Oh Man, I Forgot To ...

Is that a phrase you have heard a lot at your house? Well if so, this week's topic for the Homeschool Crew's Blog Cruise is just the one for you. The topic this week is 'How do You Organize Your Homeschool?' And I for one am looking forward to reading a lot of the posts from my fellow crew members this week.

Now I am not saying that I am not organized. Nor am I saying that I am organized. I actually believe I lie somewhere in the middle which is not where I would like to be. One of the reasons for this is due to our current residence. When we moved into our home (which is a rental as well as a duplex) we thought it was wonderful - lots of space, room to grow, good price, quiet area, all the typical things one looks for in a home. However, looking back we had forgotten to include storage space into one of our major criteria for the house we would reside in.

Our duplex has great space, it is just not laid out properly. There are 3 bedrooms (one being the master) and each bedroom has it's own full bathroom. The closets in both children's rooms upstairs are almost a small bedroom (and we originally had Seanan in the closet when he was an infant and wouldn't be able to grab the shelving.) The girls share a room and there is STILL plenty of space. However space is not storage space. All space is not created equal.

When we left our previous home we had a room that was the office/playroom and I had planned on storing most of our homeschooling things (books, boxes, craft stuff, etc.) out there out of view when it wasn't time for school. The Lord had different ideas I guess because we are no longer at that home, and we are here.

So I have had to come up with creative ways to store the school books and stuff. So earlier this year we purchased a very nice buffet table. The ones that are supposed to store your fine China and stuff, and we've turned it into a storage unit for homeschooling as well as bill holder and junk drawer. It has two cabinets each with one shelf and then 3 drawers in the middle. The drawers are for house use and the cabinets for school use. I have one side. The top shelf holds my Planner, the Nature Journals, and other books that I read to the children (history, science, etc.) The bottom shelf has art supplies and craft items. The other cabinet is for the girls. Each of them has a shelf and it holds all of their books, pencil cases, crayons, and some other miscellaneous items that keep finding their way back in there.

We also have 3-4 milk crates that I use for storage. They sit (and they are kind of messy in this picture) beside the buffet against the wall. One milk crate holds Tot School activities. Another holds reading books and math manipulatives. A third one holds more art and craft supplies. The last one has stuff in it, but right now I'm not sure exactly what is in there. I know on top is my coupon binder (which I am behind in cutting my coupons), so that is on the list of sorting sometime soon.

We also have 3 bookshelves upstairs in the nook in Seanan's room. They hold family read aloud books, homeschooling catalogs and magazines, other curriculum books for later in the school year or other years, as well as both mine and my husband's own personal reading books. The girls have their own bookcase (which we sorted through this week and logged into a software program called Collectorz that I am reviewing.)

After writing this all out I now feel more organized then I thought I was. I do not think my current way of organizing is perfect for our family. But for now it will suffice. Don't forget to head on over to the Blog Cruise to see what other Crew Members have said about how they organize. You never know there might be a brilliant idea just waiting for you to discover.