Encouraging Moms at Home

Tips, Tricks and Tools for the #MomWin

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Brand Inquiries
    • Full Disclosure
    • Our Writing Team
  • Homemaking
    • Cleaning
    • Essential Oils
    • Recipes
      • Instant Pot
      • Gluten Free Dairy Free
      • Using Produce
    • Nutrition
    • Food Preservation
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool Encouragement
    • Homeschool High School
    • Special Needs
    • Homeschooling Art
    • Homeschool STEM
    • Homeschool Technology
    • Teen and Tween Writers
  • Teaching Ideas
    • Free Printables
    • MInecraft
    • LEGO
    • Fine Motor Skills
  • Family Life
    • Gift Guides
    • Kid’s Activities
    • Summer Fun
    • Hiking
    • Moving
    • Christian Life
      • Christian Family Activities
      • Scripture Memory
      • Poetry
      • Creation
      • Advent and Christmas
  • Moms
    • Encouragement
    • Mom Fashion
    • Date Your Spouse
    • Work At Home
  • Shop
    • My Account

Organizing Your Homeschool Supplies and Papers

by Amy Blevins 1 Comment

Posts contain affiliate links. This means, if you choose to make a purchase, I will make a commission at no extra cost to you. For more information please see our full disclosure.
219shares
  • Pinterest219
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

I’ve been collecting teaching stuff for a long time. It all started when our oldest daughter was a little three-year-old girl and we were starting preschool. All of a sudden I found reason to stash great big stacks of construction paper, washable glue, glitter glue, finger puppets, felt storyboard pieces, letter puzzles, adorable Signing Time flash cards and more homeschool supplies than I could count  in our little townhouse. And I needed a method to contain the madness.

At about that time, I was reading books by Emilie Barnes and in her book More Hours In My Day she talks about the “perfect” box. Her perfect box to organize and store your entire household wasn’t exactly what I was looking for though. For one thing, they were too expensive. For another, they were made of cardboard and I had a growing family.

I went on a search for the perfect container that would fit our family. One that would hold loose supplies, sit nicely on a shelf, and also hold 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper without bending. You know, so that we could save precious artwork and papers and construction paper neatly. Surprisingly, I found that many of the standard-sized containers I could find at local stores fell just short of holding an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper.

We had already bought these black wire shelves at Target on sale for super cheap (I think they were $35 the first time I bought them!) So whatever container I found needed to fit on these shelves.

After what felt like months of searching, I found these perfectly-sized sweater boxes online and knew they were just what I was looking for. I drug my husband to the nearest local store about forty-five minutes away. That was the beginning of my love for The Container Store. We found that with all the shelves equally spaced we could fit these sweater boxes stacked by twos, four to a shelf, with two stacked shoe box sized containers in-between. Twenty-four will fit on a single shelf unit in this fashion. When we moved to New York a couple years later, I bought a couple more shelves and actually ordered an entire case of sweater boxes to line my shelves and hopefully get me organized once and for all.

Thirteen years and five kids later, I have come to realize that my homeschool will never be 100% organized. However, that basic system I started all those years ago still works for us today. I now have a total of five shelves, and over 30 plastic containers, all labeled and waiting for the moment they are needed. Some contain school supplies, and some contain organized toys like army men, musical instruments, card games and other small items.

Larger containers on the bottom row of shelving contain a ginormous LEGO collection, wooden blocks, costumes, and other items requiring more storage space. Every six months or so, I have to go through all the containers and make sure they are sorted correctly since the little ones still don’t quite have the discipline to put things away properly or the skill to read labels. But for the most part, it’s a system that works.

Are you looking for the best ways to organize your homeschool supplies, papers, and toys?  Here are a few tips of the best boxes and methods that work in our homeschool.

When my six-year-old started complaining about being bored on this rainy afternoon (and begging me to add more time on his gaming tablet), my organizational system allowed me to say with confidence “Come with me, and I will find you something to do.” We marched downstairs hand-in-hand and found a box with construction paper in various colors just waiting to be crafted. We gathered glue and scissors for little hands. And he settled in for a good hour of creating at our little school table. Later, we replaced the craft box with a box of pattern blocks and a matching book. It was a happy way to spend the afternoon, for both of us.

Organized School Supplies allows for finding a cure for boredom fast!

So what exactly would you put into the “perfect” containers? Here’s what you’d find in ours right now.

