Idea Organization

For some reason New Years is always correlated in my mind with organization and it's a fitting time for me to start afresh with some of my organizational strategies.  I wanted to share an educational organization tool that works really well for me.  Low tech, but that's how I like it. 

I don't use pinterest.  It's way too distracting for me.  Anytime I have gotten on there just to do a search I end up chasing rabbits all over the place and have two hundred other ideas I want to try and didn't finish out the one I was initially searching for. 

So here's what I do:

On my computer I have folders saved.  One for each month of the year.  When I see an idea I want to try, a book I want to read my kids, or something I want to cook that is festive, I save it to the corresponding month.  At the beginning of every month I look through my files and see what works for my kids at these particular ages.  I put any books I want on reserve at the library and make a little picture list (copy and paste small versions of the photos) onto a Word document to use for my planning. 

Here's a screen shot of my folders:

And here's the inside of January's folder:

I get the ideas from blogs I read, educational forums, email newsletters, etc. 

I also have other folders called "Playroom ideas, Books to read the kids, Quinn Learning Ideas, Beck Learning Ideas, etc."

So right now it's great because when I see pictures of things people did this season to celebrate Advent/Christmas/Ephiphany, etc., and I like them, I can save them to my December folder and have a whole new wealth of ideas for next year!

Works for me....