Our Storage Setup

Our desk space and school space is also known as our dining room. When we first started homeschooling I really tried to keep the two separate so that our dining room was a dining room. And it didn't look like a preschool had come in our house and thrown up all over the place.

Then I had a revelation. Ummm...we're homeschooling and it's ok.

I'm quick like that.

Once I gave myself permission to merge school and house (because it was completely self-imposed) things began moving around our house and coming out of hiding. Shelves came up from the basement and found their way into our room one weekend while my husband was away. Because I was truthfully getting a little tired of running downstairs to grab this or that when we needed it.

The majority of the toys/tubs on the shelves are all of Kaleb's 'special toys' for Tot School time with Mommy. The top shelf hold a lot of our science books in a tub {for Zachary}and the books that we aren't currently using to go along with our geography studies {the blue crate}.

This is where have school. And truthfully, now that the two have fully merged ~ I love it. I even have some other plans in the works for next year to make it even more fun for 'school time'. We have our world map, chalkboard (peel and stick tiles), colors and shapes for Kaleb, a white board, calendar and some more storage.

I've mentioned the chalkboard squares to you all before (just can't tell you how much I love them!!)

I used this calendar when I used to teach {and you all can obviously tell how long this post has been sitting in my 'drafts' folder waiting to get together...ummm...January???}. The calendar has been such a huge help with Zachary this year and even Kaleb. Zachary picked up on the days of the week, months of the year and counting very quickly, especially since we use it every day. Each month we use a different pattern to help with pattern recognition. In January our pattern went snowman, snowflake, snowflake...the pattern varies based on the month/theme. February is hearts (red/pink), March is flowers (purple/yellow), etc...and Zachary helps pick the pattern at the beginning of the month.

The books we use everyday for homeschooling are stored here. The basket on the floor holds the everyday books and worksheets. The shelves hold a bin with school supplies and math and learning games. The bigger boks that won't fit in our baskets stand on the shelf (our Galloping the Globe notebooks, etc...). The additional basket holds Zachary's papers and workbooks along with the kid's pencil boxes, etc...

Of course once school winds down for this year, I'm going to be re-organizing everything.

Again.

Because sitting still isn't something that I do well...and I have some ideas floating around in my head.

For next year I'm also looking at Sue Patrick's Workbox system, so I'm sure there will be some changes when that is implemented too. Just wanted to share what we're doing now. :)