Organization

[KristinaBreece]

How do you organize your schooling materials? Do you have a room set aside specifically for schooling to take place and to store materials/books?

 

I need to have a system in place for DC's schooling materials/supplies BEFORE I start amassing uncontrollable amounts of books, papers, and supplies. I'm just curious as to how other parents tackle this.

[MrsMe]

I do. Our family room is the hs room. There's a couple ideas whether you have a room or not. Keep everything either in one place (one closet, pantry, shelving unit, room) or keep what you'll use where you use it. So if you do crafty things, put those supplies where the work table is. If you're reading, put those by the couch.

 

If you have a single room, which I find works best for us (others don't) I have everything on bookshelves, organized nook-ish. So one section is by subject. My TM's and such are by me, at my desk. DD's stuff is on her own bookshelf. My math stuff is on it's own bookcase, etc. DD's supplies are in her desk.

 

Others who have more children will let you know what works best. I only have one and she has her own desk and area. Others use their own crates or shelf or backpacks.

 

Depending on the curriculum you use or the amount of children you have and your space issues, we'll all have a way different set-up. But I agree, so you don't feel overwhelmed and scattered, it's best to figure this out before you start! :)

[Peela]

Yes, we had a room for homeschooling, but I had bookshelves in another room where I kept the books we werent using. Then in our homeschooling room, I kept the books we were using right now.

Both kids had a roller cart and each drawer had teh books for a different subject. That was a great way of storing books and visually, physically orgnaising books. I based that on the workbox system.

[mcconnellboys]

Yes, I set aside a room where I could keep everything in one place. For years, I ran between the upstairs and the basement (storage) until I figured out that a dedicated "guest room" for guests who never came was ridiculous, LOL....

[happypamama]

I do happen to have a schoolroom right now. That's not to say that we always do our work in there, but it does help to keep our materials in one spot.

 

There's an art table and free-access art supplies in there, with a rope (and clothespins) across the wall over it, for finished projects. There is a small desk tucked back into a little nook; it also has a hundreds chart over it, and a set of shelves for CDs, puzzles, and preschool learning activities next to it. (DD often uses the desk for her work, at her choice, so that she's not distracted by her brothers' general noise.) We also have a table where the boys work; it has a basket with markers, pencils/pens, scissors, tape, glue, and pencil sharpeners on it (in addition to duplicates of those items that are on the art table), so that we don't have to hunt those down all the time. I also prop applicable science or history books on that table against the wall, to encourage free reading. Maps, charts, genealogy trees, etc. go on that wall too, generally.

 

I have a comfy chair (big enough for me plus at least one kid) in the room. And last, we have my big huge desk. It's sporting a computer, a globe, and our big wooden crate for our current school materials, and our reference materials. I also spread out our workbaskets on this desk, and then stack them up on it as we finish. I keep my office supplies, math manipulatives, extra notebooks and folders, the kids' pencil boxes for taking to co-op (we have a lot of sets of pencils and scissors, LOL), and art supplies that require my supervision (nice watercolors and such -- stuff I want used in careful ways) in the drawers of that desk. Oh, and next to the desk is a small table that holds a wooden file crate -- one folder for each month for DD and one folder for each month for the boys, plus a folder for my planning notes.

 

I am huge on having a set place for everything, keeping it organized, and having multiples of anything that might tend to wander off so that there's no breaking of concentration to go find something.

[In the Rain]

We school in our main living areas (breakfast table, dining table and living room). In the living room is an entertainment center which holds all of the school things we currently use. I have a book shelf in another room with curriculum and books we don't use now. I also keep things like paint and craft supplies in that room.

[Tohru]

How old are your children?

 

We keep our stuff in the dining room, because that' were we school. I have one of those plastic 6-drawer things and each drawer is labeled:

 

sharp - scissors, stick pins, staples, etc

 

sticky/binding - glue, rubber bands, paperclips, etc

 

paints - paints and paintbrushes

 

crayons - crayons and colored pencils

 

clay - playdoh, playdoh supplies

 

crafts - miscellaneous, but mostly stickers and sequins

All our books go on bookshelves, sorted by subject.

 

My son has magazine holders for each subject filled with the books we're currently using. I have my own magazine holder with the TMs. Those all sit on top of the bookshelf, along with a cup filled with highlighters, pens and pencils. A friend of mine uses one of those cardboard office mail sorters (kind of like this) to separate her 3 kid's and their books. Each column belongs to one child, each slot is a different subject. That sits on top of her bookshelf too.

 

We've converted a computer corner amoire into a supply closet that stores all the paper, envelopes, and extras in it.

 

The best books that I've read on homeschooling organization were Help for the Harried Homeschooler and The Organized Homeschooler.

 

HTH!

Edited January 24, 2011 by jadedone80
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[Closeacademy]

My organization method:

 

Basement

 

bookshelves--books and curriculum grouped by subject then arranged by grade level

 

living room/dining area (where we do school)

 

file cabinet drawer--weekly file folders containing lesson plans, worksheets and books that we will use this year

 

rolling cart 6-drawer workboxes--curriculum in use and this week's work

 

small bookshelf--binders of this year's work, pencil boxes of school supplies

 

:001_smile:

[Joyofsixreboot]

No HS room. The kids have the books they are using right now in backpacks they keep in their closet. I have a bookshelf in the living room with other things and a couple rubbermaid totes underneath it.

[Tess in the Burbs]

we have a room and all our school books are in the room as well as the books the kids read over and over. the school books are on one wall organized by subject on the bookshelves. The curriculum is on one bookcase itself. The bottom shelves have future stuff I already bought. The readers are on their own shelves. The art stuff is overflowing from it's bookcase but it is on it's own wall. The musical instruments just lay in the middle of the floor. :001_huh:

 

but it's all in the same room away from our normal life areas.

[DawnM]

We use our sunroom.

 

We have floor to ceiling bookshelves on one wall and a kitchen size table and chairs in the middle for doing work on.

 

We do about 75% of our work in there.

 

Math is done wherever the boys can find a place that is private/quiet as they don't like distractions while they do math.

 

Reading is done on a sofa in the living room.

 

HOWEVER, all books reside on the shelves in the sunroom/schoolroom.

 

Dawn