Tips for organizing a small homeschool space

[MaryMak07]

Anybody homeschooling in a small space?  We will most likely be in our small house (1200sq ft) for several years.  We really don't have tons of toys, but I'm already noticing that the ones we do have, plus art supplies, puzzles, etc are quickly taking up more and more space (just a preschooler and a toddler at this point, no formal school besides FIAR).  Tips/strategies for homeschooling in a small space and, ideally, not getting too cluttered?  What helps you stay organized? 

[lewelma]

 What helps you stay organized?

 

Less stuff.  

 

We have always lived in 700sq ft while we have had kids and homeschooled.  Toy fit under their bed in under the bed boxes.  Science supplies fit in one under the bed box in my room, and other school supplies not currently in use fit in another.  We have one trunk for desk supplies.  We have one book shelf (4 ft wide and up to the ceiling, that holds all books).  We go to the library a lot, and we joined a toy library when the kids were little so we had a huge supply of toys that we did not have to buy or store. When my kids were little, they spent a lot of time playing outdoors, so the mess was outside. We also went on a lot of field trips so they could have experiences that did not require me to store stuff.  

 

Less is more.  We have never found less space to in any way impact our homeschool.  :001_smile:

 

Ruth in NZ

[HomeAgain]

We did 900sq ft at one point.  We labeled the 'pantry' (a tall kitchen cupboard) for homeschool stuff and used a dresser for overflow in the dining room.  Sorry, I mean buffet.  It was certainly a buffet. ;) 

 

I don't know if what we did would help, but here goes...

 

-invest in quality.  You buy less over time, and you decide what's really worth spending the money on.

-buy with the intention of using for multiple years.  Most 0-5yo toys can be gotten rid of - anything that talks or they lose interest in quickly.  Narrow things down to what is really important and can be used often.

-don't buy textbooks unless you have to. 

-keep things where they will be used.  We kept art supplies in a backpack by the front door along with nature study stuff, since most art lessons were done better outside.

-skip the fluff.  Decide if the time and resources put into the activity match the output. If not, skip it, or do a simpler version. 

-pack away what you don't need, but make a system to be able to find it quickly and easily.  I make a spreadsheet, with subject, resource, grade level intended for, and where it's located in the house.  I know I can find the fossils and dinosaur books in a tub under the 5yo's bed, and the chemistry books in a top closet.

[MaryMak07]

We did 900sq ft at one point.  We labeled the 'pantry' (a tall kitchen cupboard) for homeschool stuff and used a dresser for overflow in the dining room.  Sorry, I mean buffet.  It was certainly a buffet. ;)

 

I don't know if what we did would help, but here goes...

 

-invest in quality.  You buy less over time, and you decide what's really worth spending the money on.

-buy with the intention of using for multiple years.  Most 0-5yo toys can be gotten rid of - anything that talks or they lose interest in quickly.  Narrow things down to what is really important and can be used often.

-don't buy textbooks unless you have to. 

-keep things where they will be used.  We kept art supplies in a backpack by the front door along with nature study stuff, since most art lessons were done better outside.

-skip the fluff.  Decide if the time and resources put into the activity match the output. If not, skip it, or do a simpler version. 

-pack away what you don't need, but make a system to be able to find it quickly and easily.  I make a spreadsheet, with subject, resource, grade level intended for, and where it's located in the house.  I know I can find the fossils and dinosaur books in a tub under the 5yo's bed, and the chemistry books in a top closet.

 

I love the idea of making a spreadsheet of what it is and where.  I wouldn't have thought of that!

[eternallytired]

I'm no longer in a small space (woot!), but I'm trying to maintain the same mentality.  Seriously consider what is important. Sure, kids love pom-poms, glitter glue, tissue paper, wiggly scissors, and all those crazy art supplies, but is the benefit really worth the space taken and mess made?  After briefly thinking we "needed" those things once we had more space, I realized that mostly those things just got dragged around the house, left on the floor, smeared haphazardly over paper and then left unwanted...  They didn't enrich our lives.  The same went for rarely-used toys they might someday suddenly love, most things requiring batteries, and an overabundance of anything (like the hundreds of Hot Wheels inherited from DH's childhood collection).

 

Decide what storage space you have, and only keep what will fit in that space.  You will be forced to keep weeding and to seriously consider priorities.  If you have an attic or basement or other storage space, you can choose to have some items you rotate out in order to keep your small supply interesting.  Avoid cluttering your space, though; I've found everyone is happier and plays more nicely with more open space and less clutter.  Initially, I had one 4' wide x 6' tall bookshelf.  The bottom shelves held some plastic bins with toys, the middle shelves were filled with books, and the top shelf was for my manuals and things I didn't want readily accessible.  The bottom shelf of the linen closet held paper and art supplies, and we had a couple more bins for toys under the coffee table.  You really don't need much--you just think you do.  And you tend to fill whatever space you have available.  (Don't ask how many books I've purchased since we got the space for more shelves!)

[Coco_Clark]

I have between 3-5 kids at any given moment, in about 1500 square feet. Plus my husband often works from home- so we are ALL here.

 

And yep, repeating what's been said.

 

Keep less stuff- and that really permeates into everything. Don't keep 2400 matchbox cars when 24 will do just fine. Don't keep 4 or 5 sets of plates when 1 or 2 will do just fine. Do you need all those kitchen appliances? Do you use all those craft supplies? Maybe you do, but make sure! Don't buy that curriculum that's such a good price, but you won't use it for three years. Don't keep those jeans you don't fit into or that toy everyone outgrew. Sure keeping that stuff *might* save money, but space is money!

