Thursday, April 19, 2012

47 Reader Raid: A Happy Homeschool

Last month when I was making over the a bedroom for a super sweet little lady, I noticed a super fantastically organized room.  A homeschool room!  It was amazing, so I asked if I could give it a quick "raid" while I was there and share the goodies with you!



I know I have a lot of homeschooling mamas reading so I couldn't wait to share this extremely functional space!

Here is what Becky had to say about their space:

"Our homeschool room is one of the most organized rooms in our home. Thanks to IKEA, and a little organizing and labeling on my part, we have a great space in which to educate our children. Of course, we end up learning all over our house but having this room as "school organizing central" has been a real blessing. We use IKEA's Trofast furniture as well as a large Expedit to store our most-used books and supplies. Let me take you on a little tour!

We have two Trofast frames with bins under the window.


We use these to house manipulatives for busy pre-schoolers. Some of our favorites are Magna-Tiles, play food, and stacking pegs. I rotate these toys once in awhile to prevent boredom, but I went ahead and labeled them anyway as many of our favorites tend to stay in rotation.



I also give each child a drawer to keep some of their own personal items in....favorite pencils, artwork in progress. I have three bins labeled for library books as well.

Next up we have our Expedit. I am a huge Expedit fan! The four cubbies on top hold our current workbooks, textbooks, etc. I divide these by subject so I can quickly grab what I need. Math in one. Language arts in another. You get the idea. I also use white boxes {again, from IKEA} to hold other miscellaneous items such as craft supplies and books I plan on using eventually.


A Thirty-One tote combined with a file holder is the perfect way to corral monthly lesson planning papers.

 Working our way around the room, I have more Trofast!


In the lower unit we keep paper, painting supplies, coloring books, etc. All labeled so everyone knows where to find things. White paper in one bin, construction paper in another.....it is so well organized that it actually ends up staying that way, which is pretty miraculous around here!


On the wall, I have a mounted Trofast frame. LOVE this! We keep more art supplies here. The cute little bins are super easy for the kids to grab. They hold markers, dot markers {we love these!} crayons, colored pencils, glue/scissors, and stickers. If the kids need markers, they take the whole bin to the table, and then just slide it back into place when they're done.


We purchased our small table and chairs from School Outfitters. Oh, and the gumball machine was purchased from Amazon. Some days it's nice to have a little extra incentive to maintain cheerful attitudes!

Thanks for taking a peek at our school room! It works well for us and we are so grateful to have it."


Do I have the best job or what?  Seriously, getting to work with such fun and incredible people and having the opportunity to crash and "raid" their organized spaces!  Love.

Isn't Becky's setup adorable, functional and fabulous?  I just may try to enroll in her school next year, such a great space to learn!  In all seriousness though, she has a system that makes it easy to keep the room organized, because when you are teaching/learning all day, the last thing you want to worry about are giant messes and organizational struggles.

So what do you think?  Anyone take away any tips or ideas from today's raid?  What tips can you give to other homeschooling families, that are offering you success in your own homeschool?

Have you been getting your organizing on?  Are you interested in letting me raid your newly organized space and share it right here on the blog?  Do you live in the Twin Cities area?  Submit your story and some photos to iheartorganizing@gmail.com!

47 comments:

  1. What a cute and organized learning space for the little ones. I love everything about it. Great job Becky!!! ;)

    xoxo
    Kristin
    theocdlifestyle.blogspot.com

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  2. So great!!!! I'm starting our homeschool adventure this fall so it's wonderful to see homeschool organization ideas! Thank you!! -Lauren

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  3. What luck! I was just checking out the site for some inspiration for our homeschool room! I'll be giving ours a pick-me-up this summer. (Becky) where did you get the table and chairs? Off to clean the homeschool room!

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    1. Hi Meagan! Here is the link to the table: https://www.schooloutfitters.com/catalog/product_family_info/cPath/CAT10_CAT67/pfam_id/PFAM5546
      I don't remember if this is the exact chair but it is very similar to this one: https://www.schooloutfitters.com/catalog/product_family_info/cPath/CAT2_CAT26/pfam_id/PFAM1540
      I think I got the chairs in a 14-inch height...let me know if you'd like exact specifics, I could measure them:-)

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  4. Sorry, what is the NAME of the set of table/chairs. Found the website, thanks!

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    1. If you copy/paste the link, the name is at the top.
      :-) "Rectangle Preschool Activity Table"

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  5. It's posts like these that make me want to homeschool!

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  6. I've never seen the Trofast mounted like that. GREAT idea!

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  7. I love those white Ikea file boxes. Just used some. I am impressed at the word "Homeschool." My hat goes off to all that take that on. Very admirable. Fantastic space. Very lucky children.

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  8. I was already considering those Trofast organizers for our homeschooling stuff so this just sold it. Thanks! I love the space!

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  9. I got some very good ideas on uses of IKEA furniture here. Thanks!

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  10. This is awesome! We have a three year old son that we are planning to homeschool and this has given me some great ideas! xx

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  11. Love this! I was so excited to see an organized homeschooling space! Not that I've never seen that before...I mean, of course my own homeschool room is super organized. Okay, it's not, so I love these ideas! I especially love the bins on the wall for art supplies! That is a fabulous idea because we tend to have crayons, markers, and glue sticks all over our house! I'm going to google that right now. Thanks for featuring this Jen, and great organized space Becky! I'm planning my own homeschool room makeover right now. ;)

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  12. ummm... i don't have children but i think i need to get like 5, right now! what a great room! of course my house isn't big enough for this, so i guess i'll just have to move! right after i get working on those 5 kids... LOL

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  14. Love it! We have a "homeschool closet". Our home is just under 1000 sq ft. so everything is multifunctioning here. It works great though as it is organized, everything is labeled and accessible. I do dream of a space with some trofast and expedit in our future. Great job Becky!

