Okay...before you assume our little house is without a mess, think again. By noon there is dirty laundry behind doors, books and toys on every flat surface, and food already stuck on the stove. But before Dad walks through the door, the place is looking pretty good.
Here are a few ways, I learned the hard way, in keeping our homeschool space organized.
Empower your children.
In Japan, children are encouraged to clean their own classrooms and clean up after themselves. This gives them self confidence and a sense of ownership of their classroom and education. Empowering young children can be easy. Toddlers love to pretend and copy what other family members do. Make it a game with your children, or ask older siblings to model behavior for little ones. With older children, cleaning, folding laundry, and caring for themselves are life skills. Some families have chore charts that carry incentives, or task cards that are on display they must complete everyday which is expected of them. See what works for you and your family.
Give your crap, I mean STUFF!.... a home.
By the end of the school day, your children should know that pencils belong in this jar, books on this bookshelf or in these boxes, etc. So there are no additional questions, go ahead and label them.... or better yet, put them in clear bins. We love shoebox sized clear bins for manipulatives and art supplies.
Create an art, math, literacy, or science station where particular resources and materials can be found. I find it easiest to store arts and crafts items in clear plastic tubs or stackable scrapbooking shelves, that way I don't have to label them. I can already see what's inside. We also created a special science resources and nature collection shelf near our front door, so we have access to it on our way outside.
Dedicate a space in your home to homeschooling stuff.
Not everyone can have their own homeschooling classroom within their home, but you can dedicate an area of your kitchen, dining room, or closet to just homeschool stuff. You may want to allow children to decide where their workspaces are. If so, ask them to draw a map and label where their supplies are. They gain some map making skills, and they will know everything has it's place. Dedicate space for each child to store their daily work or supplies they will need for the week. Our oldest has a wooden box that has all the work she needs for the week in it. Textbooks, notebooks, binders, etc., all in one box.
Keep portfolios and records accessible.
Depending on what state you live in, you may be required to keep a portfolio. I find it easiest to organize our porfolios in a portable plastic filing box. (One box per child.) My daughter labels each folder within the box with a subject and when she completes an assignment or fills a notebook, she files it. At the end of the year, I go through each subject and pick out 5-10 work examples from the entire year. If you live in Florida, Statue 1002.41(1)(b) details the requirements you need to know on portfolios and annual evaluations. Okay, so your state may not require a portfolio. But, what about the new homeschool family in the neighborhood just starting out, or the reluctant family member who loves to question whether or not your child is really learning at home. If you have the space for it, you never know when you might want to share them with others.
Repurpose items or furniture so they work for you. Assuming our children will work from a desk for 8 hours is also unrealistic. We have owned a vintage desk since our oldest entered Kindergarten. When we brought it home, she was excited to have her own learning space. But as she got older, she needed more manipualtives, books and (of course) more space to store them. I also didn't want my daughter to think that learning only occured while she sat at her desk. So I started repurposing furniture to create more learning stations. A sewing table turned into a craft/computer station. Wood crates became bookcases and kitchen cabinets became great personal study stations. Just another use for a book light!
What if your organization isn't working for you?
No biggie. Change it up. When our children get older, their needs change and sometimes we just need something else that works for us. Those perfect homeschooling classrooms with matching desks and cabinets are to droll over, but they are not for everyone. I have learned the it's okay to adjust to what works best for our family. What organization idea can you share?
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