)
• Bookshelf or ​Plastic Drawer Organizer

#1 Look at Your Homeschool Schedule

First, look at your homeschool schedule. How many blocks of time are planned? For example, this is our Kindergarten Schedule. Look down the column, and you will see 5 blocks of time.

Here is what is happening in each block:

• Block 1: Morning Time (Prayer, Calendar, Story)
• Block 2: Math
• Block 3: Language Arts or Science
• Block 4: Social Studies or Enrichment Study
• Block 5: Habits, Outdoor Play, and Nature Study

Now it's your turn. Count the time blocks on the schedule(s) you are using for the upcoming year. If you are using our schedule, see them here:

• Preschool Schedule
• Kindergarten Schedule
• Grade 1 to 12 Schedule (Year 1/Ancient Times)

#2  A Drawer for Each Block

In your plastic drawer organizer (or shelf), place the books and supplies you will need for each time block. Going back to our Kindergarten Schedule, here is what might be in each drawer.
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• Block 1: Morning Time Drawer - My Calendar Book, Bible Story Book, Picture Book (of-the-week), Fairy Tales, Song CD, Copywork.

 

• Block 2: Math Drawer - Math curriculum of choice, A bag of objects to count, Counting book, and Math games as desired.

 

• Block 3: Language Arts/Science Drawer - McGuffey's Primer, My First Writing Book: Level C, Alphabet Tiles (for building words).

 

• In the same or next drawer - Science Reader(s), Science Experiment as desired.  

 

• Block 4: Social Studies/Enrichments Drawer - History, Biography, and Geography Readers, Family Scrapbook Project, Map of Country.

 

• In the same or next drawer - Enrichment supplies for art, music, puppets, crafts, etc.

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• Block 5: Habits, Outdoor Play, Nature Study Drawer - Good Habit Reader, Nature Notebook, Field Guide, Watercolor Guide, Watercolor Cards.

#3 Add Labels

Lastly, you can add labels to show what subject(s) are in each drawer. 

A Few More Options & Resources

• If you are using the drawers, you could also organize by subject.
• If you are using shelves, you could use magazine holders to organize either by blocks or by subjects.
• Print and post a schedule to your homeschool room.

I'm sure there are many other wonderful ways to organize curriculum. If you have an efficient way, do share!