Preparing for Preparing

[Tooactiveboys]

I am trying to figure out how to organize preparing. I just ordered my stuff from HOD, but only have the initial 1 week posting from the web site sample. This year I printed papers, or had the boys do their work on loose papers. Then store them in plastic sleeves in a binder. So. much. clutter! I was not able to keep up with all the loose paper. I kept enough and made decent portfolios (required where I live). But I preferred when I kept spiral notebooks for each subject. With that in mind I need advise on a few areas:
1) How do you handle vocabulary. I tried 4x6 note cards, They flew all around the house. I'm still finding some. I like them for the alphabetizing part of the assignments but it is not alphabetized if it is stuck under the sofa cushion.
2) How do y'all organize poetry copywork, intermittent grammar lessons that you write instead of doing orally?
3) Is there anything I need to know to organize for the Research part of the rotating box? The first week's assignment has no writing or things to save/store.
4) So let's just say you have a written narration for history, then a few weeks later one for Bible and yet another for language arts. Do they each go in each subject or do you have just one notebook for narrations?
Thanks again for your input.

[kt7673]

I can't speak from having used Preparing yet, but I can tell you how I plan to organize Preparing next year.
1) Vocab: I am taking a normal notebook and labeling it with tabs like a dictionary and having them record their vocab words. It will only be alphabetized by the 1st letter, but I feel like that is better then finding vocab cards all over the house.
2) Poetry: I bought 5x7 size sketch books and I am going to have them do all the work they need for poetry in those books.
3) Research: I bought the 9x11 size sketch books that my son is going to do all written/drawn History related work in. Basically, everything from Read from History, Independent History, Notebooking, and the Rotating Box(timeline, research, etc).
4) I use a different notebook (sketchbook) for each "subject". If my son needs lines I will probably have him write it on lined paper and we will paste it into the sketchbook. The subjects I have sketchbooks for are History, Science, Poetry, Bible. I do use regular notebooks for English (we don't use Rod and Staff), and the one for vocab.

In past years I have found I do not do well with 3 ring binders. For some reason I teach better and can help them organize better if it is an actual bound book. If just using the blank sketchbooks do not work for us, I plan to print off the pages from the Facebook files, take them to Staples and have them bound.

[Nealewill]

We totally use the 3 ring binder for History, Science and math worksheets (when they do the teacher pages in Singapore).

But you don't need too. Like the previous poster said, you can do the following:
1. I use a notebook also for vocabulary. I just wrote in the top corner which letter of the alphabet where they should write their vocab words and they fill that out. I used it for Bigger and am using it for Preparing. In ctc, Vocab is part of science so it would go in the science notebook.
2. There isn't poetry copywork in Preparing. There is other copywork. When you do have to copy a poem a couple times during the year, it goes in your Common Place book. So my kids started their common place book in Preparing and are using the same book until they get to High School. Bible verses and a few other items will also be copied into there. As for grammar, my kids use their own separate notebook for that. Now, each week, there is a writing assignment based on the poetry. You can always also just have your child write this up and write it in the grammar book as well.
3. There is no writing required for the research box. You do all of that orally. The only writing that is done in the rotation box is the vocabulary and then timeline. Vocab would go in the vocab notebook and the timeline could be lined up on cards on the wall.
4. I would get two blank sketch books. One for history and then one for science. Your child would then put all the writing from those two boxes in those books respectively. I would put the child's written narrations in the history section.

[Tooactiveboys]

Thank you both for your replies. I will be implementing those ideas. That helped me get out of my "stuck" mode. I like the idea of a notebook for vocab with alphabet tabs.

Thanks again
Becky

[MelInKansas]

I have a pencil box that I keep the larger 4X6 index cards in (3X5 are definitely too small) for vocabulary. I put in some cards with tabs on them for each letter to aid with alphabetizing. I had also tried a notebook with tabs for letters, but it turned out really sloppy (of course that was with my sloppy kid) and it was kind of difficult to distinguish the different entries from one another. I think the cards turns out nicer, and then you can truly alphabetize them too.

I like the notebook with dividers because of the flexibility. But I only have 4-5 categories of things they keep in them at the most, so you could definitely do spiral bound notebooks. I've gone back and now with my oldest doing writing she's using a spiral notebook for her final drafts so they don't get lost. I found reinforced filler paper at Target and that stuff has changed our lives - no more paper floating everywhere because the edges have ripped out of the notebook. So I have: History (which contains notebooking and narrations from History), English (which includes the Poetry writing assignments and grammar written work, and you could have them do dictation in there too but I don't keep dictation work I let them do it on the white board), Science (obviously notebooking pages and science experiment sheets - which are copied but if you use a notebook I guess you could have them glue it on a page in the spiral notebook), Math (textbook work in math and they write in there too which workbook pages they've done each day to ease the grading process).

When I used separate notebooks just a lot of it got wasted, which bothered me. But it does make storing for later a lot easier and pages don't get lost. IF you lost a notebook though... ugh. You could put your spiral notebooks inside of a 3 ring binder too though to keep everything together.

I think it's been good for my kids to learn responsibility in having to keep track of their assignments and pages and put them away. I have made them redo something if I discovered that it wasn't there (this is easier in the CTC and up where they have student notebooking pages and you just have to flip through and look that it's completed - my daughter in Res to Ref does her written narrations on paper and tapes them to her student pages - because she can't fit 5-8 sentences in the little box, and once I looked back and it was missing. She said "I did it, I just didn't put it in here." I made her do it again). And I was thinking too I could take everything out of the binders and put it in a folder of some kind when they are done with the guide. But so far I just have stored them in the binders and bought or gotten new binders.

[MomtoJGJE]

I use the larger 3 ring binders... I have a tab for history and a tab for science. I also have two one subject notebooks, one for copywork type stuff/poetry and one for English/dictation. I pre-punch holes in plain paper for notebooking/draw and write/etc, pre punch science lab pages, and have a bunch of looseleaf paper all put in the pockets on the covers. Whenever she gets done with something for the day she writes the unit/day in the corner of the paper and puts it in the back of that section.

I don't do vocabulary because the two dictionaries we have don't have half the words, so it's not worth it.

[Tooactiveboys]

Thanks again. I have not heard of reinforced filler paper - I will be checking that out!. I appreciated all the ideas.
I got my box with Preparing this week!! Must. Stay. Focused. On. Bigger - LOL.

I'm so excited to start ancient history with the Biblical history woven throughout. I have never been taught that way and looking forward to it. Thanks Carrie

[Tooactiveboys]

I was looking through the thread on the "Let's share our schedules" section. Julie had posted a link to "organizing Preparing" and had posted what she (and others) did to get organized. In was a 2011 posting because Julie was getting organized for Riley's year of Preparing.

I can't find the link again If someone knows can they point me there.

Thanks
Becky

[Gwenny]

Go to Board Index, scroll down to Preparing Hearts, scroll down and there's a topic about getting ready for Preparing.

[Candice]

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10426 : )

[Tooactiveboys]

Thank you. I bookmarked it this time

[mrsrandolph]

I don't know if I am allowed to post this, but here goes.

There is a Facebook page for Preparing. They give you great info in the files section on getting organized.

There is also a great blog called The Monarch Room