Where do you store your school stuff if you don't have a school room?

[Erica in PA]

We are switching our school room to a dining room, and although I did declutter a lot, I still have quite a bit of school stuff that we will need onhand. I'm trying to figure out how to keep it in the dining room, but in ways that will keep it hidden. I already have one three-sectioned plastic cart that holds all the kids' daily school materials, which is in the kitchen. I have a long side table with an open shelf underneath where I was thinking about putting three nice looking storage baskets with school stuff in them. We currently have a tall metal storage cabinet in the dining room, but I'd like to replace it with something that looks nicer.

 

Does anyone have suggestions for how to store school materials in a small space, so that it is out of sight?

 

Thank you!

[Ravin]

Most of ours is on a big set of cubby-style shelves in our front living room, not even remotely hidden. That room is where we do lessons and where I have my computer and my sewing/craft table. We don't actually have a dining room, though we have two dining room tables--one is used as a TV stand and the other as my sewing table.

 

If I was going to conceal them in a dining room, I'd probably use a china hutch. I have one with wooden lower doors and clear upper ones. You could put the china in the upper ones and school stuff down below.

[OnTheBrink]

I don't have a school room OR a dining room! So, our school stuff is in these:

[MrsMe]

Armoire's work fantastically, and it doesn't matter if it's a tv or computer armoire, they look good.

[Elizabeth Conley]

I don't know if this will be helpful, but here goes. The kid's school supplies are kept upstairs in the hall outside their rooms on a bookcase.

 

I have a plastic expanding folder for each child. Each folder has a section for each day of the week, plus a "daily activities" and "month's goals" section. In each day of the week is a list of objectives for the day, plus applicable worksheets, handwriting paper or Math paper. Anything that is reasonable in size, such as a relatively thin book, I'll tuck in as well.

 

Each day the kids sit down to work, either in the family room on a folding table, or at the dining room table. They start by opening their folders and reviewing what they need to do. They may run upstairs to get a bulky book or some Science equipment, but most of what they need is right there. After the school day is over, the binder ends up on my desk, along with the completed work. The folding table, (if used), is tucked away.

 

Much of my eldest's work, (ending 7th grade), she emails to me. I will grade it and print it out. The following morning I will give them their returned work along with their binders to start the new day. At that point they start the day as previously described, after first scampering upstairs to store their completed and graded work in the bulky 3 ring binders upstairs.

 

In this way Home Schooling has a very slight profile in the family's communal areas. When school is not in session, it's out of sight and largely out of mind.

 

I hope this helps.

[eternalknot]

Is it everday type of stuff, or stuff that you need less frequently?

 

I use wicker baskets or cardboard shoe boxes for everyday type of stuff; they disguise well on random bookshelves around the house, and even on the bar or other countertops/dresser tops, et cetera. I used to "wrap" the shoeboxes, but long ago gave up on that LOL. In other homes, I also put small bookshelves around indoor doorframes. We had several scattered throughout the house, wherever a spare bit of wall or door were to be found (including sliding glass or french doors).

 

For stuff I need weekly or less, I store under the bed - in the past we've used the simple Rubbermaid long/low containers (both with and without lids), but we finally just built custom sized and pine drawers (some on castors). The homemade drawers cost roughly the same as the containers did, but are much sturdier. And we could ditch the risers that we needed to accommodate the Rubbermaids :)

[Erica in PA]

Is it everday type of stuff, or stuff that you need less frequently?

 

I use wicker baskets or cardboard shoe boxes for everyday type of stuff; they disguise well on random bookshelves around the house, and even on the bar or other countertops/dresser tops, et cetera. I used to "wrap" the shoeboxes, but long ago gave up on that LOL. In other homes, I also put small bookshelves around indoor doorframes. We had several scattered throughout the house, wherever a spare bit of wall or door were to be found (including sliding glass or french doors).

 

For stuff I need weekly or less, I store under the bed - in the past we've used the simple Rubbermaid long/low containers (both with and without lids), but we finally just built custom sized and pine drawers (some on castors). The homemade drawers cost roughly the same as the containers did, but are much sturdier. And we could ditch the risers that we needed to accommodate the Rubbermaids :)

 

It's mostly the stuff I need less often that is giving me trouble. The daily stuff doesn't take up much space, and is in a corner of the kitchen. But the stuff that's in the metal storage cabinet right now that I'm trying to find a place for... stuff like flashcards, staples, office supplies, coloring books, supplemental resources, paper, craft supplies, etc.

 

We do have company over quite a bit, and would like to do so even more often-- every week or every other week, probably, which is why we decided to switch to a dining room. It also has been really fun to eat in there as a family at our new table-- gives a new, more formal feeling, which we've enjoyed. But since it's a small room, and we do plan on having company over often, I don't want our guests to feel like they're surrounded by stacks of homeschooling stuff.

 

It's a good idea to store things under the bed. There are probably at least a few things that I don't need often, that I could move back there. Thank you for the suggestion!

[Erica in PA]

I don't have a school room OR a dining room! So, our school stuff is in these:

 

I really like that white storage cabinet! Something like that, but in oak, would be perfect! Where could I find something like that at an affordable price?

