speaking of school rooms and areas

[GaHadley]

Where do you keep all of your stuff and how does it work out day to day?

 

I'm thinking about student books, teacher books, lesson plans, activities, read a louds, etc.

 

I'm trying to figure what I'll keep right by my side while I'm teaching every day and how to best organize myself to keep the day running smooth with minimal interruptions for me to find the next thing.

[Chelli]

I keep all of my teaching supplies (teacher manuals, teacher binder, current read aloud, etc.) in this fabric bin:

 

 

 

Each of my children have the same type of fabric bin that holds their student binders (holds their work for the week), all of their school books and workbooks, small marker board, and pencil case:

 

 

 

 

I keep my lesson plans inside my teacher binder:

 

 

 

I keep books that we are going to use the current year, but haven't gotten to yet on the bookshelf in the dining room:

 

 

 

 

I keep my teacher binder laid out on the dining room table while we school so all I have to do is look down to see what we need to do next. I keep my teacher bin in a chair next to my chair so all I have to do is reach over and pull out the next thing.

 

My dc keep their student bins on the floor next to their chair and just get out the book they need for their next subject.

 

That's our very "not complicated" system!

[mom24cuties]

My system is similiar to pw23kids. Each of my kids will have a crate that will hold their workboooks, binders, and school supplies. Then I will have my teachers binder that has lesson plans, schedules, and all my other teacher stuff I need, and all my school supplies. For our books we have two built in bookshelf's in the dining room where we will be doing our school work, and since we will be going to the library for most of our books I have a tub for each child to stow their books in on the shelf.

[ondreeuh]

For the past few years I have managed to have a desk next to the dining table. That way I can reach the school stuff from the table. In our old house I had the not-currently-being-used stuff on a bookshelf in the same area. In the house we're living in right now, I have the out-of-use stuff in storage and have books either on the desk or in the desk apprentice.

 

The house we are moving to has a ground-floor homeschool room. I will be getting a 5x5 Expedit and will put supplements and manipulatives in there. Current workbooks/files will be on the worktable in the desk apprentice. Science supplies and out-of-use stuff will be neatly organized in the closet.

[happypamama]

Kids' workspaces -- each has a pencil box with pencils/crayons/pens, scissors, glue/tape, erasers, and pencil sharpener. Their daily workboxes get stacked next to their workspaces. DD also has a big dictionary next to her workspace. Each child has a clipboard at his/her workspace as well.

 

Surface of my big desk -- good pencil sharpener, workboxes when the kids are finished with them, computer monitor, inbox for stuff I need to check, crate with books that are for this year but not being used that day plus reference materials. They do work that needs my attention while sitting at my desk.

 

My big binder sits on my desk too; it has papers we'll be using at some point, my lesson plans, and the calendar so I can check off days (per our state's reporting requirement).

 

Drawers of my desk -- other office supplies (3-hole punch, index cards, etc.), notebook paper, math and other manipulatives, stationery, nice art supplies (good watercolors, etc.), computer games/cords.

 

Entertainment center next to my desk -- printer, printer paper, DVDs, extra folders, big crate with bars for hanging folders for finished work (labeled by kid by month) and a folder for anything related to our co-op/support group.

 

Cabinet against wall -- general art supplies that they can use at will, music CDs.

 

History and science books for free reading -- box in the schoolroom.

 

Read-alouds -- some are in the kitchen (Bible, poetry), and there's generally one next to my rocking chair for bedtime. If it's something we read during the school day, it's in the crate with the other books.

[Twilight Woods]

Each kid has a magazine file folder for each subject that holds their books including the TM.

[nellecv]

I keep mine all over the floor, couch, chair , coffee table, computer desk, kitchen table etc. It works out really well for me, not so well for my husband. ;)

[Abbeygurl4]

I keep mine all over the floor, couch, chair , coffee table, computer desk, kitchen table etc. It works out really well for me, not so well for my husband. ;)

 

:iagree: me, too!! :D

[Targhee]

Student books: workbooks used daily (handwriting, etc) in their desks, other books (texts, etc) in a cupboard

 

Teacher books: in a cupboard (I put the student and teacher books for the same subject/class next to each other)*

 

Lesson Plans: weekly plans and daily on a clipboard (honestly many of my curricula teacher guides have lesson plans for the day, I just plan out the week)

 

Activities: I have two cupboards with activities, one for activities they will be getting on their own and the other to store the rest of the activities (I put the ones they will need/can use in the other cupboard and rotate as needed)

 

Read alouds: current one on my desk, others on a bookshelf

 

Other things - kids each have a pencil - I have more but unless they bring me a worn out pencil news ones are 50 cents (we have issues with being responsible for our belongings :tongue_smilie:). General supplies like paper, tape, glue, scissors, etc are located in two drawers. Math manipulatives get their own box on the top of a tall cupboard.

 

I have several bookshelves to keep books and misc items. Really, books are the only things I have a lot of. The fewer things we have, the better!

 

*The night before I make a stack for each child of the books/IGs/etc we need for the day so I am not constantly going back to the cupboard. I put these on the counter with any worksheets or other things we will need.

[acablue]

We do school at the kitchen table, but keep our books on shelves in the home office that connects to the kitchen. Anything that's used every day usually just gets stacked on the top of the shelves and supplies are kept in plastic tubs on the bottom shelf.

[Marie131]

I just bought a cabinet to keep all of my teacher's manuals, read aloud books, manipulatives, supplies etc. All the stuff I don't want little hands getting into are on the top shelves. The bottom shelves are full of games and stuff that the kids are welcome to help themselves to whenever. I even have a bin on a shelf that holds all our current library books. As for workbooks and supplies, I have 2 rubbermaid-type plastic storage towers. Each of my 2 school-aged kids get the top drawer each for their materials that they will need for the day. The rest of the drawers are filled with the supplies that they will need such as crayons, scissors, paper, markers etc. I have a drawer for their own independent works-in-progress so that it doesn't clutter up my house and they can easily find them when they want to resume their work. I also keep a pencil case with just pencils, erasers and sharpeners on a shelf of my cabinet within easy reach for the kids, but out of reach of my toddler ;)

 

I do all my planning on a spreadsheet on my computer. I print off my schedule on the weekend and then post it on a wall in my kitchen. It is right beside my cabinet so I know what I need and when I need it. It has worked great at keeping me on track.

 

So far it is working great. I just finished organizing my cabinet and I am able to find everything and my house doesn't look like our homeschool has vomitted all over it. I love that I can close the doors and not have to look at it when we're done. I placed the cabinet in my kitchen which is where we do most of our school work, so when I need a book I just have to turn around and grab it. All the stuff that I am not actively using is stored on a bookshelf in the basement.

 

I'm new to the forums so I don't know how to post pics, but I'll take one later on and try and post it up :)

[ALB]

Each dc has one magazine holder, one for LA and one for math. These are kept on a shelf with their different binders next to them, and our 3 hole punch in between. I have a binder for lesson plans that I use.

 

I have previous or future curriculum in storage boxes. Our books are all on shelves in our living room, organized by category.

 

I also have a cart from IKEA that has 3 metal basket drawers holding our math manipulatives and art supplies, and our paper tray on top.