Dear Friends,

How many of you want an organized homeschool? We all want to have an organized homeschool. Many of you have challenges with space. Some of you have challenges with multiple children. A few of you have extra items if you are homeschooling a special needs student. A couple of you homeschool in an RV or very small space.

Most of our homes were not designed with the thoughts that we would need an area to homeschool. So we make changes and make our homes work for our needs.

In my home, we keep the homeschool materials in the kitchen, but we homeschool all over the house. I keep reference books in the living room. Science and history references have an area on the bookshelves. Biographies have a section on the shelves. Fiction books are put in order based on the author’s last name. Our Bible reference materials have a special section on a different bookshelf.

Last month, I moved all of our craft items to a craft cabinet. I gave away some books last month to make room for a few new books for this year.

Some of the ladies I talk to regularly are homeschooling in very tight spaces. We talked about ideas and strategies on storing materials in a way that the students can put their books away easily.

We found lots of ideas on Pinterest. You can use magazine holders, plastic crates, plastic bins with lids, or baskets. Kids can also use backpacks, if you are really tight on space. None of these would be costly to use.

If you have a bigger budget, you can use a cabinet with doors like I do, or you can use a rolling cart with multiple drawers.

If you struggle with keeping school supplies organized, you can get the plastic pencil boxes for less than a dollar. Buy one for each student, and use a permanent marker to write each person’s name on a box. I have my own box for my special pens and pencils. You can also buy one of the zipper pouches that clip inside of a three-ring binder to keep pencils and erasers with their paper.

You don’t want to have issues getting school started each day because they can’t find their supplies.

Teacher resources and answer keys need to be handy for you to use but not easily accessible to everyone in the house. This year, I dedicated a special area in my school cabinet for my teacher resources.

If you have to keep certain papers and tests for a portfolio, go ahead and set your files or binders up now. You can add to it weekly, and then you don’t have to deal with it later in the year.

For those of you who have to keep attendance sheets for your state regulations, start those as soon as you start school. If you procrastinate, you will find yourself checking off a lot of boxes at the end of the school year. Update the attendance sheet weekly.

Tell me some ways you have found that help you get organized in your homeschool. If you are homeschooling in an RV, I would love to hear from you!

Your Zone Mission today is to dust the decorative items in the Living Room.

Your Home Blessing for today is to wash sheets.

My menu plan for Monday is lasagna.

Have a great day!