12 Ways to Use Less Paper in Your Homeschool - Pool Noodles & Pixie Dust

12 Ways to Use Less Paper In Your Homeschool

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No matter what system you use to organize your homeschool there is always…

The Dreaded Paper Problem.

Paper is one of those things that every parent knows has to have a place to go. Because it so easily ends up everywhere. Daily our kids produce worksheets, writing assignments, spelling practice…  It piles up and leaves you with a big mess to sort through, over and over again.

You have two options: put it to the side each day until your forced to spend hours organizing it. That sounds like a good time, said no one ever. Or spend some of your precious free time each day on filing these things away.

But, what if we could stop the paper from coming into our homes in the first place?

 

A Lasting Solution

There are two things that are vital to finding a lasting solution:

1. Produce less paper to begin with.

As homeschoolers, we’re able to decide how much paper we bring into our home.

and

2. It has to be almost no work on a daily basis.

This could just be me, but I think we’ve got enough to do without adding a time-consuming filing process to our lists.

 

12 Ways to Use Less Paper in Your Homeschool - Pool Noodles & Pixie Dust

 

12 Ways to Use Less Paper In Your Homeschool

Keeping the paper mess to a minimum is an ongoing struggle, but there are a few things I do that have helped to keep it manageable.

1. Dry erase markers

I love these babies.  I use them all over the house!  Because we roadschool and are full-time RVers we have no choice, but to cut down on the amount of paper that comes into our home. Everything we keep has to have a purpose and a place. Using dry erase markers instead of piles of separate worksheets helps us cut down on the paper we produce daily. Check out my post on them here: 6 Easy Ways to Use Dry Erase Markers

2. Sketchbooks or Journals for Art

My kids are always drawing or painting and there’s only so much space on the fridge. Keeping a sketchbook or journal for art helps us by keeping all of the paper contained in one place. The best part of using these for art is there are no loose papers to get ripped or lost after their done working.  And, it’s already filed neatly and chronologically.

 

3. Use a Field Guide for Science Exploration

The notebook below is a retired field guide that I put together for my son when he was in preschool. It’s just a sketchbook that we decorated and turned into a field guide. He would carry it around to the park, the backyard, and in the car. He filled it with pages of ant observations, drawings of rocks in the yard, and many other things he found interesting.

Using a notebook in this way keeps you from printing out pages for them to use in their science investigations. And it gives them and you a great way to look back at their work. They won’t be able to lose the loose pages in their backpacks or in a pile of other papers.

 

4. Letters or Postcards as Writing Assignments

Instead of plain old writing prompts, have your kids write a letter to a relative or a postcard to a friend. It’s a fun educational writing activity and gets the paper out of your house. Your kids will enjoy the break from regular writing assignments and they may even end up with a pen pal who will write them back!

 

5. Let them Type Writing Assignments

Completing writing assignments on the computer is a great way to digitally file away daily work. It’s a good solution for struggling writers as well, who have a hard time with handwriting or just getting their ideas down on paper. They’ll be excited to use the computer for their schoolwork and it saves paper.

 

6. Try an Online Unit Study

Using online unit studies is a great way to cut down on paper in your homeschool. The best part is that the materials are never lost or misplaced when your child goes to do the next day’s assignments. Techie Homeschool Mom makes this super easy with all her online unit study options. She even offers an Online Unit Studies Sampler and anyone who signs up gets 5 free lessons from various Online Unit. It’s a great way to try them out for free and see if they’re a good fit for your homeschool.

7. Ban paper from the shopping cart

Well… at least for a little while.  Try to challenge yourself to use up what you already have.  If you’re like me you have stacks of printer paper, loose leaf, construction paper, cardstock… and the list goes on.

 

8.  Send them outside

Let them practice their spelling words or math problems outside in the driveway with chalk or take them to the beach and let then write in the sand.

 

9. Let them use a glass door or window as a canvas

They make special crayons you can use on glass, but you can save some money and just hand them washable paint and a paintbrush or let them finger paint instead of using paper.

 

10.  Give some oral tests

If you need to quiz your kids, try it a different way. Giving them an oral test saves on paper and allows kids a break from the traditional sit in your chair and write down the answers. I don’t do a lot of testing in our homeschool, so we have a lot of discussions that give me great insights into my children’s understanding of topics. It’s also just a great way to connect with them.

 

11.  Tell Stories

This is a good skill for kids to learn and lets them share their ideas in a new way. If your kids are new to storytelling start by going first. They may be less intimidated by the idea if you show them how it’s done.

We use story cubes as a storytelling prompt. They are dice with images on each side. It’s a fun way to practice storytelling and an easy way to include young kids, who aren’t reading yet, in your lessons.

 

12.  Play trivia games

Make up trivia games or just ask questions and let your kids answer orally in place of worksheets.  If you make up trivia cards they can be used over and over again instead of multiple pages in worksheet form.  The great part about a game is that you can still let your kids use them independently when you don’t have time to play it with them.

Want to learn about continents? Grab our I have… Who has? Continents Game.

 

 

What ideas you’ve come up with to keep the paper under control? Let me know in the comments.

Heidi

 

https://www.pinterest.com/poolnoodlespixiedust/homeschool-organization/

 

 

I linked up at:

Homeschool Organization with 12 ways to use less paper.

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Hi, I'm Heidi a Jesus-loving homeschool Mama traveling the country with my full time RVing family. I'm passionate about simplifying your homeschool or classroom days by providing quality resources and support.