Be vigilant. Ask the hard questions.

 

2. Use every inch. Think under and think over. Under the bed storage is a gift from the gods. Bookshelves and cabinets should reach to the ceiling. I put a shelf over several of our doorways. We got rid of the chairs on one side of our table and replaced them with a bench- that opens and stores board games. I wish we had good closets, but with what I do have, I've found shelves store more than rods. And don't forget wall storage. It's not just shelves. We hang our pots and pans on a wire wall rack, our knives on a magnet strip, art supplies on the side of the bookshelf in small buckets hung by command hooks, some toys in baskets hanging by coat hooks, ect.

 

3. Make sure everything has a place. And keep it there. Clutter in a large home is distracting. In a small home it's suffocating.

[fdrinca]

We are lucky to have extra space, but I tend toward a minimalist approach to items that are out. Lots of toy rotation, for example. The book Simplicity Parenting has been very influential. 

 

That's background to say that in my experience, materials that are packed away are gone. Even if they are easy to access physically, by packing them up (in closets, in the garage, in well-labeled boxes) I've removed them from my sight and they may as well have been donated. So, I'd caution you to really think about what you need and less about where to put it.

 

 

[Hobbes]

We are in that general amount of space, with three kids and a fourth on the way. 2nd grade, 1 grade, 1yo, then baby. I agree with everything said so far! Minimize stuff. Have a place for everything.

 

Use bins. I LOVE my IKEA Expedit/Kallax bookshelves and have two 5x5 units. One is primarily homeschool related - the top row is a cubby for each subjects and any resources I have - one for science, one for math, one for LA, etc. I try to limit the resources I keep, even for the future - if that cube is getting full, I cull. As we move through the years I expect to need to use more cubes, but I hope to keep the system somewhat similar (I already have a lot of future resources because I've been given valuable ones I don't want to give up just yet). 

 

I try to keep categories of toys that can go in a bin together. For example, we've built up collections of Thomas Trains, Playmobil, dressup, blocks, and Lego - all of which can be added to without additional clutter. They each have their own bin. This is also great for gift suggestions for others... you don't end up with a whole pile of unrelated toys which are hard to tidy. I cull other toys a LOT. I also keep a box in the storage room for a 'toy rotation' and move things in and out of that regularly.

 

I second the 'Simplicity Parenting' suggestion.

 

One thing I'd say... I had to acquire before I could minimize for homeschooling, it that makes sense. There were a lot of things which looked great and I wanted to try them, I couldn't decide remotely. One example would be art supplies. Many sounded great and many are. I went through a period of time when I tried a lot of different art stuff and enjoyed developing a collection. Now that we've used it all for a while, I'm starting to streamline the collection. I know which things we truly use and which things always stayed on the shelf. I'm minimizing now based on experience. In the future, we will add more carefully.

 

So give yourself some grace time to figure out what your family needs and uses, then minimize from there. It's easier to organize after you've reduced to what you really use and need and it's hard to be sure about what you use and need while you're just getting started in a venture. It's a bit of a process that takes time.

[The Princess and the Jedi]

I have a few "if-it-fits" areas around the house for the kids to help them prioritize what to keep and what to toss. 

• one magazine holder per kid for coloring books, sticker books, sketch books, etc... Instead of using typing paper, my oldest son uses a sketch book. It cuts waaaay down on loose papers being left everywhere.
• two shelves in the narrow hall closet for games and puzzles.
• each child has 2 designated bookshelves in their room for books and a basket in the living room for library books.
• we have a few other boxes of various sizes for dolls, stuffed animals, toy cars, action figures, dress up clothes, and other categories that have lids that must fit

[mmpmelmack]

we have 5 people in 1100 sq feet,   this was my husbands fix for my large amount of books.  my son took the largest bedroom, it needed to hold the first lego league table.  my daughter took the next largest bed room it holds her and all the toys for everyone.  the next largest went to my books, and the computer and kids desks.  my husband and I ( and the baby!) live in the smallest room in the house, it exactly fits a full bed, and a dresser on the end....my husband sleeps in the top bunk.  yep we sleep in bunk beds hubby in a twin on top  me and baby in a full on bottom.  so my best advice besides keep less stuff is be willing to be flexible and think outside the box.  also never keep a first lego league table in your house!  LOL  ( its as large as a piece of plywood, 4 X 8).  also decide what is most improtant to you.  we have a terrible library system, i have to buy most books.  it is what it is.

 

[ezrabean2005]

We have floor to ceiling bookshelves at home.  Not the whole room, just three of them in the whole house.  These keep all the "other" items that are great resources, but aren't needed every day.  Daily items are in a single rolling crate and supplies in a pencil pouch.  A small whiteboard and marker fit in the rolling crate.  We use kindles when we can (pdf's, textbooks, literature, etc.)  One drawer holds all stationary supplies for the year bought during back to school sales (notebooks, folders, etc.).

 

A timeline and world map are on the wall in our living room.

 

I would second keeping all of the "other stuff" that is in your home to a minimum.  Quite often if things were cluttered, it wasn't the homeschooling supplies per se.  It was all of the other stuff that made finding homeschool stuff difficult.  Purge mercilessly and it all is quite easy to find when needed.  Oh, and train yourself and the kids to put things back where you found them.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I decorated with bookcases.  They take up the minimal amount of floor space and are vertical.  I use small crates or fabric covered boxes to separate small stuff and used high shelves for expensive or messy items when they were little. Each kid has at least 1 bookcase in their rooms (sometimes more) where they keep/kept toys and special things.