If you keep homeschool stuff in your living room, where do you store it?

[PeterPan]

Ds has a bedroom converted to an office, but he has good enough behavior that we also do some things on the couch now. (He has autism, behaviors are a huge issue.) I'm realizing my living room is getting CLUTTERED because I'm ending up with stray this or that around on a couch, on a side table. But I'm drawing a blank on *how* to store this stuff accessibly in the living room. I think what we're talking about are some hardback grade leveled readers, 1-2 Better Binders (large) with pages of stuff we're working through, and maybe some clipboards and a pencil bin. So the stuff is heavy and a bit bulky.

I thought what I wanted was wooden crates that would stack. But the crates I'm finding on Lowes, Etsy, etc. are not quite deep enough, are they? Maybe I need to go to the store as some reviews are saying sizes vary. Maybe I need "record crates"? Would those hold Better Binders? I love my Better Binders, but they're big!

Anything witty or cute I'm missing as a way to do this? Ideally, I'm taking up maybe 18" in width and going vertical. Oh and I eschew completely particle board, MDF, etc. Otherwise something like a 2 tier Billy would make sense. Seen anything that would work for this?

[Spryte]

We tried crates.  So many crates.  All wooden, various finds.  None were deep enough for our Better Binders, so they always poked out the top. The right crate was my personal white whale for years.  🤣

We finally went with a bookcase.  Much neater now!  If you have space, that might save you the endless hunt.

[HS Mom in NC]

One option people use for storage and seating, often under a window, is this storage bench I use for crafting in my kitchen: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017WOF41G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1&fpw=alm

I have a bookcase dedicated to homeschool stuff in the living room.  

We do the 36 hanging file folder system, so that's on a bottom shelf with graph and notebook paper in files too. Books for literature or living books based science have a label on the spine indicating which week of school they will be used that corresponds to the week number on the hanging file folder full of prepped assignments, worksheets, and study guides and the number of the week on the schedule/ assignments chart she uses as a check list. Binders for each subject (4-6 depending on what's going on each year) of completed work are on a shelf with school books. There's a bin with a lid on the lower shelf for art supplies (she has a figure drawing class) and another for science supplies like limtus paper, liquid measuring items, microscope, etc.  Directly across the from the school bookcase is her floating desk on the wall with computer next to a whiteboard calendar on the wall that has a cork strip on it for pinning her school subject schedule/assignments chart and chore chart.

I have another bookcase for my books in the living room.  Other than that my living room has furniture in it: 1 couch, 2 chairs, 2 ottomans, 4 side tables, and a cardboard shredder for recycling and composting. There are 2 lamps and one remote.  I have 4 blankies and 4 pillows on the seating.  There's a remote on one side table. There are 2 plants hanging from the ceiling and 2 potted plants on each of the top shelves of the bookcase. There's a Christmas tree and presents in December. Other things have homes in other rooms.

When I was schooling 3 kids we had more books and bookcases in a larger house.  Each kid had a file drawer with their own colored 36 files (oldest-red, middle-yellow, youngest-purple.) Each kid had a shelf for labeled subject binders.  Each kid had a shelf for school books. We had more than a dozen large scale bookcases throughout the house. Then we launched kids, moved, and downsized.

[sbgrace]

I use bookcases. 

[MEmama]

I kept everything in an ikea bookcase (horizontal so it also functions as a buffet) in the dining room. 
 

Which reminds me that nearly 4 years after I stopped homeschooling, I should probably get rid of it all. Seriously, why am I still looking at binders and textbooks in my dining room? 

[alisoncooks]

In the fireplace. 😂

Seriously, we converted the unused fireplace into a bookshelf. Each kid has a organizer on the top; books get lined up on other shelves. (Right how it's partially cleared to make pretty for Christmas.)

[prairiewindmomma]

We kept Jansport backpacks (1/kid) tucked neatly behind the couch. 
https://www.jansport.com/shop/en/jansport-us/large-backpacks/big-student-backpack-js0a47jk?variationId=76C

[Innisfree]

Bookcase. Wide binders lie flat on top.

[mathnerd]

2 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We kept Jansport backpacks (1/kid) tucked neatly behind the couch. 
https://www.jansport.com/shop/en/jansport-us/large-backpacks/big-student-backpack-js0a47jk?variationId=76C

This! We don't have storage or space, so, we have a backpack per activity stored behind our couch: e.g. free reading books, sheet music and notebooks for music lessons, math notebooks and solutions manuals etc. We work a lot in the living room and it is hard to lug things back and forth and I bought a bunch of wheeled crates and they all broke with the weight of the books.

