Let’s get organized!
It’s the beginning of a new school year. Time to crack open those books and sharpen those pencils! If you’re homeschooling, it’s also time to put grandma’s saying, “a place for everything and everything in its place,” into practice. There are basically three areas you need to focus on to stay organized with your schooling; books and supplies, records and paperwork. Let’s look at each area individually.
First, what to do with all those books! If your family is like ours, we are bibliophiles. We LOVE books. Books line the walls, they’re piled on tables, desks, the floor. And personally, I have a hard time getting rid of books, although lately, out of necessity I’ve learned to part with a few old friends. So one challenge we have is keeping the school books from getting mixed in with the rest of the books.
I recommend a designated location for all school materials. Even if your kids like to do their work in various areas of the house, keep the supplies centrally located. A storage cupboard with doors works great. You can find them pretty much anywhere. If you have built in cabinet space available, all the better. Each child can have their own shelf or cupboard, depending on their space needs. I find one or two 3-4 ft. shelves to be enough room for most students. When school is over, everything goes into the cupboard and you can close the doors. It makes clean up quick and easy. Kids can also keep a small bin on their shelf for pens, pencils, markers, scissors, glue, rulers etc., which prevents squabbling over supplies.
If you don’t have room for a cupboard, those plastic filing crates are an inexpensive and portable solution. They can be stacked sideways and on top of each other to make a cheap and easy bookshelf and are also useful if you do a lot of school-on-the-go. Each child can grab their crate and you’re out the door without a lot of searching or packing and unpacking. Use a pencil box or small plastic shoe box with a lid for small items like pencils and erasers that might fall through the holes in the crate.
So, clean out your cupboards, or go buy a couple of crates and get those books and materials organized. Check back next week and we’ll talk about what to do with the dreaded paper piles!