Organizing my HOD!

[gracelikerain]

Thanks, Mary! My dd8, Shania, got her desk because a sweet lady who lives near me (& homeschools her 5 kiddos too) GAVE it to me! What a blessing, huh? My lodest dd11 is actually using her dad's old desk. It is in great shape cause he never used it! His mom wouldn't let him...LOL!

I just bought one of those cubby systems from target. We use it for our shoes hats & stuff. So when we come in everyone has a place to put their stuff! I love it!

[Samuel'sMommy]

I've loved seeing and hearing how everyone organizes their stuff. I only have LHTH right now so it's not hard to keep organized, but I'm definitely filing these ideas away in my brain for the coming years!

[my3sons]

Georgette - what a neat idea to have your dc decorate their tubs! They did such a neat job, and I bet they loved doing it. I like your bookshelves too, and the books are stacked up very neatly as well. Can you please come teach my 5 yo that skill?

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

I've loved seeing and hearing how everyone organizes their stuff. I only have LHTH right now so it's not hard to keep organized, but I'm definitely filing these ideas away in my brain for the coming years!

Smart girl, Stephanie! You just wait - soon you'll be moving in shelves, and cubbies, and storage galore!!! But that will be fun too.
In Christ,
Julie

[wisdom4us]

Georgette,

Where did you find that desk???

[gracelikerain]

Summer,

A friend of mine gave me my 8dd's desk. I don't know where she got it.

Blessings,

[Jessi]

Georgette, Kathleen, and Mary- Thank you for sharing your pictures. I am such a visual person that pictures are like nuggets of gold to me!! I love how each of you has your HOD organized and they are all different.

Julie- you do realize that we'll probably all be bidding on the same tool turnabout on Ebay, right?

Ok, so ladies, here is my question: If you have a very small house and are already bursting at the seems (I mean if I open any closets or cupboards things literally start falling out), how would you go about setting up your school supplies and storing them? Baskets are good but I don't know where I'd even keep them.

I am loving what I have seen here, but then I realize we just don't have the room. Most of our school work is done at the table and living room couch, but no storage around there plus I need to keep it inaccessible to little hands.

Ideas??? Thanks!

[MamaMary]

Jessi,

I live in a house that has less than 1200 square feet. We are a family of 6 and my boys are going from little to big. I now have a 17 year old son who is taller than his daddy. We do not have a school room, but I have bookshelves in my dining room. I have a ton of books on those. I put my baskets throughout the house. One in the dining room in the corner. one under my table that houses my DVR and DVD player. One that travels because it has all our library books in it and one is on the bottom shelf of my bookshelf.

Some idea's I've picked up over the years is to buy each child there own backpack or book bag and then hang up hooks. Each child puts all their current work and books in their bag and pulls it down just for school. Plastic rubbermaid boxes that slide under beds are good to store books in as well. We just put a whiteboard up in our dining room. It is permanently hung to the wall.

BTW, we only have ONE bathroom too and I have found I LOVE having baskets for that. We each keep our own brushes and combs, tooth brush and grooming products. (just my 17 year old and I have grooming products )

I hope these help
Mary

[Jessi]

Thank you Mary! I think our home is similar in size to yours (we rent so I dont' know true dimensions) but the backpack and hooks is a good idea. Besides that might help her feel like she is really doing school. She wants a backpack so bad. I have been doing some thinking since I posted last night. I thought about finding a simple little desk for her to sit in and place in right up against our bay window in the living room. and then she could have her own personal space for schooling if she wants to be left alone that would give her lots of sunshine but not take up more space. I think next summer I am going to have to become an auction addict and find me some shelves to keep baskets on for learning. The trick is to keep 1 year old, 2 year old, and 2 1/2 year old fingers out of my boxes or baskets! hehehehe Oh and I want a white board in my kitchen overlooking our table. That is a good idea too.

[my3sons]

I love to picture your little honey at her own desk sitting in a ray of sunshine! What a good idea, Jessi! And hats off to you MamaMary - very clever ideas... do I hear HGTV calling you? From your pics I can see your house is functional and CUTE too! Jessi, we've gotten creative about using space around here. My #1 rule now (after many years of not following this rule ) is whenever something new comes into the house (whether it's from a rummage sale, a family member, or if we were blessed to buy a new piece of something) it HAS to have storage or it's not coming into the house. For example, if you're getting your dd a small desk, it can double its use by having storage... in it, under it (some desks come with a place to rest feet, which can be a lovely place to rest a nice basket instead ).

We've gotten tubs for under each child's bed, and also for under our couches. This has been WONDERFUL! We put books, school projects, clothes - everything in there! And a nice bedskirt hides it all. We've also hammered 2 x 4's between the studs in our basement (the unfinished part), and used that as bookshelves, etc. One last thing that's been a big help for us is only keeping what we are using on a pretty much daily basis in our most used rooms. Lots of things have been moved to the basement or outside in tubs in the garage... i.e. my dh's meat grinder he uses once every 10 years , or my wok for healthy cooking that I've used about a handful of times , etc. That has helped clear up space for what we really need every day. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[Jessi]

Julie! I love the idea of clearing out those things that aren't used very often...I tend to just let them clog up space because I forget we have them. oops...

We have some unused tubs in the garage (large ones) from when we cleared out kids clothes this summer. I suppose I could go through and put those things in tubs in the garage...but I might have to sweet talk the hubby since he is particular about putting too much in the garage.

Thanks for the idea!!!

[water2wine]

Ooooh Georgette! I want to dive into your bookshelf. That is exactly what I need. We have a very wide hallway. I would love to fill it with books that they can read anytime. Just have to figure out how to do that cheaply but still have it look nice. And it has to take the abuse it will get as well.

[Rebecca]

I don't have any pictures- but I have our "yet to be used" HOD books on bookshelves from IKEA that I adore.
Books we are currently using are "housed" in those seven drawer "carts" from Walmart. My second and third grader each have two bins. One holds HOD guide and related books/literature. The other holds their math books, grammar, etc.

My little ones fit in one bin. LHFHG plus related workbooks all fit in one bin. The skinny drawers are used to "house" favorite papers. We also store watercolors, art supplies and paper. supplies in them.

Rebecca

[holyhart]

I desperately want to get baskets similar to what Mary just bought. I'm actually hoping to get some for Christmas. We don't have much room as our house is rather small as well and now have 5 of us living in it, so this is currently working for us. Right now, I share it with the kids so that I have a place for my cookbooks, but another curriculum or two and I'll have to send my cookbooks to the basement.

Here is how it looks. It's in my dinning room.







And can I just say how much I have LOVED reading (and seeing when pictures are shared) how everyone organizes their HOD???

[crlacey]

I've enjoyed seeing the pictures.

I loved the turn about thing for crayons and markers. I almost bought one from Pampered Chef, but then found one at Walmart that was full of tools for $10! So now I have some extra tools to use whenever we find one of ours is no longer able to be used.