I also have one of these cute metallic rolling utility cart that I use for pencil boxes, calculators, quick references, laptop for school work etc:

https://www.amazon.com/SimpleHouseware-Heavy-3-Tier-Utility-Rolling/dp/B081K9Y82F

I move it out of the way when I am not schooling.

[*Jessica*]

I use baskets and a glass-front curio turned into a bookshelf.  Excuse the terrible quality iPad photo.  We used to use one basket for each of the 3 kids and one for me, but as the teens move their stuff mostly to their room the 9yo books have overtaken.  

 

 

[Loowit]

I have a bookcase to keep stuff on.  Each kid has their own shelf.

[Arcadia]

I have expedit 2x2 cubes and also a rectangular ottoman. My homeschooling paperwork is in binders under my piano bench.

[kbutton]

We use the birch version of these with the shelves, not bins. I suspect they don't make them anymore: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/trofast-storage-combination-with-boxes-white-white-gray-s09330464/  Maybe you can find them used if you like the look. The birch ones can be finished or painted.

They are deep enough for binders, but the kids don't like binders on their shelves (they don't like the triangular shape--stuff gets out of kilter), so they do have a crate as well. We try to tuck open shelving in the most inconspicuous places because I hate open shelves in my own home. They don't bother me elsewhere, but I need a door, even if it's a glass one, lol! To me, it just looks like clutter without a door. 

It's good you know what you don't like, lol! 

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, alisoncooks said:

In the fireplace. 😂

Seriously, we converted the unused fireplace into a bookshelf. Each kid has a organizer on the top; books get lined up on other shelves. (Right how it's partially cleared to make pretty for Christmas.)

That's awesome!!!

[wathe]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

I kept everything in an ikea bookcase (horizontal so it also functions as a buffet) in the dining room. 
 

Which reminds me that nearly 4 years after I stopped homeschooling, I should probably get rid of it all. Seriously, why am I still looking at binders and textbooks in my dining room? 

Because, even though they might be ugly, they represent something beautiful 🙂

 

 

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, mathnerd said:

I bought a bunch of wheeled crates and they all broke with the weight of the books.

Oh dear, but that makes sense.

1 hour ago, mathnerd said:

I also have one of these cute metallic rolling utility cart that I use for pencil boxes, calculators, quick references, laptop for school work etc:

See I wondered about that. I'm just not sure binders would stand up nicely. But uber love the cart and definitely the right size.

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We kept Jansport backpacks (1/kid) tucked neatly behind the couch. 

Ok, you've kind of got my mind going here. Hadn't thought about bags. Doesn't get more wonderful than bags, except maybe carts with wheels. 

2 hours ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

this storage bench

I never would have thought of that!!! I'm not sure if I'd get the stuff IN or if I'd just constantly leave it on top. But still, interesting idea!

3 minutes ago, wathe said:

Because, even though they might be ugly, they represent something beautiful 🙂

 

 

I'm gonna have to use that thought while I'm decluttering the sewing room/homeschool room I used with dd. It's an absolute fiasco and I've spent days uncovering it after several years of just looking at it. As you say, it represents something beautiful. 

[HS Mom in NC]

40 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

I never would have thought of that!!! I'm not sure if I'd get the stuff IN or if I'd just constantly leave it on top. But still, interesting idea!

It might be useful to spend a little time figuring out your organizing style(s) if you're not quite sure of it (them.)  Like homeschooling approaches, most people fall into more than one category, but this video might help you clarify it(them)  for yourself and give you a direction most likely to work for you and your situation:
 

 

[PeterPan]

35 minutes ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

It might be useful to spend a little time figuring out your organizing style(s) if you're not quite sure of it (them.)  Like homeschooling approaches, most people fall into more than one category, but this video might help you clarify it(them)  for yourself and give you a direction most likely to work for you and your situation:
 

 

Hehe, that's cute! I think maybe I had seen it but not made a lot of effort to understand it. I'm probably ladybug. I'm DEFINITELY macro, mercy. So the visual is just the question. Too much not seeing doesn't work for me because I forget, and too much seeing is messy for me too. In the other spaces I've successfully fixed in my home, they're definitely that macro level organization and they're usually less visual though not completely. I tend to have macro level in sight for useful objects, like the enameled pots holding cooking utentsils on each side of my stove (one for metal, the other for wood/bamboo/spatulas). So definitely macro, haha, but sometimes hidden and sometimes visual when it makes more sense. 

