susankenny Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I asked this on the general forum too, but no one has even opened it & I could really use some direction. I feel like I am over-run by homeschooling books and supplies sometimes. Our home isn't small, but I feel like I just don't have adequate space for everything! How do you all organize your spaces? I would appreciate advice, pictures, whatever! Please. Thank you!! Susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 We have a small home (950 sq ft, five of us, plus the guinea pig). What really helped me was paring down the books in a way that made homeschool books a priority. What I mean is that, except for some special books that have been in the family for a very long time and a couple of favorites, all of our "fun" reading is done on ereaders or library books. If we have to buy a physical copy of a book, it's usually through a thrift store for less than $.50 and then we donate it right back when we're done with it. We have a nice IKEA bookcase/entertainment center that we store our homeschool literature in. Each kid has a Desk Apprentice from Staples for their school supplies, workbooks, textbooks, planner, etc. They go on the dining room table during school and sit on the dining room floor up against the wall when we're done for the day. I have my own Desk Apprentice for planning stuff and teacher's manuals, pens and other supplies. I also don't hang on to curricula that doesn't work for us. Curricula that *does* work and is waiting for a kid to get to that grade to use it, goes into the bottom part of my china cabinet for storage. And, I don't hang on to every piece of work they do. We handle it in 6-week terms. Everything they work on goes into a folder, and at the end of the term I go through it all. If something is really cool or well written, I scan it and save it in a folder in Dropbox. And then it goes into recycling. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 i actually blogged about it this morning. we do live in a small space though. it's a single wide mobile home & it has been an adjustment figuring out how to make things work here. i hide most things behind my couch, lol. we sell what we don't use or we give it away. i also have a bookshelf in my son's closet for all of the chapter books we've read this year (but want to keep) or our FIAR books that i just don't want to part with. anyway. pictures are shared. hope it helps. i know it can be challenging for sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 i actually blogged about it this morning. we do live in a small space though. it's a single wide mobile home & it has been an adjustment figuring out how to make things work here. i hide most things behind my couch, lol. we sell what we don't use or we give it away. i also have a bookshelf in my son's closet for all of the chapter books we've read this year (but want to keep) or our FIAR books that i just don't want to part with. anyway. pictures are shared. hope it helps. i know it can be challenging for sure! Your blog is lovely! I LOVE your hidden storage space! I think I might have to figure out how I can do that here... If I can get a deep-enough shelving unit (might be time to get DH to spend some quality time with his tools), I could get those Desk Apprentices off the dining room floor. Hmmm.... I wanted to say, too, that your story of downsizing into a much smaller space and what it's allowed you to do re: debt is an awesome story. It's a road that we're also on. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Your blog is lovely! I LOVE your hidden storage space! I think I might have to figure out how I can do that here... If I can get a deep-enough shelving unit (might be time to get DH to spend some quality time with his tools), I could get those Desk Apprentices off the dining room floor. Hmmm.... I wanted to say, too, that your story of downsizing into a much smaller space and what it's allowed you to do re: debt is an awesome story. It's a road that we're also on. :) thanks. it was my mom's idea to hide the books, lol. she's good like that! i love when she visits!! we are so happy to be on the road to true financial freedom. it has been a long road but well worth it! i'm figuring out that any place can be the home you want. that's a whole other journey we are in the process of creating though :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 except for some special books that have been in the family for a very long time and a couple of favorites, all of our "fun" reading is done on ereaders or library books. If we have to buy a physical copy of a book, it's usually through a thrift store for less than $.50 and then we donate it right back when we're done with it. Recovering Book Hoarder here. :) We are moving in this direction as well. I am attempting to train myself that we have glorious rooms full of gigantic bookshelves, right down the street - at the library. I have donated, freecycled and otherwise given away dozens of boxes of books, and still working on this issue. As for homeschooling supplies, we are trying to keep it simple this year. I tend to over purchase, because it all just looks like so much fun, but now I'm rethinking that. For now, we have reference books and current books on a shelf in the living room (where we