Attn: Organizational pros: I nd order for supplies, books, later reading, curric adv

[74Heaven]

I'd like some school room, office organizational tips. We are finally finishing our large daylight basement school room and I can't buy new furniture and storage cabinets now but I do have lots of those plastic drawer units on wheels and bookshelves and cubbies.

 

I need some real nitty gritty advice from those of you who are organizational wizards.

 

I know how to organize the kids' books and supplies and even my own things that are used almost every day. But what about the rest of the stuff! (And I am getting rid of a lot - but with 5 kids down to Kindergarten - there are many things I am using over and over. And I also live in the country so I need ot be well stocked on arts and crafts basics. (I also use lots of it at our local church or homeschool group to fill in.)

 

So, what do you do with all your homeschool books that you never use but will someday. For instance, I have a half-dozen reproducible writing books, literature guides, downloaded reproducibles, etc. that I pull off the shelf 2-3x a year, loan them to friends, consult them for ideas or a unit study, use for a co op - but there almost "reference" books for how often I use them. I don't want to get rid of them - but multiply this by 5 subjects at 6-8 grade levels and we are talking 100-200 books or so?

 

What do you do with all the binders, folders, stickers, page protectors, file folders that go in binders with pockets, labels, etc. - things you need to keep away from the kids (lest they use them all up before you knew you were out of something) but you don't want to bury them because you kind of need to "see them" occasionally so as not to forget you have them....

 

Also, I have 20 or so art project books that we use for Bible study babysitting time for younger kids, when we watch someone's preschoolers or when my Ker needs a quick little art project to keep his hands busy.

 

And can anyone give me some "bin" or "drawer" titles - I mean I have it down for rulers, calculators and flashcards (i.e. a math drawer) but it gets overwhelming when I throw in beads, painting sponges 3, science cards, dry erase markers / markers.

 

Anyway, I am using June & July to finish the rest of the walls (we have a ceiling and 2 walls pretty much "done" (still need 2 more walls) - I am knee deep in getting organized for next year. (And hopefully now that we are out of the toddler/preschool stage - organized forever ;>).

 

Thanks

Lisaj

[kalanamak]

 

So, what do you do with all your homeschool books that you never use but will someday.

 

 

I use cardboard boxes very very well labeled by subject and age, stored in a dry place.

[PeterPan]

Well is your space totally open or have you built in some closets and things. My school room is in a basement, like yours. It has 4 walls (one on an angle) and a 5th side that is open to the rest of the basement. On one of those walls I have the entire wall enclosed in closets behind doors. That's where I keep all my messy stuff (the file folders, types of paper, etc. you were describing). I've tried different ways of doing things, and right now I even keep all my tm's in there, organized by subject. (Not my current use ones, but the reference stuff like you were describing.) There are so many things like 14 colors of tagboard or regular copy paper, etc. that are just plain MESSY that it's nice to be able to have some things out of sight. If closets aren't in your reach, then I would install shelves on one wall and put a hanging curtain to cover the entire thing. That's all your messy stuff.

 

For your books, I assume you have library software like Readerware. If not, you want it. Some software even lets you track books you loan out, etc. :)

 

For your art supplies, again these can go in those drawers and be placed into the closets or behind that curtain. It's messy, who wants to see it? I only leave it out if I mean to let her use it. If it's something that requires supervision or permission or is part of my "secrets" then it goes in the closet. That said, you might like to set up stations. I used to do this with art, now it's all in one closet. I had a table with drawers underneath, caddies for supplies, the whole nine yards. With more room, you could have another table for a science station and set up your trail guides, microscope, sketch books, etc. But only leave out things you intend to allow them to use.

 

You want an area for reading, say with bean bags or nests.

 

The best advice I got when starting to fill my room was to keep things portable, so I could rearrange. I have 3 tables and I've rearranged and rearranged each year. It's sort of fun for me, lol. Sometimes I do a big island, sometimes I push them against the wall. Right now I have the table coming as a T off the wall so it faces the chalkboard. Give yourself some flexibility in that way.

 

Now since you're in a basement, do you have masonry/concrete walls? If you know someone with the proper bit to go on their drill, you can install some super heavy duty shelving into that that will hold more books than you can imagine. I started off with one 9 foot wall of shelves, and recently my dh just made me another 13' length. They're just track, brackets, and slabs of wood, don't have to be anything fancy or ultra-expensive. Sure does store like crazy! The books go toward the back and art projects in front. Then he got me tack strip (from a school job, hehe) to go around the ceiling to hang things. We have a steel door, so we hang things on that.

 

Basically just give yourself a wide variety of storage: some tall, some for books, some behind doors, some accessible, some down low and some up high, some for things hanging and some for things that file or stack. Have fun in your new space! :)

[74Heaven]

Well is your space totally open or have you built in some closets and things. My school room is in a basement, like yours. It has 4 walls (one on an angle) and a 5th side that is open to the rest of the basement. On one of those walls I have the entire wall enclosed in closets behind doors. That's where I keep all my messy stuff (the file folders, types of paper, etc. you were describing). I've tried different ways of doing things, and right now I even keep all my tm's in there, organized by subject. (Not my current use ones, but the reference stuff like you were describing.) There are so many things like 14 colors of tagboard or regular copy paper, etc. that are just plain MESSY that it's nice to be able to have some things out of sight. If closets aren't in your reach, then I would install shelves on one wall and put a hanging curtain to cover the entire thing. That's all your messy stuff.