Kids Arts and Crafts Supply Box

  • Children’s Glue
  • Scissors
  • Glitter
  • Glitter Glue
  • Cookie Cutters
  • Chenille Stems
  • Confetti
  • Twine
  • Yarn
  • Stickers
  • Colored Pencils
  • Crayons
  • Tissue Paper

Mom’s Arts and Crafts Supply Box

  • Hot Glue Gun with extra sticks
  • Tacky Glue
  • Modge Podge
  • Buttons
  • Fancy metallic papers
  • Paints
  • Oil Pastels
  • Craft Scissors
  • Craft Punches
  • Scrapbook Adhesives

Perfect boxes to organize school supplies and papers.

Teaching Reading Box

  • Bob Books
  • Reading Flash Cards (Alphabet, Dolch Sight Words, etc.)
  • I Can Read It Books
  • See-Through Reading Rulers

Teaching Supplies Box

  • Felt Pieces for the Easter Story
  • Food Pyramid Pocket Chart
  • Regular Pocket Chart
  • Reward Stickers
  • Reward Badges
  • Reward Medals

Teaching Math Box

  • Math Flash Cards Variety
  • Learning Wrap Ups
  • Times Tales Book
  • Touch Math Pieces

Early Learning Supplies Box

  • Laurie Puzzles
  • Lacing Cards
  • Rainbow Parachute
  • Finger Puppets

In Their Own Containers

  • Pattern Blocks and Books
  • Cuisenaire Rods and Books
  • Construction Papers
  • Scrapbook Papers
  • Army Men
  • Plastic Animals
  • Musical Instruments like rhythm sticks and tambourines and a triangle.
  • Playdough and Tools
  • Random Games
  • Card Games and Dominoes
  • Learning Games
  • Special Keepsakes (one container for each child)
  • LEGO instruction guides
  • Sewing Patterns
  • Rubber Stamps
  • Sizzix templates and machine
  • Gift Bags and Tissue Paper

Organizing Personal Homeschool Supplies for Each Child

So – that tells you how I organize the global supplies. Let’s talk about how I organize each child’s school supplies and books. This year, we got cardboard banker’s boxes. Each child has one of their own for all their books and school supplies. These stack on that same wire shelving unit–two per shelf. We keep this shelf upstairs in our pantry just off the school room for easy access.

I will say, the cardboard boxes are taking quite a bit of wear and tear just a couple months into the school year. We bought a set of ten at the office store for $18, and have already replaced one. At a $1.80 each, that’s not too bad. However, had money not been so tight at the beginning of the school year I would have opted for these Really Useful Boxes. (Yep, they’re actually called that.) I actually love the Really Useful Box® line and have started replacing my old sweater boxes with this size one at a time as I can afford them. They are almost triple the price, but quite a bit more sturdy.

Organizing Personal School Supplies for Each Child

Organizing the Global Supplies in the School Room

Some of the supplies we use are for everyone. These include a huge stash of pencils and pens, adult scissors, kids scissors, a ruler, a fabulous electric pencil sharpener, a three-hole punch, and a tape dispenser. The larger supplies are at the desk, but for the pencils I use this fun turning caddy from Pampered Chef.

Organizing Pens, Pencils, Scissors and Ruler for Student Use

Organizing Our Books

We have a lot of books. Each book type gets its own shelf. We have a shelf for science, a shelf for history, a shelf for Bible, a shelf for language arts, and a shelf for encyclopedias of various types. We have six shelves for picture books, and six shelves for chapter books, and a couple shelves for early readers. The upper shelves are reserved for “Daddy’s books” which include our Bible reference books, study guides, and collection of Chuck Swindoll, etc. We have six of these tall wooden bookshelves in all, plus six shelves included in our desk system.

To keep track of all the crazy books we have, we used this system to create an inventory.

Organizing Our Books in our homeschool

219shares
  • Pinterest219
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Disclosure

1 Comment
Homeschooling

About Amy Blevins

Amy lives with her husband and six beautiful children in Northern Virginia. Besides blogging, Amy enjoys homeschooling, hiking, reading, singing, teaching, and serving Jesus above all. Welcome.

Trackbacks

  1. Keeping a Clean House with Kids says:
    May 2, 2019 at 5:35 PM

    […] did back when our kids were little made a huge difference for us and can help you too, but require a little bit of organization. First – I created labeled bins for all the toys. Dinosaurs in one bin, train cars in two […]

    Reply

Search

Our Favorite Essential Oils

Essential Oil blend for Concentration and Focus

Keep In Touch

  • Shop
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • About Encouraging Moms at Home
  • Brand Inquiries
  • My Full Disclosure
  • Our Writing Team

