Homeschool organizing (AND a review....)

When we made the decision to homeschool I looked around my house and thought "Now what?" I needed to tackle the problem of paperwork, books and school supplies. We don't have a spare room to use as a school room, so I knew we were going to make use of the dining room. At the end of the day I wanted my dining room back. How to accomplish this? Here are a few tricks I use...

1. Use of a tri-fold board

I bought one of those foam core project boards at the local big box store. A bit of fancy duct tape and ta-da: a fancy board to keep my daughter focused and on task.

2. Using blank wall space

We have two windows in our dining room, and my window treatment has always covered the "blank" space in between the two. As I was thinking about where I could hang a white board it hit me that I could use this space during the day by pulling back the curtains. Each evening we put them back down and the "school" space disappears behind the curtain! It's a perfect solution for unused space.


3. "Sneaky" organizing tips (using existing furniture)

I have several pieces of furniture in my dining room. A dresser that holds table linens and a few board games. A corner cupboard that acts as dish storage and a liquor cabinet and a hutch for more dishes. This hutch belonged to my grandmother. I have repainted it & made it fit our family! I cleared out a few drawers and the bottom of the hutch. We are using bins for school books and papers. They can easily be taken out for day-use and stored during meal times. It makes life simpler.

4. Peachey's Threads chair bag (product review)

My friend Jane makes these amazing bags! I knew it would be an answer to one of our problems. Here's the issue, as my daughter completes work it needed somewhere to keep it until I could grade it. The solution is this adorable bag! Work-in-progress is kept here until it's completed & graded. Then it moves into the file to keep for records/grade card. It's well-contructed and fits perfectly on our chair. It's so cute that we leave it on the chair all the time.

These are just a few of the creative ways I have fit our school stuff into our regular everyday things. Do you have any creative suggestions?

Don't forget to check out the Wellness Wednesday page for healthy, delicious recipes you can add to your family's menu this week!

As always, God Bless from my (im)perfect mess....