How to keep up with homeschooling paperwork

I've been homeschooling for over 15 years now, so you'd think I'd have the paperwork and grading part down pat. But with several kids of differing ages and multiple papers each week to score or edit, it has never gotten easier. The biggest trouble has been keeping after each child to turn their work in, or to not let it get lost in a notebook where I cannot locate it when I'm ready to sit down with my red pen and do some grading. But, there is a simple solution . . . one I can hardly believe it took me so long to discover.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• One folder per child
• A favorite beverage to soothe you through the grading process

1. I usually write out my children's assignments for each week. This helps me to stay organized, and also since I work part time, it helps me know that they can work on their own when I'm not there. They can mark off each thing they need to do as it is accomplished.
2. Here's where things usually break down. They close their notebooks, stuff them onto their shelves (they each have a bookshelf for schoolwork), and go their merry ways. I'm left to either dig for their assignments after they've gone someplace, or else holler to them to find the work for me (and they have very short term memory at times).
   
   They used to leave their assignments out in a convenient place for me to grade, but inevitably they got lost in with the junk mail or had something spilled on them. Plus, I didn't always have time to get to them right away and they would get lost.
   
   A basket didn't work either. Things just piled up and got mixed up. The solution—folders! Only one for each child.
3. I now have each of my kids use one regular folder in which one side is marked "in" or "to score" and the other side is marked "finished" or "scored". Each day my children put their written work in the "to score" side as it is completed. Then I can do the scoring at my leisure. Sometimes this might be the same day, but there are weeks when I don't have time to check some of their work until the weekend. But that's no problem. I know where to find it and where to return it when I'm done. I can easily spot their folders on their bookshelves and get on with it.

Tips & Warnings

• I've found that some of the best solutions to homeschooling dilemmas are also the simplest ones. Don't try to create work for yourself that doesn't have to be. Even too much organization can be cumbersome. This simple system seems to me like "duh, why didn't I try that before?" and has brought great relief to me and to my kids. My kids are all teenagers now, but there's no reason it shouldn't work for any age.
• While you're leisurely grading those papers, don't spill your favorite beverage on them!