Woodland_Mom Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Ah . . . I've received our books for the 2008-2009 school year and now I'm ready to begin organizing our homeschool space. What kinds of organizational tips/tricks do you have to offer that work well for your family? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 My favorite organizational thing for homeschooling is the Desk Apprentice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Ah . . . I've received our books for the 2008-2009 school year and now I'm ready to begin organizing our homeschool space. What kinds of organizational tips/tricks do you have to offer that work well for your family? Well, how much space do you have? Do you have a separate room or are you going to be moving books in and out of a place? Do you have wall space? I can give more ideas if I know a little more what you are looking for. How fun to get all your new goodies!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland_Mom Posted July 21, 2008 Author Share Posted July 21, 2008 We are blessed to have two great spaces. One room with a dedicated school table, a 6 cubbie cubicle/shelves, a white board and two tall book cases for all of the kids literature, history, science, reference, etc. I am thinking of replacing the cubbie area with something else. I have a sitting room where my computer is, teacher books, educational supplies, etc. In the past I've used binders to organize each subject, as suggested in WTM. I'd like to have a place where the kids store or "turn in" completed work. Maybe an "in box" for each child, or maybe giving them their own cubbie. I'm not sure. Right now I keep arts and crafts, manipulatives, school box supplies, and construction paper in the cubbies. I'm interrested in hearing about how others make their spaces work for them in the hopes that I can "steal" some of your great ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacey in MA Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I have certain spaces for each DC's books/personal supplies (otherwise they'd fight over "where's my this or that!!?". It's also just easier to find things when they need them. I have one 1/2 wall cubbie shelf dedicated to library books, with a large basket on top for videos. When we come home from the library, we separate out the books by child, putting them on the shelves. Each kid has his own shelf. All misc. material and videos go on top. It's nice, b/c I can say "Go over to the library shelf and get the blah-blah book". I have another of the same shelves dedicated to history materials (b/c history materials take up so much space). I have 2 kids going through 2 different periods, so there's the text, the activity books, the large notebook for each DC, the extra project and craft books, the history encyclopedias, etc.. So we have "the history shelf". I use a tower-style plastic rolling cart with drawers for paper, colored paper, and loose craft things. I hate the way it looks, but it is so functional b/c of the not-deep drawers. Each DC has a daily notebook that has weekly copies of our schedule. They check things off daily as they get completed. This has worked sooo well for us these past few years. When they ask what's next, I say "Get your notebook, let's see." (I put morning chores on that same list too) Trying to think of other organizational things that work for us, but it's not coming to me right now. It'll be fun to see what others say! Good luck - Stacey in MA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 My biggest tip is removing the books from last year. :001_smile: I am blessed with a dedicated space as well, so I have a space for everything and everything in its place. Put books away when you are done with a subject. I use photos boxes for small school supplies. Keep a cup of pencils on the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie in CA Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I have hundreds of them, music, school, Christian teachings. Are there good storage containers or album type things that work to organize them? Is there such a thing as a 3-ring binder with cd holders? That would be a start for me to clean off my desk. Laurie in CA dd(14) TOG and other stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I have hundreds of them, music, school, Christian teachings. Are there good storage containers or album type things that work to organize them? Is there such a thing as a 3-ring binder with cd holders? That would be a start for me to clean off my desk. Laurie in CA dd(14) TOG and other stuff We organized our computer CD's using a tip from someone that used to post on these boards, Lady Katherine. She recommended a three-ring binder and plastic inserts that hold CD. They look like this: http://www.officedepot.com/textRefine.do?Ne=1&Ntt=CD+holder&Nr=100000&Ntk=all&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=100469&Nty=1&uniqueSearchFlag=true We keep the game notebook by the computer and I love it because it takes up much less space. The other benefit is during the school year I put it away during the week since we do game time on the weekends only. On the otherhand our music CD's are all over the house. I need to organize them one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie in CA Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I'm am going to head over to Office Depot today after violin lessons. I am so excited. Laurie in CA dd(14) TOG and other stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 A couple of storage tips that helped me out this year are: 1. Use magazine holders to store hs catalogs upright on your bookcase. I bought mine for $1 at Walmart, but they look like this: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/253174/Office-Brand-Essential-Elements-Magazine-File/ They are easier to use it you get the kind that are completely open in the front. I use them to store spiral notebook on my bookcase, in the kids' workarea to store their floppy workbooks and in a crate back side down to make dividers. 2. If you have a door in your hs area, you can use a plastic over-the-door shoe holder to store school supplies. Ours is clear plastic and I keep extra glue sticks, scissors, scotch tape and math manipulative in it. 3. I use a Banker's Box to copy paper and construction paper. They look like this and fit right inside a bookcase: http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalog/sku.jsp?skuId=20963673&productId=ARS19402&category_Id=779 4. If you don't have much wall space you can put a world map on your table with a clear plastic table cloth on top. My kids also put their to do list and other important paper under the plastic. It is nice because they can see their lists but they are out of the way. The plastic also protects our dining room table. You can but the clear plastic at any fabric store (we got ours at Walmart). It comes on rolls and you can request the length you need. 5. Each of my kids have their own set of colored pencils kept in a three-ring zip pouch. It really cut back on the squables this year. I love the photo box idea that Elegantlion mentioend above. I am going to try that for index cards and flash cards this year. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Fairy Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I posted some pics of my school room in this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40615&page=2 You can't see this in the pics, but we purchased a set of four desks from IKEA that gives each child a cupboard and two drawers. That's where they keep their actual school books and other supplies like pencils/pens/crayons. The rest of the books are in the bookcases we have everywhere. One thing I love is our "Wall of Art," which I covered in chalkboard paint, framed out with molding, and use to corral all of the children's art. This has kept their projects from taking over the rest of the house. Have fun organizing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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