Organizing Our Homes

Welcome to our Homeschool Holiday Open House!

This week we are discussing some of the most frequently asked questions of homeschoolers. So far several ladies have shared how they schedule and manage their days. Today, Sam, Ralene, and I are discussing how we organize our homes. And, of course, we'd love for you to join the discussion.

Sam:
I have a separate space for homeschooling-so that helps.  Everything school related lives upstairs and the main living area and my bedroom are on the first floor.  I am pretty organize-driven.  I love to purge and clear out things.  I also love to find new storage solutions for the things I do keep.  We use all the vertical space we can, and purge often.

We have an evening rule that the main downstairs rooms be cleaned up by 8:00 family time in the evening, the last clean of the day, but we try to stay on top of things throughout the day as well. The vacuum is run again at 8:00.  I like waking up to a clean house!

Ralene:

"The biggest thing that changed in our house is that we set aside a large chunk of the office as the homeschool area. We found a neat table that wasn't full size, but not like tiny-tot size either. My husband sanded and refinished it, and that's what we use to work at. I have a shelf that has our daily curriculum and work boxes on it. Then two book cases full of art supplies, books, workbooks, and lots of resources. We don't have a lot of wall space, in that room, so I bought an easel to hold a large white board, and on the back of the white board, I glued a world map. We did have just enough room to put up a calendar on the wall. 

Around the rest of the house, we've made little changes. The kids have a chore chart on the wall in the hallway. In the living room, there's some art supplies and books for them to look at/play with in their free time. In the living room, there's also a computer that we bought mainly just for homeschool and household purposes. It has learning games and internet access. The girls are still at that age, for me, where they don't use it without me, but it's still another tool that we can use.

Cleaning/organization-wise, I know a lot of homeschool moms (including myself) have a hard time keeping the house together. Very rarely will someone show up (especially without notice) and see a tidy home. However, I have developed my own system to keep things from getting too out of hand. It started with Flylady.net, and then I had to make my own tweaks. So, every room gets attention at least once a week (major traffic places like living room get twice a week)."

Dorie
"We have a separate room designated for homeschooling.  However, we didn't start out that way.  When we first started homeschooling, we lived in a tiny house.  Our school books were stored on a shelf and I taught our preschooler at the same table we had meals. 

Later we moved to a larger home.  Once we purposed a room for our homeschooling, we arranged the space and brought in a few organizing tools.  We have multiple shelving units, with a variety of drawer and shelf options.  Learning games, puzzles, globes, maps, reference materials, and books fill our shelves.  We brought in a desk for me and one for the children's computer.  We also set up tables for the children to use.  A free standing chalk board and white board are used daily.  The electric drums and keyboard are in one corner, and art supplies are stored in another area of the room.

Despite a designated room, other rooms in our home are used regularly for school lessons, as well.  With a sink and stove top readily available, the kitchen is our main area for science experiments.  Each of the children's rooms has book shelves, and our living room and family room have baskets of books. 

For the most part, the children are free to move about the house as desired throughout the day.  Sometimes, they bring their bean bag chairs down from their bedrooms, and cozy up with a good book in the living room.  Other times, in warmer weather, they may head outside with a blanket and work under the clear blue sky.

To keep a full house clean is challenging.  Adding homeschooling to the day, and a clean house seems impossible.  For us, we maintain a clean house by following a routine and using a children's chore chart.  Daily, we strive to have all items in the downstairs rooms put away before dinner.  For our homeschool room, we typically clean it on Fridays so it is ready for Monday morning."

How do you organize your home now that you are homeschooling?
Are your rooms allocated differently? 
Are you keeping supplies in one area or all through the house?
Do you have a favorite organizational tool?
{By commenting, you are automatically entered in today's giveaway.}

Today's giveaway:

A Preschool Pack of
Transportation Counting Cards
(numbers 1-10)

~ created by Marla

This giveaway is open to all residents of the USA
and ends Saturday, December 31 at 11:59 PM EST,

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post.

Winner will be announced on Monday, January 2, 2012.