do most of our schoolwork), and I keep smaller books and workbooks corralled in wooden magazine files on the same shelf. Educational games are in a cabinet below that shelf, and we have a math drawer filled with manips, a science drawer filled with supplies, and a drawer filled with planning materials that I use. The drawers are under my "secret desk" (dubbed by DS, it's a secretary desk), and DS has a roll top in the same room with his supplies. I like that both desks can be closed to hide messes. We also have Ikea Trofast shelves and bins to hold art supplies and paper in our kitchen. I have a big bin of science supplies in the garage, but I really need to declutter it. Books we have yet to use go on a bookshelf in our basement, lining a hallway. I do have 2 bins of preschool/K materials waiting on our littlest to grow into them... In the garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Recovering Book Hoarder here. :) We are moving in this direction as well. I am attempting to train myself that we have glorious rooms full of gigantic bookshelves, right down the street - at the library. I have donated, freecycled and otherwise given away dozens of boxes of books, and still working on this issue. As for homeschooling supplies, we are trying to keep it simple this year. I tend to over purchase, because it all just looks like so much fun, but now I'm rethinking that. For now, we have reference books and current books on a shelf in the living room (where we do most of our schoolwork), and I keep smaller books and workbooks corralled in wooden magazine files on the same shelf. Educational games are in a cabinet below that shelf, and we have a math drawer filled with manips, a science drawer filled with supplies, and a drawer filled with planning materials that I use. The drawers are under my "secret desk" (dubbed by DS, it's a secretary desk), and DS has a roll top in the same room with his supplies. I like that both desks can be closed to hide messes. We also have Ikea Trofast shelves and bins to hold art supplies and paper in our kitchen. I have a big bin of science supplies in the garage, but I really need to declutter it. Books we have yet to use go on a bookshelf in our basement, lining a hallway. I do have 2 bins of preschool/K materials waiting on our littlest to grow into them... In the garage. Oh yes, I hear ya! Over the past couple of years, I've donated 3000+ books to our local Goodwill. It was getting to be ridiculous. Boxes of books stacked in closets waiting for the "some day" when they'd have a home in a bookshelf. *snort* We've simplified our school supplies, too. Using the ereaders much more, not printing as much, using up what pens and pencils we already have. I still get taken in by a couple of things, though. Like those cute itty bitty staplers I found last year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Boxes of books stacked in closets waiting for the "some day" when they'd have a home in a bookshelf. *snort* Yep! We have boxes of books in our garage stacked on shelves to the ceiling. Ouch. It's painful, but less is more. That's the best organizing advice I've got. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Your hidden bookcase reminded me of this picture that I thought was genius. THAT is awesome!!!!! i love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeterbug Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 i actually blogged about it this morning. we do live in a small space though. it's a single wide mobile home & it has been an adjustment figuring out how to make things work here. i hide most things behind my couch, lol. we sell what we don't use or we give it away. i also have a bookshelf in my son's closet for all of the chapter books we've read this year (but want to keep) or our FIAR books that i just don't want to part with. anyway. pictures are shared. hope it helps. i know it can be challenging for sure! I can't see the pics in your blog post. I'm on an ipad, it looks like it's a slideshow? Maybe that's why. I can see individual pics in other posts. Just fyi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mytwomonkeys Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I can't see the pics in your blog post. I'm on an ipad, it looks like it's a slideshow? Maybe that's why. I can see individual pics in other posts. Just fyi. i'm sorry about that. it is just bookshelves hidden behind my couch, so you aren't missing much, lol here are two pictures to give you the general idea (1, 2). hope they work :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
songsparrow Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I just did a blog post about my reorganization, here: http://homeschooldailyadventure.blogspot.com/2013/01/getting-organized.html?m=1 (sorry, I'm posting from my tablet, so can't hyperlink). I have a small home and we work in the diningroom and livingroom, and it's important to me that we be able to put things away out-of-sight when we're not using them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susankenny Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Wow! These are fantastic ideas, pictures, inspiration! THANK YOU so much for sharing, everyone!!! :D Susan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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