One of the workshops I love to present at homeschool conventions is all about organization. It's a different thing to organize a home that also houses a lot of school materials, isn't it?

I still talk about old-school paper-based organization because not everyone loves to go paperless. Digital is my personal preference, but there are a lot of you out there who prefer a pen and a blank piece of paper, and that's absolutely okay! There are no organizational police, and if there were, they would seriously need to get a life.

I do still use a clipboard for ease of transporting papers that need to go with us wherever we are in the house. I've written about clipboards before (egads! years ago) but based on the interest shown in the most recent organization workshop I gave last month, I thought I'd bring it up again here.

First of all, why use a clipboard? Ease and portability. If you are a mom who is all over the house during the day, a clipboard is easy to carry from place to place.

And what goes on the clipboard? Anything you want! Here's what I currently have:

There are all sorts of printable, downloadable to-do lists and helps, but the Storyline Productivity Schedule fits my lifestyle best. Click through the image if you're interested. It's free!

Last year I read Crystal Paine's excellent book on getting life under control, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. Crystal is a lot younger than I am, but her book taught this old dog some new tricks. The "best stuff" list stays on my clipboard as a reminder to keep my focus on what's most important and let the other stuff die.

I'm currently keeping a list of fun math-related activities on the clipboard so that we can get some kinesthetic practice in for The-Boy-Who-Never-Stops-Moving. I'm sorry to say that I have no idea where this came from; do a google search and see if you can find a similar list.

**Books of the Bible - current memory work**

It's funny - when you raise a range of ages, you forget that the younger kids haven't learned some of the things you taught the older kids because somewhere in the back of my head I think, "Oh, we've already covered that."

My plan is to work on the books of the Bible, and then I'll add something else to memorize. I've really slacked in this area with the younger set, so it's time to get some things committed to memory. This print-out is from The Bible Study Guide For All Ages.

When a child bemoans his boredom or aimlessly wanders the house looking for something to do, I typically say, "I'm not your cruise director." I'm getting feisty in my old age! But this list of things to do when a child doesn't know what to do is handy.

I'm a Biblical child-training loser, because when it comes time to say something profound, I'm usually upset or annoyed or bummed by things they're doing (or not doing) that I can't think Biblically. I love these small laminated charts from Doorposts. They fit on the clipboard and I can glance at them. Relevant questions are asked and Bible verses given.

Portable clipboard organization works for me!

Featured