always lost

[SeekingSimplicity]

Are we the only ones with this problem? I hope not... but we may be because I'm organizationally challenged to start with :glare: LOL

 

It seems like everything we need for school is always lost. I have buckets for pencils, crayons and markers, glue and scissors. Detergent boxes for them to store their books and supplies by subject. Shelves to store these things on. Supplemental books on the shelves by subject. I really try to be organized.... but nothing is ever where it's supposed to be. Even tho after every subject we study I remind them where there materials go, and watch to make sure they get there, they are always lost the next day.

It would be one thing if this happened every once in a while. I could deal with that. But this is everything every day! It must be manic elves sneaking in at night rearranging everthing, because all the kids say they didn't do it. :001_huh:

[Jean in Newcastle]

Those elves are busy here too. We would get done with school much earlier if we didn't have to keep looking for things.

[Parrothead]

Locks and keys? Or would you worry that the keys would be lost?

[SeekingSimplicity]

LOL probably so. Then one day someone would find the keys and no one would know what they go to, so the kids would use them to play "car" and then loose them in the yard where they would get run over by the lawn mower causing dh to have fits about having to replace the blade....

 

yeah, lets don't use locks and keys.

[Ibbygirl]

Everything is always lost in my house too no matter how much I try to keep things organized. Sigh!

[johnandtinagilbert]

I have to actually stand right next to them to be sure things are where they are supposed to be. I also instituted a no electronics, going outside, nada, unless everything is put away.

 

If that didn't work, I'd loan it out at the beginning of class and then collect it at the end. Charge them if they lose "your" belongings.

 

Does it still happen here.....yup. I have some great ideas though! :D

[Guest homeschoolfor3]

In our house everything is in plastic boxes, almost all of them in the boys closet. NO ONE is allowed to touch or open the boxes, only I can. They have crayons and pencils, paper for play outside. When its time for studies or activities, I always find everything (this has worked for years, even with the ds16). Btwy, I also place toys in boxes and rotate them about once a month. The kids always feel excited when the toys are different. There are some toys that are always out, and those get lost and are a mess everywhere.

[Starr]

Ds wears a shirt that says, "lost in thought, please send search party." That sums it up around here. We are now using a form of work boxes.

[myfunnybunch]

I've become convinced that our scissors and glue have legs and wander the house freely. When we need them, they are nowhere to be found. Suddenly they turn up in the oddest places.

 

We've got a supply drawer for glue and scissors. Each child has a pencil box to keep his personal glue stick and scissors, I stock up at the back to school sales, and still.....

 

*sigh*

 

Cat

[Guest]

Our couch and my daughter's bed apparently have force fields specially constructed to capture in pencils, erasers, doll shoes, hair ties, and Lego bits. They seem to have a plan to collect and control all supplies as part of their quest for world dominance.

[myfunnybunch]

Our couch and my daughter's bed apparently have force fields specially constructed to capture in pencils, erasers, doll shoes, hair ties, and Lego bits. They seem to have a plan to collect and control all supplies as part of their quest for world dominance.

 

Hmmmmmm....will you check to see if any of my guys' things have wandered your way?

 

:D

 

Cat

[CalicoKat]

Are we the only ones with this problem? I hope not... but we may be because I'm organizationally challenged to start with :glare: LOL

 

It seems like everything we need for school is always lost. I have buckets for pencils, crayons and markers, glue and scissors. Lost supplies diminished when I put a lock on the cabinet. :)

 

Detergent boxes for them to store their books and supplies by subject. Shelves to store these things on. Supplemental books on the shelves by subject. I really try to be organized.... but nothing is ever where it's supposed to be. Even tho after every subject we study I remind them where there materials go, and watch to make sure they get there, they are always lost the next day.

It would be one thing if this happened every once in a while. I could deal with that. But this is everything every day! It must be manic elves sneaking in at night rearranging everthing, because all the kids say they didn't do it. :001_huh:

Can you lock the area you do lessons in? Workboxes helped here with the kids subject books being "lost." The biggest solution was the lock.

 

:D

[Hedgehogs4]

i do a round up every evening, make sure their books are on the shelves, make sure their pencils are in their boxes, and even lay out the essential items on the school table for my ds in the morning so that when he gets up he has no excuse for not starting...nope...can't say stuff is always lost here.

 

it's a stitch in time saves nine approach. it takes time to build a habit, but once you do, it really helps things move along nicely.

[SeekingSimplicity]

The detergent boxes are our spin on workboxes. We have one for each subject with what they need for that subject in the box. But during the night, supplies crawl out of the box to frolic around the house with a platoon of manic elves... Really.

 

We have a really small house. We do most of our work in the living room floor, then our bookshelves have to go in the hallway- because that's the only place there is to put them. That's probably part of the problem, the hall leads to the kids rooms. It's just begging them to take things off the shelf and into their rooms. But there's no where else to put it, so...

[IsabelC]

I have a theory that school supplies actually slide through a rift in the space time continuum and wind up in an alternate universe where it rains pencils and erasers. Seriously. We had 7 - SEVEN - erasers in the drawer two days ago, and do you think I could find ONE today? Well either it's that, or somebody is eating them. :confused:

[Nicole M]

I have a theory that school supplies actually slide through a rift in the space time continuum and wind up in an alternate universe where it rains pencils and erasers. Seriously. We had 7 - SEVEN - erasers in the drawer two days ago, and do you think I could find ONE today? Well either it's that, or somebody is eating them. :confused:

 

Oh, don't go there, honey! Don't torture yourself.

 

Seriously, I had this problem, too. Tiny house, could never find anything. My solution was pretty counterintuitive, but it worked. Over the Christmas break this year, I purged hundreds of books, gobs of unused school supplies, several ziplock bags full of pens and pencils, tons and tons and tons of stuff. I kept only what we need. And, guess what! Stuff is never lost anymore. Go figure.

[Ibbygirl]

I have a theory that school supplies actually slide through a rift in the space time continuum and wind up in an alternate universe where it rains pencils and erasers. Seriously. We had 7 - SEVEN - erasers in the drawer two days ago, and do you think I could find ONE today? Well either it's that, or somebody is eating them. :confused:

 

:rofl: :rofl:

[Laura Corin]

Seriously. We had 7 - SEVEN - erasers in the drawer two days ago, and do you think I could find ONE today? Well either it's that, or somebody is eating them. :confused:

 

Was an eraser chewed to pieces next to a knot hole in the floor.

 

Laura

[Scuff]

What has worked for us is also our solution for dawdling. They have a set amount of time to do their work in (with a I/2 hour grace at my discretion if we're really having trouble with the work and not goofing off) If they get done on time, they get game time that day. (or whatever motivates your children) If they don't know where their books are, it makes it very hard to get done on time. I still remind them to clean up, and they still lose things. But most of the time there things are where they should be. We started this in the fall and it tok time and tears before it worked. But a few days of missed game time has done the trick.

 

ETA- We have a small house too. But making them personally responsible for their own things has really worked. We also stopped doing the community pencil cups. EAch kid has their own pencil box with their things. They have a seperate community box for crafts & coloring that I don't care about. But school stuff is for school and if you don't have your stuff, you are the one sad and looking.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Scuff