Homeschool Organization: Your Curriculum

When we began homeschooling, I was not sure what curriculum we would use. I had done my research, read reviews and even talked with friends who were experienced homeschoolers to find just the right curriculum. But, I was still not sold on any one publisher or set of curriculum.

It did not take long to realize I needed some sort of tracking system in place to keep track of what I had, what I needed and what I wanted. So I created a spreadsheet to use and track my curriculum purchases our first year to help me know what I had and be able to better plan our lessons. But frankly, it was still a mess. It was chaos trying to use and piece together different curriculum to make one cohesive unit of study – not to mention the time it took.

After a year of homeschooling under our belt, I was more focused and knew what I wanted from a curriculum. So I set out to find what I was looking for. Only problem was I wanted to get it for the cheapest price I could. so, in keeping with our family’s commitment to be frugal with our purchases, I needed a way to track not only what I was purchasing, but the prices I found online to ensure I bought them at the lowest price I could find. With multiple curriculum sites, sales, Facebook groups and more – it was difficult to remember where I found the best prices. {grab your free printable below}

Once I found the best prices I could, I purchased the curriculum and then checked it off my “To Buy” list. When the curriculum began arriving it was like Christmas. However, chaos quickly followed. I had stacks of books, workbooks and more stacked everywhere with no rhyme or reason. I knew I had to find some way to organize this mess!

Now to organize the actual curriculum.

I am a HUGE fan of totes and bins. Most of our toys are stored in totes and I love the fact that they are stackable and see-through so I can see exactly what I have. In the past I have only had one set of curriculum for our oldest child. All of his curriculum was contained in one tote, while all the teacher manuals were in another tote and now in our filing cabinet drawer where I can easily access them for grading and teaching. That system made it easy to find and quickly access each days work, but also simple to put away when we were finished.

Since we are officially homeschooling three of our kids this year, I did some rethinking to make sure the system would actually work for us. After researching and looking through pages and pages of Pinterest pins, I realized our system will still work – at least for now. I have one bin for our oldest who does his own curriculum for 4th grade. Then, I have gathered items together for Kindergarten in one bin and preschool in one bin.

It’s not fancy and actually pretty simple, but for our curriculum and school days, the bin/tote system works very well. Plus, I have a very deep homeschool cabinet that easily accommodates totes for nice and neat organization.

Look for more tips on organizing later this week when we talk about homeschooling toddlers and preschoolers!

How do you organize your curriculum?

Don’t forget to grab your {free} Curriculum Tracking Printable. Simply click the picture to download.