The New, Improved Binder System

Don't say I didn't warn you.

I finally got my supplies for my new binder system in the mail, and I'm spending my imaginary spare time today setting it all up. So far so good. I think this is going to be very helpful!

The easiest way to explain this is to lay out the supplies needed (if you are going to revamp your binder like I'm doing), explain each one as we go along, give a more thorough explanation, and then give a couple examples to help you visualize how this is all going to work.

Please note that this new organizational approach is based upon the Simply Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System.

Ingredients
In order to make this new and improved binder, you are going to need...

• Avery Write-On Dividers. Okay. You don't actually have to buy this exact set. I'm just showing you what I bought. The important thing is that there must be five of them. We will be using them for the weekdays (Monday through Friday). Weekday dividers are available out there pre-printed, but I found that they are pricier than these.
• Avery Write-On Tabs. Optional. You can use these on index paper or cardstock to make your own dividers for any or all of the new binder sections. In addition to weekdays and days of the month (below), we will also need tabs labeled Basic Lessons, Even, and Odd. Another optional tab is daily. You can keep your daily items written in your Basic Lessons sections if you like. I like to have a daily section.
• Index Paper. Optional. You will need this if you are using the write-on tabs above. Punch holes in it with a three-hole punch, add the removable tab, and ta-da! Instant divider.
• 31-Tab Index System. This will be used for the days of the month.
• Nine Pocket Pages. These will hold chart cards for us.
• 3x5 Cards. You really, really don't need to buy a thousand of these. I was just giving a link so you can see what I'm talking about. These are easily purchased at a grocery or other store near you, and in a much more manageable amount.
• College-Ruled Filler Paper. To write on during lesson time.

Directions
This is how we do it...

• If you bought the write-on labels, make sure you have actually written on them.
• Place the labels into the binder in this order:
1. Basic Lessons
2. Daily
3. Even
4. Odd
5. Monday through Friday, in order
6. 1-31 tabs, in order
• Put lined filler paper in the Basic Lessons section. (If you are redoing an old binder, you will already have this paper, so just move it to that section.)
• Put one nine-pocket page in all of the other sections. There will be no nine-pocket pages in Basic Lessons. If you bought the pack of 100, you will have some leftover. As I have two students, and I am also redoing our memory binder, I will likely be using every. single. one.

How to Use the New Binder System
The previous binder system was organized around the mechanics of our language. I still maintain that knowing what a diphthong, or a digraph, or a long vowel, or what have you, is helpful to those of us teaching. But children are learning the language as they go along, and what is most important is reviewing at the appropriate frequency.

A lot of this is all about pace, and every single child will be different. This allows us to all organize our binders the same way, while catering to the individual child's pace.

Here's how it'll work. Each new sound learned (whether it be a diphthong, a digraph, a long vowel, whatever) will be written on half of a 3x5 card. Basically, fold it in half and cut it up the middle. This will produce two cards that will neatly slide into the nine-pocket pages. On the first day a sound is learned, it'll go into the "daily" section. After a few more lessons, in which said sound has been reviewed daily, you--the Reading Teacher Extraordinaire--will need to evaluate. If the child is consistently doing well with the sound, move it to the Even or Odd section.

Now, Even and Odd represent lesson days. So, for instance, if you are on Day 112 in the lessons, you will review the Even section. On Day 113, review the Odd section.

If the child does well with Even or Odd (every-other-day) practice, pick a day of the week--Monday, perhaps--and move it there. (If you have a day of the week that you never do lessons, please do not assign anything to practice on that day.) In this simple act, you have moved the practice from every-other-day to once-weekly.

When the child gets really, really consistent, pick a number between 1 and 31 and move the card there. This means that the practice will now be monthly, with 1-31 representing the dates of the days of the months. Please note that using the 31st will actually equate to every-other-month practice rather than monthly practice.

Right now, because of the stage we are in, I have moved all of the basic letter sounds to monthly practice. I find that Daughter A. really does need that occasional review. Instead of reviewing all the letters once per month, I am breaking the alphabet up into smaller parts--say five or six letters--and assigning each "part" a card and a day.

An Example Progression
Okay, so let's say I just taught daughter A. the ow diphthong. Remember our chart? Well, instead of writing it directly on a page in the binder, I'm going to write it on half of a 3x5 card. Since this is a brand new sound, it goes in the daily section.

A week later, she is doing pretty well, so I decide to review it on Odd days only.

Two weeks after this, she seems to really have it down. I decide to move it to Wednesday review.

Three months go by, and I've noticed she is even reading the ow diphthong sound on her own. She really knows it. I take the card, and move it to the 22 tab, meaning that we will now only review it on the 22nd of every month.

An Example Lesson
I sit down with my student, binder in my lap. I open it up, and on the page I write what I always write to begin, which is the lesson day (in this case, Day 100), the date, and the information on the book we are reading that day (something like "Set Kindergarten, Book 4"). I always leave room to write the page numbers we end up reading so that I know where I left off.

Next, we review the list of sight words. I keep this in the basic lessons section. I don't know why. I suppose they could be assigned a card and moved around like the sounds, but I don't do that. Some of this is because a number of the "sight" words follow a rule and, when we learn the rule they follow, they will be removed from the sight word list and placed on a card with like words.

My habit is to write the sight words once, when we turn the page. Then, we refer back to them daily until we turn the page again.

On Day 100, there is a new sight word: who. I write it in the Day 100 lesson (when I turn the page, I will add it to the master list).

I teach the sight word.

Next, there is a new blend to learn: ook. I write the ook chart on half of a 3x5 card (I keep a little stack in the binder pocket for this purpose). I place the card in the daily section.

Day 100 is an Even day, so we do our Even review. It is also a Monday, so we review whatever items are in the Monday tab. There is nothing in the date tab for that particular date (the first of the month) yet, but if there were, we'd review whatever was there, also.

After all of this, learning the new things and reviewing the old, we read our new pages.

And that is all.


For further information (with pictures!), click here.

Know Your Students
This new system will work great, as long as you pay attention to your student. Is your student forgetting something consistently? Move the card backwards in the progression. Is your student bored with reviewing something? Move the card forwards in the progression.

It is that easy.

The Old Way Will Still Work
I will still tell you if something is a diphthong or a digraph or whatever as we go, so if you want to stick with the old way, please feel free. The new lessons, however, will be written up according to the new organization.

And Finally
I'll be adding this information to the Tools of the Trade post for new users.