How do you organize your materials?

[AttachedMamma]

I mean, materials you are planning to use for the year, not completed work (though I guess I'll need to find a way to organize that too!). For example, (for each child) do you have separate folders for math, spelling/writing/reading, art, science, music, history, geography, etc? I started w/folders b/c the material was minimal. Now I've started using magazine organizers...kinda like these http://www.colorfulimages.com/471350.html?AS=1&keyword=magazine . However, they'll only hold booklets/worksheets and I'll need to come up with another way to keep textbooks/larger books as we get into those.

We've been very informal about HSing and are starting "more officially" this year (DD turns 6 in Oct). I'd love to hear how you organize your homeschooling world! :-)

cindi

[Mamatoto]

Organize? Are we supposed to do that? :think :popcorn

( :giggle)

[Mama Calidad]

We have all our current stuff lined up on one of the end tables. :giggle I have a nice cabinet area above the TV, but it's never managed to stay up there. :O

[brown eyed girl]

I am homeschooling 5 students this year, plus I have a 2 year old and a 3 mo old. My kids are in grades 8, 6, 4, 2 and K.

I'll be posting pictures on my website soon-- and I have some bloggy type stuff there if you want to check it out, it's www.birthblessed.com

I used to do magazine racks too, when they were all 7 and under. :) That is a good system for younger kids who mostly use workbooks that are about the size of a Family Circle magazine. KWIM? I put names on the magazine holders, and I had the plastic horizontal stacking trays (cheap things) and made labels for those too... I printed their names, cut them out and then used clear packing tape to affix them to the edges of the stackers. I still have these! Made them like 6 years ago, maybe 7, and still have and use them. :)

OK... we have a great room that is open to the eat-in part of the kitchen. No separate living or dining rooms. So we can't leave stuff out. Very little wall space... One wall is all window, sliding glass door and fireplace/hearth. I have my desk in front of the half of the sliding glass door that doesn't open. I have milk crates on the hearth, with a board between them making a shelf-table. IN the near crate are science book/mags, in the far crates are music books and stuff. In between are all the Preschool and Kindergarten games. ON the shelf-table are 2 of the stackable 3-drawer plastic things, which organizes Cuisinaire rods, flashcards, pipe cleaners and paper bags, glitter, paint, craft scissors, string, stuff like that. Then there is the Balance thing, a bead-wire-thing and a magnifier. Then there is a 3-bin sorter stacker thing (doncha love my descriptions?) that houses the box of shells (an old Huggies wipes container), measuring spoons and cups, magnifying glasses, magnets, plastic bugs, stuff like that.

On the mantel above the fireplace are another 2 sets of 3-drawer units, with big kid science supplies-- consumable and nonconsumable supplies, science games, older kid science books, chemlab, the horizontal paper thing with their names on it-- for the big kids to put papers that need graded. And one more next to it, for me to put my teacher's manuals and schedules and things.

A tiered rolling cart with craft magazines, craft scrap paper and white office paper for drawing, and coloring books. Then an easel. Can use it for art, or right now it has Big books on it. Then a bookshelf with all our curriculum books on it and school boxes of school supplies. Then 2 computers on a table, side by side. That's it. Sort of... there's a built in bookcase, 8 feet wide and 8 feet tall, that is full of books as well, a set of encyclopedias (got an old 1987 set at a garage sale for 50 cents), and more books and curriculum that I'm not currently using.

I have schedules posted on the wall, a cork board specifically for putting up library book receipts on it, some hooks on the wall for library book bags (we got plain canvas bags and painted them with kids' names and their own special designs), and a special tote basket just for our "book basket" books. Oh I also have a basket on my desk with Preschool manipulatives in it-- pegboard and pegs, attribute blocks, pattern blocks, ABC floor puzzle, Fit-A-Shape puzzles, things like that.

I'll get photos on my site soon (and probably will cut and paste this post into my site... )

ETA .. I forgot... the big stackable drawers, I have 4 of them and they fit under the computer table (and leave room for feet!). My 4 big boys each have one-- to put their own personal study materials in... their binders, school supplies... stuff that they'd keep in their desk or locker if they were at a school. My 7yo dd and 5yo ds have those small file boxes for their "lockers"... for their workbooks and school supply boxes. Those fit neatly on a shelf.