So I think I really like the storage ottoman in general but wouldn't use it specifically for this because it's not ready access. But I think if I'm seeing stuff *too* much, that will bug me too, which is why I don't have bookcases in there right now. I tend to keep the places where I live in really trim and streamlined.  

Hmm, I don't even know how that sorts out, lol. I'll keep thinking on it, because it's a good point, even the most basic point of whether you want to see the stuff or not and what that would look like to partially see it. 

In other words, my reality is butterfly and my preference is ladybug. Maybe that's it? Haha.

That could explain why I was looking at cabinets with doors at IKEA...

Edited December 11, 2020 by PeterPan

[HS Mom in NC]

I'm definitely visual and micro with detailed organization for homeschooling, which is why I do the 36 hanging color coded file folders, labeling books spines with week numbers, and posted assignment/schedule  and chore charts. It's not something I can keep in my head to my satisfaction, and the anxiety of seeing it out is far less than the anxiety of possibly forgetting something. 

I also need a clean break between schooling time and not schooling time-planning tomorrow or next week's assignments in the evenings and on weekends makes me cranky and resentful. I'd rather sink myself 100% into planning and prepping the entire coming year during the last half of summer break and just occasionally tweak as needed here and there during the school year.

I hand over more time management responsibility to my children for their homeschooling as they get older than most people do, so I need a structure in place that avoids confusion about what I expect,  when I expect it, and a way to quickly check up on them and grade it at the end of the week.

But in every other aspects of my home I'm hidden and macro with big categories: kitchen, closets, cabinets, craft supplies, pantry, garden shed, and such.

I'd rather have the whole house cleaned in a long(er) cleaning session(s) and enjoy having a completely done environment than doing a small amount every day with something always left undone. Our chore schedule focuses on weekly chores on Thursdays and Fridays so the house is done and company ready for the weekend when we can relax and only do essential daily tasks like dishes.

Husband is hidden and micro for filing and money management issues-he helps me understand the filing system and gives me printed, detailed, updated info regularly so I'm up to speed because I'd be overwhelmed trying to keep it all straight. (We have household and business budgeting to do, so it's a lot.)

So it really could be a mix depending on the specific aspects of both running your household and homeschooling. That's the tricky thing about homeschooling, it's a constant mix of family dynamics issues, parenting issues, academic issues, and household management issues at the same freaking time. I tell people thinking like an analyst is one of the most important skills a homeschooling parent can have because we always have to sort out and consider so many intertwined things.

[Slache]

Book basket is in a pretty wooden box, the rest in a cabinet. 

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

I'm definitely visual and micro with detailed organization for homeschooling, which is why I do the 36 hanging color coded file folders, labeling books spines with week numbers, and posted assignment/schedule  and chore charts. It's not something I can keep in my head to my satisfaction, and the anxiety of seeing it out is far less than the anxiety of possibly forgetting something. 

Now it finally makes sense to me! I hear these systems and admire them but can't do them, lol. I have pocket charts, but I tend to use them in very macro ways or not at all, as in I own them and like them. 

1 hour ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

in every other aspects of my home I'm hidden and macro

Well you really had me going and then you switched!

1 hour ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

I'd rather have the whole house cleaned in a long(er) cleaning session(s) and enjoy having a completely done environment than doing a small amount every day with something always left undone.

I'm with you, but I also have some forced strategies for that, just with having to deal with real life. 

1 hour ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

I tell people thinking like an analyst is one of the most important skills a homeschooling parent can have because we always have to sort out and consider so many intertwined things.

Oh I don't know. My ds has been a huge challenge and I've had some health issues that we keep working on. Kind of gets in the way of analysis. When I feel better, I do things in spurts. So I'm on some new stuff (meds, etc.) and am working now. Can't change the past. But I'm with you that understanding why you do something or what your mindset is would be valuable. I'll have to watch it now to see whether I'm uniform or vary, hmm. I do think the needs and the emotions of how you deal with those situations would drive the tools you decide to use. I use time markers to drive some things, but I think I tend to drive my organization harder (less visual, still macro) where I relax and bring out more visual out of necessity where I work. But even then, my sort of OCD tendencies mean the visual has to be very careful. Bins have to match or have a regular pattern, all the colors in the room match/coordinate, things lined up, etc. I can have things visual if they follow the rules. 