Kids Can Learn with LEGO Bricks

Our Latest Shenanigans

Instagram post 2170540124801438298_583360598 So this just happened! As we made the last major turn to get to our #homeschool co-op, my back tire did not make the turn without hitting the curb and what felt like something metal. My tire is completely flat and on its rim. Fortunately a sweet friend from co-op came and got my kids, and roadside assistance is on their way to jack up my van and get the spare on. Fortunately this is not one of the tires we just replaced — AND — this one is under warranty. #momlife #thankful #weareallok #nobodygothurt #momsofinstagram #woah #flat
Instagram post 2169879110326070687_583360598 Circumstances, sin and the brokenness of this world will leave life less than perfect. But when we chase a perfect God, read His perfect Word, and follow His perfect way, we will find His perfect peace. ... Girls—we can have perfect peace without a perfect life! 
I saw this posted by @alishaillian and I just had to reshare (with permission!) #joyofmoms #momsoffaith #womenoffaith #prayingmoms #momlife #momstuff
Instagram post 2169022457087059083_583360598 Couldn’t resist an extra post this morning! This is so true!!! In fact my German car fell back in time two weeks ago. I’m not even going to touch it. Nope. Don’t even go there. #fallback #joyofmom #momlife #momcar
Instagram post 2168440362367304136_583360598 What a beautiful reminder that Gods got this! He has the whole world in his hands. He already knows the whole story! The victory is already won. .
Hang in there mama. God chooses the rulers and authorities. God rules all of creation. God carried the weight of the world on his shoulders so that we don’t have to try. .
Trust in this - the God of the universe who has begun a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. . 
He will carry it. The author of our faith.  Not you. Him. .
God’s got this. .
#momoffaith #momsoffaith #momsofinstagram #momsofinsta #momlife #momtruth #momblogger #momfierce #becomingmomstrong #homeschoolmoms
Instagram post 2166966740079591220_583360598 I love it that this boy actually asked me for a hike. It didn’t end up being a long hike. But we got in the woods, we stomped around and explored the river bank. We went uphill and searched out treasures in the woods. It was a good hike. And when we got back in the car even the sixteen year old said, “Mom, I’m glad we came.” #getoutside #playoutside #godcreated #naturespeaks #homeschoolmom #homeschool #momlife #hikersofinstagram #instahike #kidswhohike #hikewithkids
Instagram post 2166239162007849393_583360598 Who needs to just take a deep breath, and rest in the promise that God isn’t finished revealing your story yet? 
This is just a chapter! New seasons are coming, and whatever difficulty you are experiencing in this very moment, this too shall pass. 
So keep your chin up mama! His mercies are made new every morning. Rest in that mercy. 
I’m so thankful for what God has done in my life, but I’m also incredibly grateful he’s not finished with me yet! .
#momstory 
#momtruth
#momlife 
#momsofinstagram 
#mom #momoffaith 
#womenoffaith 
#momsoffaith #faithblogger #momblogger #joyofmom #homeschoolmom #wahm #wahmlife
Instagram post 2165617683159458994_583360598 #sponsored It breaks my heart that we have so many hungry children in the United States - the land of plenty. Food insecurity is a real issue in this country and I want to make a difference. This week I learned that compassion is an action verb. Its not the feeling of empathy -- compassion is the act of helping. It's time to take action and fight hunger. That's why I am pleased to partner with @FoodLion to raise hunger awareness through #FoodLionFeeds and the #NoEmptyPlate challenge. You can help! Find ways to volunteer: https://izea.it/amP2lrk #OurHome #NoOneGoesHungry #hungerrelief #Foodbank #fighthunger #feedingAmerica #foodbanks #foodbanksnova #stophungernow #feedthechildren #nokidhungry
Instagram post 2164810844435915869_583360598 You are not alone.  You are busy, you are struggling with your kids attitudes, laundry piles, meal creation, dust bunnies, more laundry piles and a thousand other things begging for your attention. You are needed 24/7 and you are tired mentally, emotionally and physically. You are a mom - and you are not alone. Be encouraged mama. You got this! You can do it! .
How can I pray for you today??? .
#orayformoms #momlife #momwins #momsofinstagram #momtruth #momstogether #momfierce #joyofmoms #momprobs #moms #honestmom #mommyhood #momminainteasy #homeschoolingmom
Instagram post 2164389082514591713_583360598 We are finally getting Fall colors! I was beginning to despair it would not happen this year. I’m so grateful for the sights and sounds of Autumn. We listened to rain all night soothing us in sleep and woke up to this splendor - seems like the leaves changed overnight.  #rainfall
#motherhood
#Fall2019
#joyofmom 
#blessed #blessedlife #momlife
Follow on Instagram
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: API requests are being delayed for this account. New posts will not be retrieved.

There may be an issue with the Instagram access token that you are using. Your server might also be unable to connect to Instagram at this time.

Copyright ©2019, Encouraging Moms at Home. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs