My Teacher Binder

My organization is generally one of the key determining factors in whether we have a fantastic week (where the work gets done and the kids still have fun) or a horrible one (when I question my ability to remain sane). If I've planned it out ahead of time, it generally gets done. If I have a general idea but try to wing it, it almost always falls by the wayside. To keep myself on track, I created a binder for myself last year and have been slowly adjusting it to meet my needs. Most of the pages are either printed directly from or based on planning pages from donnayoung.org. Here's a look at my current set up...

Section 1:

1. Our MOTH schedule - until I get it memorized it has to be easy to find
2. A one page one year calendar - I mark the days we school here
3. A set of monthly calendars from August 2009-July 2010 - for appointments, field trips, reminders, etc.

Tab 1: Jessie's checksheets

1. 4 pages for tracking Jessie's grades for the year on white paper
2. Semester schedules for math, spelling, grammar, and reading on purple paper
   

Tab 2: Jessie's CW lesson plans on purple paper
Tab 3: Jessie's Latin for Children B Plans on purple paper
Tab 4: Notes for Jessie (includes printed goals on purple paper and blank lined paper for any notes or reminders I need)
Tab 5: Violet's checksheets (semester schedules on pink paper)
Tab 6: Violet's CW lesson plans on pink paper
Tab 7: Notes for Violet (same as Tab 4 with pink paper for goals)
Tab 8: Benny's checksheets (semester schedules on blue paper)
Tab 9: Notes for Benny (goals on blue paper and blank lined paper) - For Benny, I actually write down what we do each day in this section since he doesn't have a checksheet of his own this year.
Tab 10: History plans on yellow (Bible history) and orange paper (ancient history)
Tab 11: Science plans - currently empty because I'm only planning one week at a time

The front inside binder pocket is where I store science booklets and lab speculation sheets for the current week. The back inside binder pocket is for maps, timeline figures, or other history or geography related papers for the current week.