Idea #1: A Chalkboard/Whiteboard Wall
I am so doing this when we get our house. Pick a space on the wall...or the whole wall, and turn it into an all purpose instrument for education and hours of fun. Man, with all the chalkboard ideas I've seen lately, my whole house could be a chalkboard. My other two favorites were the refrigerator door and the coffee table.
Idea #2: Use Common Items to Separate and Store Art Supplies (and whatever you might find useful)
I keep seeing all these cute decorated sorters. People use soup cans, cheap plastic cups, flower pots, etc to store their crayons, markers, pencils, beads, buttons... You get the picture. I liked the idea I saw where they posted the cans on a painted strip of wood and attached it to the wall above the child's desk.
Idea #3: Creative Jewelry Organizer
Ever since the hanging heart my grandmother made me broke about a year ago, I've been searching for the perfect item to store my jewelry...and I finally found one to make! First, head to the hardware store and pick out a variety of hooks, knobs, and pulls, along with whatever size light-weight board you would like. At home, cover the board with any sort of decorative cloth you like, and then start screwing in the the hooks, knobs, and pulls in a fun arrangement. The knobs are for necklaces, the hooks for necklaces or rings, and the pulls for dangling earrings. Fun, right?
Idea #4: Fun Calendars
Every family needs a schedule, right? Especially busy homeschool families! I've seen a host of different ideas, from the typical wall/refrigerator calendars to large wall calendars. I like the fun ones that tend to be decorative as well as functional. I saw neat idea of buying some cheap picture frames and printing out a page for each day of the week. Then you use whiteboard markers and keep your schedule up for the week in a fun picture pattern. Don't forget the fun of picture/scrapbook calendars.
Idea #5: Flylady Steps
If you've never visited the Flylady site, you need to hop over for some great ideas. Two concepts that have been lifesaving for me: It doesn't have to be perfect (what!?) and you can do anything in 15 mins. One of my favorite exercises to do is to take three boxes into a messy area for TRASH, GIVEAWAY, or KEEP (but it goes in a different room). Then I spend 10 mins cleaning, and use the last 5 mins to put the boxes away. Trash goes out to the trash, Giveaway goes out to the garage, and I put all the stuff in the Keep box back where it belongs. Voila!
What fun tips and tricks do you have to share?