 

For your books, I assume you have library software like Readerware. If not, you want it. Some software even lets you track books you loan out, etc. :)

 

For your art supplies, again these can go in those drawers and be placed into the closets or behind that curtain. It's messy, who wants to see it? I only leave it out if I mean to let her use it. If it's something that requires supervision or permission or is part of my "secrets" then it goes in the closet. That said, you might like to set up stations. I used to do this with art, now it's all in one closet. I had a table with drawers underneath, caddies for supplies, the whole nine yards. With more room, you could have another table for a science station and set up your trail guides, microscope, sketch books, etc. But only leave out things you intend to allow them to use.

 

You want an area for reading, say with bean bags or nests.

 

The best advice I got when starting to fill my room was to keep things portable, so I could rearrange. I have 3 tables and I've rearranged and rearranged each year. It's sort of fun for me, lol. Sometimes I do a big island, sometimes I push them against the wall. Right now I have the table coming as a T off the wall so it faces the chalkboard. Give yourself some flexibility in that way.

 

Now since you're in a basement, do you have masonry/concrete walls? If you know someone with the proper bit to go on their drill, you can install some super heavy duty shelving into that that will hold more books than you can imagine. I started off with one 9 foot wall of shelves, and recently my dh just made me another 13' length. They're just track, brackets, and slabs of wood, don't have to be anything fancy or ultra-expensive. Sure does store like crazy! The books go toward the back and art projects in front. Then he got me tack strip (from a school job, hehe) to go around the ceiling to hang things. We have a steel door, so we hang things on that.

 

Basically just give yourself a wide variety of storage: some tall, some for books, some behind doors, some accessible, some down low and some up high, some for things hanging and some for things that file or stack. Have fun in your new space! :)

 

First of all, we have no built-ins :). And we don't have masonry walls - one is cedar and the others are drywall.

 

I don't know if you remember me (hope not!) but I sent you my overflowing office/basement pics about a year ago. We have come a long way since then but still have a ways to go. My dh is finishing this room. Lord willing, it will be completely done in a couple of months. (He has walls and trim to finish.

 

But anyway, I wanted to say that it took me a long time - but I finally went to portable as well. We got rid of a few desks and are getting rid of a few more. We went with tables and I love the portability. There has been a little more distractibility - but it has also been a lot easier for group or "buddy" projects. And it all clears out on the occasion we need to (like kids downstairs for adult Bible study night).

 

I have the cutest problem now. There is an unfinished closet adjacent to my office that does not have a door and is quite large. My 5yo claimed it as his office a few months ago - he loves it! And he loves having his own office! I must be an old softie because I think I'll forgo the perfect storage closet until he is more ready to give up his space!

 

We have a large room (20' x 14') one corner has a large wood stove in it and one whole wall adjacent ot the stove is windows and a glass slider walk out door that is heavily used and makes most of the middle of the room a high traffic area. The other 15' long wall (across from the windows) is the "freeway" that leads from the bottom of the stairs back to the bedrooms. (Think longish daylight ranch style home).

 

I have to say, I love the idea of moving things around too. Thinking about putting the tables at "Ts" at hte wall is also really inspiring :). That would be a whole new arrangement.

 

And I think I might (now that you mentioned it) set the room up in "centers" for the summer. I might be able to see how that works for the younger three kids?

 

Thanks for all the help. It is appreciated and I can't wait to get organized when the new space is all done!

lisaj

 

Ok,

[skimerinkydo]

I have current books we are using on a bookshelf near our school table. On that bookshelf I also have a 3-drawer plastic organizer to hold pencils, crayons, markers, etc. My daughters often pull out one of these drawers to use at whatever table they are crafting.

 

The table is the Norden gateleg table from Ikea, it has 6 drawers--

1. each child has thier own drawer to hold their own personal, not to share, pencils, crayons, etc.

2.One top drawer holds the window markers and erasers (our sliding glass door is our "whiteboard")

3. The other top drawer holds our music and audio CD's. I keep the CD play on top of the table.

I like this table because if we want more space to play in the room, we just fold up the table.

 

I have two 5-drawer metal filing cabinets that someone gave us. Some specific drawers hold: craft supplies children may help themselves to, craft supplies children may not help themselves to, paint and brushes, paper/page dividers/page protectors, manipulatives for math and science, file folders of ideas/stickers, etc, my household files, church stuff such as pictures and file folders for sunday school lessons and family night and flannel board stories, ...all neat and out of sight.

 

 

The curriculum we are not currently using, I was keeping on closet shelves upstairs. But I now need to put a fabric stash there, so I am in the process of building more shelves in the schoolroom to hold those books...you can never have too many bookshelves!

[rafiki]

,

[PeterPan]

Hi Lisaj, just got back to your thread again. Congrats on the progress in your room!!! Sounds like it's coming along! You can still have those shelves, just isn't as hard to install. You buy this track (vertical) at the hardward store and these brackets that go into it. Then you lay boards across, and voila shelving! It's what we have in our homeschool room.

 

That's so cute that your 5 yo likes having his own little office, hehe. Sounds like a budding entrepreneur!! Who knows, that may be a permanent arrangement! You could put a computer in there and let them have privacy while they type, etc...