heartofdakota.com

I finally remembered to tell DH to get a storage box this morning. So I was able to switch out guides! Grace will officially begin Bigger and DITHOR Monday morning. Julianna will begin ERs and Spelling list Monday morning.

Now I have two storage boxes for HOD. One for books either not in use currently (Beyond and all the books included therein) or that we have already used in current guides (so all the books we've finished for Preparing and LHFHG) and books I'm choosing to not use (Story Time from Bigger... Grace will listen in on the Preparing and CTC Story Time and get her genre lessons from DITHOR). The other is for books we will use for current guides that I don't want out on our shelves for now (Burgess Books from LHFHG we aren't using right now, unit 11-35 Bigger, unit 30-34 Preparing, and DITHOR/ERs we are not in along with math and handwriting that we aren't currently using)

Now I just need to find a place to store these two boxes.

I do the same thing! Though I only have LHTH and LHFHG right now. But, I put everything in one box and then just climb in the attic when it is time to switch storytime books. We don't have much space in our house, so it really helps to somewhat contain the clutter. I also store things I have found to use along the way with those two guides. For example, I have puzzles I found at the dollar store to go along with a few of the Bible lessons. All of that stuff is in the same box.

And then I created an Excel spreadsheet titled "Heart of Dakota Bin." I have a column for the following: HOD Guide, Age/Grade, Description, Resource/Supplemental (resource means I purchased as part of the HOD package), Unit and Bin? (I have a yes or no in this column to let me know if it is in the bin or not or if I loaned it out to someone, who I loaned it to). Then I sort the spreadsheet by guide and unit so I can review it as we move up in the guide. So, I know when I need to pull out my Jonah and the Whale puzzle when we get to Unit 9. I have done the same thing for items I have to teach math that coincide with the guide such as a balance scale, pattern and sequencing cards and a Judy clock. I print the list and keep it in my "master" folder which includes stuff I look at regularly or would need if my computer ever failed (such as names, addresses and phone numbers). Yes, I am a little anal retentive! LOL!

Great idea!

I have ours color coded by guide. Future years are stored in a tote, current year on a spare shelf. I need to do that Excel thing!