[This Busy Mom]

Someone gave us a big desk with shelves on both sides on the top when they moved. I keep my stuff there like TM's and a big binder.

I also have a shelf for each kid on another bookshelf. They like this arrangement and are very territorial over their space :rolleyes :giggle . I have a roll around (Sterlite... I don't like the wheels on them. They've broken off more than once) cart I keep science supplies in. I also have stackable drawers that the drawers are easy to remove (I don't think my dd's ever quite figured this out, though, it's something we need to work on this year) and put back. I have totes for math manipulatives.

I think a bookshelf in easy reach of my desk is my lifesaver for books and my organizational stuff (I have my desk so that it's right by the table).

Which reminds me... I reallyyyy need to get organized for this up and coming year. I've been stalling big time. I don't want to start back up yet *whaaa*.

[LittleSweetPeas]

Well, I'm pretty new to this. After reading the thread on boxes a while back I converted one half of our linen closet to be a homeschool closet. I bought some sterilite boxes on sale at Target and organized them to be math, science, our world, reading and writing, clay, art, paint. I bought a blow up globe and set it in there. The boxes are available for her to play with at will and also contain the items I might need when doing a task with her. We also installed some shelving available at Home Depot to use for my books, etc. Right now they just have my sewing stuff on it. But the options are there. I just use A LOT of boxes and shelves since I cant bring myself to dedicate one of my living spaces solely to HS stuff quite yet.... :O

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d78/littlesweetpeas/136_3612.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d78/littlesweetpeas/136_3613.jpg

[ArmsOfLove]

they have awesome magazine boxes at IKEA for much less than that :tu

Awesome boxes there! I actually need to determine what I need as far as boxes go and get them for the closet I have set up for supplies. I have a couple in there, but it's not at all where I need it to be :( That is probably my next *project* :grin

What I have now is the two shelf cupboard in my hallway that is supposed to be my linen closet, but I have all the supplies in there--art, science, paper, etc. Some better organized that others--maybe that will be my before/after project :giggle

Below that is a drawer where I have flash cards and games and such divided up much more organized :tu I have math in one box, English in another, etc.

In the bottom of a bookshelf I have a large open area with a cupboard door and in that area I have workbooks and books and teacher books lined up with a box that has three drawers and each drawer has a child's name on it and all of their workbooks and composition books and a pencil go in the drawer. This way they can pull out the drawer and take it to the table. I have a school supply box for each child also with markers, crayers and pencils as well as scissors and glue sticks.

Then I have a cube box in the living room that is faux leather and the top comes off for storage. There are game boards and pieces in it for things like chess, checkers and backgammon, and then I have more books spine up in there and this is where I have two magazone storage boxes that have papers, magazines, and workbooks in them so that they aren't all loosy goosy in there.

I *need* to rearrange everything! I want to have all of the boxed up cards and such in the cube with the games for the family, etc. But I don't want the 4yo and the toddlers to have easy access to all those pieces :shifty

[Moon]

Our currently in use books are kept in the computer desk, it's a fairly big desk that sits in the corner of the room. The other books that could get used but less frequently are kept in the living room bookshelf. Stuff that's too far over heads or being saved for another kiddo to grow into are tucked in the closet.

I have a basic lesson plan book that helps me organize it all. And each kid has their own clipboard that I load with a days worth of assignments.

Finished work is three hole punched and put in binders, organized by subject dividers. A kids name and grade are written on the binder somewhere and stacked on my computer desk for easy access.

[jlschock]

Orginize yeah I need to do that. I have 99% of the hs stuff in one closet totally unorganized. We live in a very small house. The stuff that I need this year is in a box on the kitchen floor and on my desk. The kitchen table will be transformed into a desk. This is our first year. Ask me in a couple more years hopefully by then I'll have a plan. :)

[AttachedMamma]

Some great ideas! :tu :popcorn

[booboo]

Well, the flylady is probably out to get me! :P All the stuff is somewhere in our small livingroom. Don't ask how I find the computer! :O The kids' homeschool books are on one bookshelf. Other books we do together are on other shelves but not exactly neat. But somehow I manage to find the library books on time. They're actually all in one same area, away from the books we own, usually. (unless the kids bring them elsewhere)

I keep my planner in a drawer along with my unit study book we're doing. A friend is giving me her bookshelf this weekend so hopefully it'll get better within the next few weeks.