[Starr]

Where do we keep our school stuff? Everywhere? :lol: Well it's not really that bad but the house does feel like a library.

[mereadeux]

We keep ours in built-in drawers that are in our dining room. I would suggest clear plastic bins with locking lids for less frequently used items. You can keep these in a cupboard or shelves or closet out of sight.

[OnTheBrink]

I really like that white storage cabinet! Something like that, but in oak, would be perfect! Where could I find something like that at an affordable price?

 

JCPenney has them, and they do have them in oak. They're on sale right now for $199.

 

I got a black one (which they don't seem to have on their website anymore). I ordered mine from the store itself (catalog dept) and asked about any shipping promotions. The clerk got me free shipping to my door. I put it together myself and it was really easy.

[amyco]

Our schoolroom is also our dining area. I just have everything on a tall bookcase in the corner. No one seems to mind. I've considered hanging a white board on the wall behind a curtain. The stuff we aren't using is stored in the basement. Mostly I can fit it all on the one shelf. Overflow gets stashed on a second table, that also used to be in the basement, but we brought it up for a project and it's never left.

 

I am considering changing our front "formal" living room into the school room and moving that furniture into our family room. It makes no sense to me to have a room of pretty furniture that no one ever uses. Crazy. Plus that way I could have a permanent spot for my sewing machine. Also that way we wouldn't have to keep clearing the dining table at meal times!

[Dirtroad]

They work out of plastic crates. But several book shelves line the dining room with reference & readers for the year. It is all in the dining room.

[tulip1969]

I rearranged my kitchen so that I could store art & science supplies in the kitchen cabinets. I keep only the pans I use regularly in the kitchen space, the rest I store in the laundy pantry. I use the cabinets farthest away from the stove & fridge and so had the items we used the least. The change hasn't really changed how I cook - but it has changed in a positve way how we store & use our supplies.

 

We found that we don't need everything we used to store in the kitchen and having the school supplies right there has been great - and they are out of sight...most of the time.

 

Eva

[Desert Rat]

Spread all over, LOL. Not really. I keep most of the school books and supplies on shelves in our kitchen. Supplies we don't use as often like crafts or science stuff is on a shelf in the hall closet. I use baskets for most of the supplies that are in plain view so it looks a bit nicer.

[gardening momma]

It's mostly the stuff I need less often that is giving me trouble. The daily stuff doesn't take up much space, and is in a corner of the kitchen. But the stuff that's in the metal storage cabinet right now that I'm trying to find a place for... stuff like flashcards, staples, office supplies, coloring books, supplemental resources, paper, craft supplies, etc.

I have several boxes from Cost Plus World Market that are similar to these:

These have hinged lids, and mine are a separate lid, shoebox style. I have several of them, in a couple of sizes, plus a matching pencil box and tissue box. Mine are a dark brown color, like these:

My pencil box is in this picture.

 

If you looked for something along these lines, you could get a variety of matching boxes, depending on what exactly you need them for. The closed-lid style are nice because you can stack them. Mine don't have homeschool stuff in them, but there's all kinds of other stuff that is nice to keep out of sight. And they're in my dining room.

[Margo out of lurking]

My dh can't stand any kind of clutter whatsoever, and that includes any piece of schoolwork out, once school is over. We've downsized our house, and I have to admit, I appreciate his superclean-freakishness.

 

We bought what I guess would be called a buffet. We wanted something that had a lot of hidden storage and matched our dining room furniture. In addition to the large center cabinet (with a hidden drawer), it has two more cabinets on the side. We had a piece of glass cut to fit the top to protect it from cats/drinks/life/whatever.

 

This picture was taken shortly after we moved in; we've since hung a few things on the walls and have a centerpiece on the buffet. :)

Edited May 1, 2009 by Kristine out of lurking

[FlockOfSillies]

We got three of the white Liatorp bookcases with glass doors from Ikea. They're bolted together. We've gotten lots of compliments on them. Cost about $1200 for the three.

[Brenda in FL]

We got three of the white Liatorp bookcases with glass doors from Ikea. They're bolted together. We've gotten lots of compliments on them. Cost about $1200 for the three.

 

I love these - that is exactly what I wanted to do in our house in Florida - maybe someday!

[Erica in PA]

My dh can't stand any kind of clutter whatsoever, and that includes any piece of schoolwork out, once school is over. We've downsized our house, and I have to admit, I appreciate his superclean-freakishness.

 

We bought what I guess would be called a buffet. We wanted something that had a lot of hidden storage and matched our dining room furniture. In addition to the large center cabinet (with a hidden drawer), it has two more cabinets on the side. We had a piece of glass cut to fit the top to protect it from cats/drinks/life/whatever.

 

This picture was taken shortly after we moved in; we've since hung a few things on the walls and have a centerpiece on the buffet. :)

 

That looks great!! That is the kind of thing I am going for. I'll add a buffet to my list of things I am looking for on Craigslist. Thanks!

[Tammyla]

I've got mine stored in the buffet sideboard here too. We love that the dining room is just that when the school stuff is tucked away. We also have lots of book shelves in the kids rooms and around the house, but those are just for our treasure books.

 

If you have little ones a book-bag they can tote in an out to their rooms can keep the clutter down while keeping the stuff handy.