Getting Ready!

I do have to apologize for taking so long to post something. I have been very busy with family and getting ready for a new year of school. I have found so many great deals. I have also been doing a lot of organizing. While getting things ready, I thought about how all of you might utilize the space you have in your home. 

I don't have a lot of space to work with so I have to get a little creative and try to keep things as organized as possible. I have a deep closet that I had been using as an extra pantry for food storage and bulk foods. I decided to clean it out and use it as a school closet. We have been able to fit a lot of supplies and fun activities in there.  Anything and everything my kids would need to supplement their education and allow them to use their creativity is stored in the closet.  

I was pleasantly surprised to find that we still have room to add to our collection if needed. This is the top half of the school closet. 

I used several different storage ideas. I used plastic pencil boxes for things like erasers, colored pencils, flashcards and several manipulatives and activities. Here are a couple of the activities stored this way. 

We use pencil pouches to store other fun activities and manipulatives. 

 I used magazine holders to store file folder games, mini offices, coloring and activity books and activity mats. I also used jars and small bowls with lids, to hold things like buttons, craft sticks, tacks, and other manipulatives. Extra notebooks, folders and paper fit nicely behind the items that we use frequently. 

This is the bottom half of the closet. I used shoe box sized totes to store things like glue, pom-poms, paints, play dough, math manipulatives, markers, crayons, pencils and pens and colored sand. I used larger totes for pipe cleaners. Each child also has a larger tote for their notebooks, white board and assignments.  

This is our school hutch. It stores our textbooks, printer paper, card stock, laminate, educational magazines, music, and some of our reading books. The rest of our books are upstairs on books shelves. 

This is our weather center and calendar for the our younger children. We had to put it up in our living room since we school in our dining area and living room. We don't have much wall space so our home is not, what I would call, beautifully decorated. But I don't mind. I love the evidence of children living and learning in my home. There is something about it that makes my heart happy. (CHEESY! Also true). Please excuse the glare in the picture. I only pretend to know how to take pictures. 

This is our bulletin board. We use it to display the work of our children. The younger kids use it all the time. The older kids only use it when they feel like they need to show off. ;) The red thing hanging next to the bulletin board is what holds my extra calendar labels. They fit nicely and and don't get bent. I found it at Target in their dollar section. 

This our alphabet train for the younger children. I put it up over their table so that they can see it whenever they work. I found it at Michael's and only paid a little over $6.00 because it was on sale for 50% off and I had a 10% off total purchase coupon. 

There is nothing like getting a good deal on items that you need. I found these workbooks at Target for $1.00 in their dollar section. There is a book for just about everything from learning the alphabet, shapes and colors to multiplication and division and everything in between. 

This is the inside of some of the workbooks. They have colorful pages and great activities to supplement any curriculum. 

This is a preschool book I found for $3.00 at Target in their dollar section. It is full of everything a preschooler needs to know before kindergarten and then some. I thought it was well worth the money spent. It has already proven to be a great supplement to our preschool/kindergarten curriculum. 

These colorful puzzles and sturdy dry erase boards were also found in the dollar section at Target. However, I can't remember the price. I think I was a little too excited to find so much for so little. 

This is the other side of the map dry erase board. 

I hope you all are excited about starting a new year of homeschooling and that you are finding all of the great deals you need. This is a great time of year to stock up on everything you need for the entire year. If you have any great storage and organization ideas, please feel free to share them with me. I hope this school year gets off to a good start for everyone.