Hmm, so that's funny. If my relaxing spaces are less visual and my work is more visual, then a living room blurs that line. Which is why the storage ottoman makes a lot of sense and the bookshelf could be stressful even if it's functional. It's bringing WORK into my relaxation space, and I don't do that. 

I saw some bins with lids, things that could sit on the floor and have the lid on/off and still look good either way. Could be that middle of the road. I think I'm going to go on a little shopping adventure in a bit and see what pops up. I put in a nice macaroni and cheese into the crockpot (woo-woo!) so I'm free to go for a while. I went through most of the IKEA website and got some more ideas too. Console tables with baskets, metal cabinet with doors. We have a nifty shop near us that has odd stuff with a whole section by local crafters, so I might find something there. 

[HS Mom in NC]

15 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

 My ds has been a huge challenge and I've had some health issues that we keep working on. Kind of gets in the way of analysis. When I feel better, I do things in spurts. So I'm on some new stuff (meds, etc.) and am working now. 

I do think the needs and the emotions of how you deal with those situations would drive the tools you decide to use. I use time markers to drive some things, but I think I tend to drive my organization harder (less visual, still macro) where I relax and bring out more visual out of necessity where I work. But even then, my sort of OCD tendencies mean the visual has to be very careful. 

Hmm, so that's funny. If my relaxing spaces are less visual and my work is more visual, then a living room blurs that line.

Those are tricky factors.  I hope you're able to narrow it down without burning yourself out.  It really can be quite a puzzle.

[Jaybee]

Shared books went on a bookshelf. Individual materials went into a plastic crate for each child, which sometimes were in the living room, and sometimes were in the child's room. It was an easy way to keep all their stuff together, and when we went to Grandma's house, it was easy to load up in the car.

[EKS]

I had a shelf where the books went, a basket for loose stuff, and I used the space between the couch and an end table to store a medium sized whiteboard.

[cjzimmer1]

I have one of these.  Each kid is assigned a cube slot.  When they are younger and have lots of little pieces like crayons, scissors, etc, we use a basket/cube slide in,  when they are bigger we just use it for holding books/papers upright.  The large spaces on the bottom, have stored a basket of cars, trucks other small toys for DS, they've also been used to store backpacks.  Anyways, I love this style so much that I have 2 like this and one of the tall uprights.  All my homeschool stuff not currently used gets stored on the 2 shelves downstairs with each cube being a subject.  I love that you can even label them if desired.

Amazon.com: Sauder Barrister Lane Bookcase, Salt Oak finish: Furniture & Decor

[PeterPan]

Well I'm back! After no success at the crafted/antique store, I went to Target, where I got to see the ottomans @Homeschool Mom in AZ was suggesting. I snagged a large notebook from their school supply section and tried it out with a variety of options. I can totally see why you were suggesting storage ottomans! I was going to have a hard time lifting it onto the cart and I was sort of bugged that it wouldn't match my couch. So I went over to their storage/organization/cute baskets section and found these:

https://www.target.com/p/decorative-coiled-rope-floor-basket-white-threshold-8482/-/A-53192988  I ended up getting two, to roll with @mathnerd's point about expanding capacity. And they had a small size that I can leave out on a side table to hold pencils, etc. which solves that problem. 

They fit with the macro level of organization and are low visual, even though they don't have lids, because they will *blend in with my couch/chairs*. They're also soft, so they won't rip up the edges of binders and books. They had other cute things, but they were all scratchy and would have damaged my materials.

I'll take them down in a bit and see how they work, but I'm hopeful. I like them enough that I would use them for other projects around the house, even if I didn't want to use them for this. And if I outgrow the space they provide or want it more hidden, I can always get a storage ottoman.

So did I do good? I think so. 

Thanks ladies!!

[PeterPan]

2 hours ago, EKS said:

I had a shelf where the books went, a basket for loose stuff, and I used the space between the couch and an end table to store a medium sized whiteboard.

Ok, whiteboards I draw the line on. I use them a lot, but I walk them back to the homeschool room/office. I guess that plays in with that not wanting to see so much. I have smaller ones, so I could probably have a *small* one in the new baskets if I wanted. But then I'd need all the rest that goes with them (various colors of markers, kinds of erasers, paper towels, spray, etc.), and I already have that kind of storage in his office. For me it's just as easy to walk them back, clean them, and put them away along with any manipulatives, etc. I was using with the board.

[prairiewindmomma]

Those are super cute baskets!!

[Familia]

Great choice, @PeterPan, and @alisoncooksthat fireplace turned bookcase is super-cute!!