The Quick and Easy Way to Organize My Father’s World Curriculum

Looking for ways to organize your brand new, shiny My Father’s World curriculum?

You are in the right place!

When you open that box for the first time it can be a bit daunting to see all the books and packs of loose-leaf paper wrapped in shrink wrap.

I have noticed the there are some pretty elaborate organization tips out there in the blogosphere to keep it all together. They look really time-consuming and expensive to set up to me – and completely not necessary.

I have a much more simple approach that I fell into pretty quickly and works really well for us.

No extra binders, laminating, page protectors, or label makers required!

Here are the two items you will need to have:

Let’s get started!

How to Organize My Father’s World Curriculum

1. Use an accordion folder for student sheets

The first thing I did to start organizing was buy an accordion folder to store all the student sheets and any other loose papers that came with the curriculum.

When we started with “Learning God’s Story” (1st Grade), I just put all of the sheets in one section of the accordion folder and they fit just fine.

They are in the chronological order you will use them, so there is not much sense in breaking them apart.

Any other extra loose papers/card stock (i.e. Enjoying Art Cards, Letter cards, timeline sheets, currency papers, etc.) that may have come in your curriculum pack can be sorted out and into their own slot in the accordion folder.

You will have a number of empty slots left. I filled some of those with extra lined paper, computer paper, and construction paper to have on hand.

This has worked very well for us for My Father’s World 1st, 2nd, and soon to be 3rd grade and Kindergarten. The loose sheets stay nice, organized, and out of the way when I don’t need them.

But I have multiple kids and multiple curriculum packs to organize?

While writing this post, I realized it would be a good time to drag the boxes out and organize my own My Father’s curriculum for the upcoming school year.

It took me less than 10 minutes to organize and fit 3rd grade (Countries and Cultures) and Kindergarten (for my middle child) into one accordion folder.

Here is it what it looks like:

It was a little tight to close, but as the year goes on and we use the pages, it will thin out.

Eventually, my third child will need a curriculum pack and then we will probably graduate to this accordion box to keep them all organized together.

If you have the space to store, it would be fine to get an accordion folder for each child if you prefer.

2. Use one plain folder for each child with pockets for the week’s work

On Sunday night, look through your teacher manuals and see what student sheets you will need for the week.

Pull them from the accordion folder and place them in the left pocket of a plain folder (make sure to have a separate folder for each child).

You should not need to touch the accordion folder until next Sunday, so you can just store it out of the way. I keep mine in a kitchen cupboard, so I don’t clutter my small classroom.

Every morning before school, slide over the student sheets that are needed for that day to the right side of the folder.

That way you can quickly pull what you need while you’re teaching and have smooth transitions between lessons.

If you have a more independent learner, they can also go through the folder and do their assigned work.

***If you have a sheet that is used regularly (i.e. reading chart, flag stickers) place this in the left side of your folder towards the back, so you can always grab it quickly.

***Kindergarten has a lot of student sheets. In hindsight, I wish I would have had those student sheets bound into a workbook at an office store.

3. Only pull out one week of books at a time

Of course, the student sheets are not the only thing you will need.

My Father’s World comes with a good amount of books, but most of the books will not be needed every week.

I have a bookcase where I could display the books, but I find it takes too much time to fish out the book I need when I have so many others stacked together (especially when teaching multiple curriculums).

It is much more efficient to store all the books in a cabinet (yep, they’re in a kitchen cabinet I don’t use) or any other place that is out of the way.

On Sunday night, I look through the teacher’s manual and only pull out the books I’m going to need for the week.

I put them in my bookcase in the classroom and they’re ready to go for me all week!

I also like organizing them this way because it keeps my kids from looking through books before I am ready to read or teach them.

I like to see their eyes light up when I pull out something new and shiny when we start a new week.

4. Actually Get a Basket to Organize Book Basket Books

In the back of every teacher’s manual is a book list to go along with the lessons for each of the 34 weeks. These lists are referred to as “Book Basket.”

One of the reasons My Father’s World is less expensive than other curriculums is because they don’t sell you the books – you can just order them online from your local library.

I strongly recommend that you use a basket, bin, or similar container that you have around the house to keep these library books together.

It helps so much with keeping you organized for weekly library runs when the books aren’t strewn around the house.

Of course, it also keeps your kid focused and your momentum going forward when you can just hand the basket to your child and it’s all together.

You probably have something around the house that will do, but if not, here are some really cute options!

Also, consider having a basket for each child, so you don’t have the kids arguing over an interesting book they both want to read during book basket time. Definitely a small price to avoid derailing your day 🙂

***Place a post it flag in your teacher’s manual to mark the lesson week you are on AND the Book Basket week you are on. That way you can quickly flip to either place whenever you need to.

Putting it all together

So what does all this look like in action?

Here is my bookcase (perfect for our small classroom!) ready to go for our first day of school:

My Kindergartener has her teachers manual, folder full of student sheets, binder, math blocks, and school books to the left.

My 3rd grader has her things to the right.

The Book Basket is in the middle (yep, I need to order another one too), and the bottom shelf is books, blocks, and a fun letter dry erase book so my preschooler feels included during school time.

Yes, there is a lot of extra space. That will quickly fill up though when I add in math and English curriculum for my 3rd grader and co-op assignments.

***Make sure to go through the front of your teacher’s manual for directions to set up appropriate binders and notebooks for your curriculum pack.

How to Organize My Father’s World Curriculum Recap:

1.Take your student sheets and any extras and put them in labeled slots of an accordion folder or box.

2. Before the week begins, pull the sheets you need and place them in the left side of a simple folder. Put the sheets you need for each day on the right side of that folder.

3. Store the curriculum books out of the way (you could even leave them in the box they came in!) and only pull the books you need for the week.

4. Strive to keep your library books in an actual basket or bin in order to maintain your sanity as the year progresses.

That’s it! All you need to know to organize My Father’s World Curriculum!

They don’t call me The Simple Homeschooler for nothing 🙂

Write in the comments any simple tips you’ve found that help keep you organized and efficient – we’d all love to hear it!

Don’t forget to pin this to your favorite Pinterest board and share with your friends and followers!

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