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  17. Am stopping by today to award you the Versatile Blogger award. Feel free to check out this post for all the details. I love your blog. Congrats!

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  18. Absolutely love how everything is label! It is completely inspiring & as I hope to someday home school the little kiddos (when they eventually come along), I am going to remember that it is possible!

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  19. Amazing homeschool room, I love how organized it is, I'm definitely pinning for inspiration for setting up our new homeschool area after we move next week! Thank you for sharing!

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  20. Hi Jen,

    I am so glad you shared this. Thank you. I have helped many homeschool families set up their rooms in my support group because homeschooling offers a whole new twist on organizing.

    I would offer to share Label Generously {she did} and add in their own child's routines and planners in a spot the child can find. You will get many good years use out of it.

    Thanks for sharing.I enjoyed your blog post.
    Hugs
    Tina
    Homeschooling 3 boys from the beginning in Texas as they now are 17, 15 and 11. :o)

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  21. I love how she added a file bin to her 31 tote! I have a tote just like that and was trying to find a way to make it work with what I need. I loved everything about this post!

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  22. This post just makes me wish summer would come sooner so I can have time to tweak my own homeschool room. : ) I'm starting to think I might be the only homeschooler that doesn't have an Expedit bookshelf, but the closest Ikea is 6 hours away. : ( I can see why they are so appealing though.

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    1. Kellie,

      Another Expedit-less homeschooling existence over here! ;) Maybe that's the one thing I need to get better organized?

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    2. Closetmaid has something similar to Expedit and I think you can get it at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc... Hope that helps!

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    3. The nearest IKEA is really far away from us too. I just discovered that Walmart.com now has copies of the Expedit shelves made by the Better Homes & Garden brand! The prices are very similar to IKEA as well. Here's a link: Better Homes and Gardens 8 Cube Organizer

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  23. In love! We are homeschooling preschool right now, but do not have a dedicated space for it (shared office/guest/tv/school room!) I love the use of the trofast bins. I suspect when our daughter outgrows all the play toys in hers currently they will moved to school supplies! It's such an awesome system!

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  24. Wow! I think Ikea should be giving her a kickback, because I know I'm wanting to go buy a Trofast right about now! :)

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  25. Is there a link to this homeschooler's blog? I would like to visit it.
    Thanks!

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  26. I love this post, it is so inspiring! Makes me feel hopeful that my house filled with baby stuff (and my husband's stuff) will be as organized one day haha!

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  27. Hi Becky, I love the home schooling room! I wish our room was as pristine and organised as yours, i'll have to show my children!

    Michael

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  28. Sorry for this:
    It's "Mamas", not "Mama's" (plural, not possessive) ;-)
    Signed,
    A Homeschooling "Mama"

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  29. This is awesome! We are a homeschooling family as well so I am always on the lookout for great "school room" ideas. Love the hanging Trofast.

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  30. WOW!!! I love what has done, it makes me want to learn in that space. It is so full or wonderful resources and they are all well organized.

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  31. Thanks so much for sharing your lovely space Becky!

    Those Trofast storage structures look like they would make a great window bench. :)

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  32. Wow, how organized. Wish I had had something like that when I was homeschooling my daughter so many years ago. How many children is she homeschooling?

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  33. We have Trofast for our homeschool organization, but where oh where can I get these labels?? Please and thank you!

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  34. Just beautiful, love you space. Can you tell me how you got such a beautiful color on the trofast units? One of the stains at IKEA?

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  35. Wow! This is an amazing room! The organization is wonderful! I just started a linky party for homeschooling rooms/spots, back to school fun stuff, etc. and would love to have you link up with us to share this room! I plan on leaving the party open through the month of August in hopes of getting a nice collection of homeschool room links and organizing tips as a resource for myself and other homeschooling mamas! Please feel free to share this link and any others you think might be a good fit! :)
    http://www.thenatureofgrace.blogspot.com/2012/07/reading-spot-and-homeschool-havens-link.html

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  36. Thanks so much for featuring a homeschool room. Homeschoolers face an interesting challenge. First, we are all home all day and more time at home = more time to make messes. And second, we tend to accumulate a lot of school books, supplies, equipment and we need some way to store it and keep it organized. We also have to have some place to "do" school. So when you look at the typical modest sized house, the average family fits just fine. But when you're there 24x7 and have all of the school stuff too, you can start to feel like you're going to burst at the seams. So, again, THANK YOU for featuring an organized homeschool mama and I would absolutely LOVE to see more ideas for homeschoolers or for anyone with lots of kids and stuff to organize. Unfortunately, the typical advice of "purge" isn't practical when you're trying to squeeze an entire school into your home which doesn't have a basement or attic. :-)

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  37. "and then just slide it back into place when their done." *they're

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  38. Just popped in off of Pinterest - I really like your homeschool room. I'm working on mine so you gave me some nice ideas!! I had a suggestion for you. The bins you label that you rotate toys in and out of (for the busy preschooler) you could always label both sides of the bin with different labels and then when you switch out the toys you would only have to turn the bins around and there would be the proper lable! Maybe you already do this..but thought I'd share just the same! :) Blessings!

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  39. Love how you have your homeschool room organized! Where did you get the table?

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  40. I just love the way you have everything organized! I'm pinning this now for inspiration :)

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  41. What dud u use as your labels? Cute!

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