The following is a guest post from regular contributor, Shannon at AKA Design.
Hi organizing junkies!
I’m going to guess that you didn’t know we homeschooled our three little people, did you?
Well we do!
A couple of things you should know though; we are totally normal, we live in the suburbs and we don’t think everyone should homeschool. 🙂 It just works for our family. And we love it.
Anyway, with homeschooling comes a lot of extra books and supplies. And more papers than you can shake a stick at! (Something I’m sure everyone can relate to.)
When we first started officially homeschooling, our youngest was a toddler, our “middlest” was a preschooler and our oldest was in kindergarten. This meant a lot of different manipulatives, toys and activities to keep the littler girls busy while I taught our son.
Once the girls joined in our schooling a little more, there were still quite a few little bits and pieces – teddy bear counters, blocks, flash cards (yes, we used those!), even squirmy little rubber sticky worms and bugs to keep the “baby” busy.
When we had so much stuff, we kept two big bookshelves in the dining room with buckets and baskets to keep it all organized. Not so pretty.
Now it’s a different story. Our homeschooling supplies are almost all books.
Novels, historical fiction, workbooks, dictionaries, devotionals and text books.
But then there are also pencils, erasers, scissors and art supplies.
Which brings me back to my original dilemma – where to keep all this stuff without a separate room just for homeschooling?
The solution: an ordinary piece of furniture – a buffet with drawers.
Yup! That’s it!
All of our everyday and current books go in here. The rest – already used or for later in the school year – are in the basement family room on the bookcases. Out of sight, out of the way.
Each of us has a drawer of our own in the buffet.
My drawer has the teacher manuals and my schedule/course planner as well as extra pencils and the date stamp.
Each of the kids has a giant binder to keep finished papers sorted, as well as their current workbooks and devotional and a pencil case in their drawer.
So that’s how we organize our homeschool supplies. I’m sure it would work well for any sort of school papers, etc – a drawer for each person. And it looks pretty too!
Do any of you homeschool? Do you have a sure fire way to keep school papers organized?
Xo,
Shannon
Shannon Acheson is a passionate interior decorator, frugal DIYer, sometime graphic designer, wannabe writer, homeschooling momma and adoring wife. She is the co-owner (with hubster) of AKA Design and the main writer/designer for the blog of the same name. Shannon recently moved from a war-era bungalow to a cozy backsplit in Oshawa, Ontario with her husband and their three children, and during spare moments can be found scouring local shops for decor bargains, rearranging the furniture again, or scrubbing paint off her hands.
Related post:
Organizing Homeschool Books Where You Use Them
Linking Up:
Susan says
That’s a great idea! We use a bookshelf, but instead of each child getting their own shelf, each subject has its own shelf. Our book shelf has doors, so it keeps the craziness contained!
Liz says
Hi Shannon! I just recently discovered your blog and LOVE it! I didn’t realize you homeschooled as well. I have a 6 yr old with dysgraphia who goes to an amazing (and amazingly expensive) private school that focuses on dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADD and cognitive processing disorder. It’s absolutely wonderful and a perfect fit for him. But our 2 1/2 yr old twins are only going to PDO instead of preschool because of the cost. I’ve wanted to start doing some homeschooling but am completely intimidated by all of the info and resources out there. Do you have any tips? Good places to start? Any pertinent info would be appreciated. thanks!!
Kelly Howardk says
Wow, why is it that a majority of HS related posts recently begin with ‘we HS, but we don’t think it’s for everyone’? I believe, with my whole heart, that it can indeed work for the majority of families, and they will be blessed for it. There are always a small percentage who can, by no means, accomplish HSing, and that is okay, but there are many who are just plain unwilling to give it a try, to see it in its ultimate beauty. NOW, about your organization: I LOVE IT! HSing supplies (other than classic literature) can be U.G.L.Y., and bookshelves just put the ugly on display. This is a beautiful way to keep it neatly tucked away but SO easy to get to! I wish I had known all my options when I HSed 4,because now it is just 1 and easy to contain. I kinda got my feathers in a twist about HSing, and I hope you won’t take it wrong. I am just simply convinced that so many more could at least give it a try for a year, but I am speaking of HSing as a whole and not the small minority who simply can NOT. Blessings!
Anoush says
Love the dresser– where is it from?
Thank you!
Nicole says
Yay homeschooling!
What’s the name of the Caldecott award winning book in your second picture? I think I read that as a kid…..
Jenn (Student Mom) says
I would love to home school. I can’t afford it right now. Yes.. that sounds really stupid, considering schools cost money… but I can tell you right now, that if I could get my little tax business off the ground, I would home school and work from home. I know it’s possible. You just have to be organised (which I’m not).
Indian Restaurants in Mississauga says
Hey the book shelf looks quite high ..don’t you think
Shannon says
Sorry y’all…I’m away at a conference and am just seeing your replies now. 🙂
Susan – bookshelves with doors ROCK!
Liz – why don’t you email me with any specific questions? [email protected] Otherwise google is a great place to start!
Kelly – the reason I started with that line personally is that people often take our choice as a personal attack on their choice. We’ve homeschooled for a long time and we’ve found that by stating that we don’t think everyone should do it, puts them at ease that we aren’t judging their choices.
Anoush – we actually bought it at the Hanitat For Humanity Restore in Toronto. 🙂
Nicole – I will try to remember. Send me a message and I’ll check when I get home – total conference brain right now!
Jen – all the best getting your business going!
Thank you all for your comments!!! So awesome!
xo, S
carissa says
i’m guessing this buffet is in the entry? i’m totally keeping my eye out for a similar piece to use in my entry for the same thing! except for the homeschooling part:)