How to Make a Free Reference Chart Binder
If you’ve ever visited an elementary school classroom, you’ve probably noticed all of the bright posters and reference charts that decorate the walls. You’ll find posters for everything from multiplication tables to parts of speech. These charts can be helpful learning aids, but many homeschoolers don’t like the idea of covering their walls with classroom posters. Some families don’t have a dedicated school room and lack the wall space for posters. Others want to avoid decorating their home like a school or feel that the posters are distracting.
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My Solution: A Reference Chart Binder
Instead of hanging reference charts and posters on our walls, I created a reference chart binder. This binder holds miniature versions of the charts that would typically be posters in a classroom. When the kids were younger, the binder held things like manuscript and cursive alphabets, days of the week, months of the year, and numbers. Now, we have charts that list things like mathematical formulas, units of measurement, and grammar rules. I’ve purchased some of these charts, but I’ve also downloaded or created many for free.
Free Printable Reference Charts
If you search Google or Pinterest, you’ll find free printable reference charts on every topic imaginable. I recommend that you place the charts in a page protector or laminate them for durability. Then place them in a binder and store the binder somewhere that’s quickly accessible. These are some of the math and language arts charts I’ve found.
Free Math Reference Charts
- Learn in Color Math Cheat Sheet (grades 4th to 8th)
- Dads Worksheets Reference Charts (all grades)
- EEWeb Math Reference Sheets (high school)
- Homeschool Giveaways & Freebies Math Reference Sheet (elementary)
- Math Salamanders Math Mats Reference Sheets (elementary)
- Scaffolded Math Cheat Sheets (mostly high school, some elementary & middle school)
- Maths Charts by Jenny Eather (all grades)
Free Language Arts Reference Charts
- Your Thrifty Co-Teacher Grammar Charts and Posters
- Learn in Color Parts of Speech Cheat Sheets
- Crafty Classroom Writing Guides
- TPT English Cheat Sheet
- This Reading Mama Parts of Speech Posters
- We Are Teachers 11 Essay Phrases to Outlaw
- We Are Teachers 100 Colorful Words to Use in Place of “Said”
- This Reading Mama Handwriting Charts
- All About Learning Spelling Rule Posters
Teachers Pay Teachers Free Reference Charts
Teachers Pay Teachers is another great place to find free printable reference charts for every subject. Try searching for reference charts, posters, cheat sheets, or anchor charts. Be sure to select “free” for your price range to weed out the resources that aren’t free.
Make Your Own Reference Charts
Some of our reference charts are pages copied out of textbooks or teacher’s guides. These have included handwriting alphabets and lists of spelling and grammar rules. It’s much easier to find these pages we use frequently when they are in the reference chart binder rather than bookmarked in a large book. Other times, when I’ve needed something simple, like a list of the months or days of the week, I just typed them up myself in Microsoft Word.
Purchase Reference Charts
If you’d rather not spend your time searching for or printing reference charts, you can always purchase premade ones for your binder. You can buy laminated reference charts from Amazon, Rainbow Resource Center, or almost anywhere that sells homeschool curriculum and supplies. We’ve bought several math and language arts charts from Christian Light Education.
Also, Learn in Color sells well-organized cheat sheet sets for math, language arts, and history. The sets are available preprinted and spiral bound, or for a reduced price, you can purchase them in PDF format and print them yourself.
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Note: This post was originally published on August 16, 2020 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
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