From the article: Household Organization
Share your organization tips that would be helpful to other homeschooling families. How do you organize your homeschooling supplies? Do you have any systems in place to help your homeschooling run smoothly? Do you have any general household organization tips that could help others? Share Your Tips
Master Bedroom Dual Duty
- This is our first year of homeschooling our daughter. My husband homeschooled his son for several years before we married but this is my initiation into homeschooling. I have a two year Early Childhood Education degree (preschool focus) so I was worried I would know what to cover with our elementary aged daughter. Because of my background, classroom organization came natural. We live on a very limited budget as my husband is disabled so we are used to making the most of it and being creative. My daughter is A.D.D. so we decided to give her the master bedroom which we divided in half, duty wise. One half is strictly her bedroom (closet, bed, dresser, toys) the other looks exactly like a typical classroom with black board, various on-topic posters, low level bookshelf for kids' books, teacher's and child's desk, bean bag chairs, cork boards for specific purposes, daily calendar, & clock. My desk is located so my chair is pulled in front of the bookshelf not in use while I'm at my desk.
- —childsVOICE
Getting chores done
- With having small children it was beginning to feel overwhelming to get any chores done! As the kids have gotten older they have been more help and now even my 4 year old likes to mop! My suggestion: don't try to do it all on one day. We have a different chore for each day of the week that we spend 15-20 minutes to complete. (laundry on Monday, sweeping/mopping on Tuesday, bathrooms on Wednesday, etc.) I saved Friday for chores that only need done once a month and rotate each week through them (clean out car, wash windows, dust, etc.) I realize that some might think those things need to be done more often, but just making the house presentable on a day to day basis will have to do with five children when we homeschool. We are not supermoms!
- —4dmommy
Color Code
- It's very helpful if you color code your family with socks, underwear, clothes hangers, sheets, towels, etc.
- —Guest victoria
Took over a closet... and a cabinet...
- I have a small closet in what was our dining room (now it's more of a computer room/den) that I took over. I put a small file cart in there with hanging file folders for various forms, papers, supplies, etc. I also have educational board games and some of my craft supplies in there hanging on hooks, on shelves, stacked on the floor next to the file cart, etc. In addition, I've got a tall cabinet with glass doors that was a "china cabinet" I suppose, but I've taken that over as well and I have all of this year's school books and more craft supplies in there. On top of it is a box with a lid that contains still more art supplies. And of course we have our bookcases filled with great books for the kids to read, and some maps and helpful posters on the wall in the computer room/den, so it's worked out pretty well. When we finish a grade, we pack everything up in one big box and store it elsewhere, same with grades we haven't gotten to yet as I bought some stuff used in advance.
- —sahmiam3
Homeschool Zone!
- In the first year of Homeschooling my children,ages 13,12,10,I have found that being an organized person is a strong plus. Although I have considered myself as an unorganized procrastinator, I knew I had to give into the organization issue in me. I first tried a lot of different websites and for me being a visual person and for my children also being visual(Visual in this sense is if we don't see it it does not exist).I then started to focus on what I wanted in our School Room and that was a well organize place where we could learn. I first started with a pen and paper. I took inventory of all the furniture, books and tools we had to work with. Then being on a budget set out to purchase just a few cheap things.Dollar Tree purchased 4 plastic Dish tubes.Big Lots Purchased 4 cubbies.Then at Walmart Purchased a Book Case.Then we created ZONES!Zone1-Reference Zone,Bookcase with books we use as reference.Zone2-Work Zone,Table and 4 chairs.Zone3-Science/Georgraphy zone.Zone4-Visual Zone
- —Guest Tiffany Perez
6 ft. cabinet
- I have a 6 ft. cabinet with swing-open doors that I use for storing my current homeschooling supplies. (Previous years are stored in the attic.) I've found that keeping my art supplies in a large plastic bin works best. This bin stays on the bottom shelf of my cabinet. I use a basket to hold books for my youngest to choose from, and a bookshelf in the den filled with choices for the older child. Recently, I found two small student desks at a yard sale (the typical ones seen in classrooms) that I've set up for use in our classroom. This has helped free up space in the room! Also, I keep a roll cart handy that I usually fill up with my teaching aids during the year, just in case we need to take our learning to a different area!
- —Guest Shannon
