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Organization Tips:
The little sticky "flags" are handy for flagging the spot in your answer key where you need to start next time you start a review and similar things.
Buy packs of cheap little bitty stickers (School Daze has the best supply) to mark (in the margin) the last line reviewed in a notebook . That is much prettier than a red arrow and a scribbled "great job to here!"
Buy little sticky dots (they come on a roll in a little box like gummed reinforcements do) to mark errors and incomplete work. Use two colors: one to indicate a question was overlooked or unfinished, the other to indicate the answer is incorrect. Use light colors and have the child put an x on the dot after correcting it to indicate it is ready to be reviewed again. When satisfied, remove the dot.
Keep a wastebasket handy, and a rag or drafting brush for sweeping eraser crumbs. Use a little plastic bucket on the kitchen table to collect those crumbs, scraps and other trash as it is created.
Keep the following reviewing supplies in a handy container: pencil, pen, eraser, colored pen, small scissors, stickers, flags, sticky dots.
For notebooks and consumable workbooks, clip the corner when a page is completed. Next time the child picks up the workbook, she knows to start with the first unclipped page... and parents know where to start reviewing.
If you want to store soft schoolbooks upright, try those fold-up cardboard file boxes meant for magazines.
Review their work every day before they put away their books. Keep teacher's books close by the table. Instruct children to correct their work before proceeding the next day.
Sit at the table when the children do. Use the time to tutor, review workbooks and notebooks as they are completed, and do your own paperwork.
When the children are done for the day, teach them to put the books out of sight until tomorrow.
Buy a bunch of spiral notebooks in different colors and gave one to each child for each subject that required paperwork. Green is science, blue is language, etc. This eliminates loose (lost) papers and bulky binders at the table. If the child does an assignment using the word processor , have him tape the paper into his notebook. Be sure everybody uses the same color for a given subject. (To identify the owner, mark the cover.) If you use textbooks that have different colored covers by subject, color choosing is easy: just match the notebooks to the textbooks. Keep in mind that the notebooks might last for two years.
Adopt a "One subject at a time on the table" rule. The more kids at the table, the more important it is that they exercise this consideration for those sharing the space.
Recommended by a homeschooling opthamologist: buy a book support (a.k.a. a study stand) for each of your students. It will prevent eye and neck strain. (It will also add room on the kitchen table.) The chrome fold-up style is available in the desk accessory section at OfficeMax.
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