This is a re-post on someone emailing me and asking me, "how do I eliminate distractions in the classroom" and "everyone needs me at the same time".  This is a fun and simple way I have did it in the past. It has worked and saved my sanity.

My kids love these wooden kids craft sticks. We had a lot of fun decorating them. Are you wondering how these cute wooden kiddos can help limit distractions in your homeschool?

That is where the cups come in. When I am working with one of the kids and the other one has a question, they take one of the sticks and puts it into the empty cup. They don't interrupt me and will wait patiently by the table until I am finished with the other child. Sometimes, they will go in the play area until I am done. This way they know that I noticed they need me, and also that I won't forget that they need help. ( I need lots of help remembering what I need to do next).

I had to do something with Bug. She didn't understand that mom is explaining something to the other kids and would just interrupt when I was teaching. It would make the others lose their attention and I would forget my train of thought. Usually it was stuff, like her wanting to tell me about something that happened a week ago or something that was not an immediate concern.

Now, all the kids are more conscious of what they need. They know if it is something that can wait until after school not to put the stick in the jar. At first it started out like that and I would politely tell them, "these cups are for things that can't wait until after we are done with school." It took them a few weeks to get it. Now, it has been such a big help. 

I started using these several months ago. I love it when something so simple can be such a blessing. I hope this can help you in someway or give you some kind of idea how it can help your family with distractions during school. I know someone is going to ask, "where I got the craft sticks?" I picked them up at Hobby Lobby for a few dollars. The cups I picked them up at Target on clearance. As soon as I seen the bugs on the cup I knew that it was perfect for what I needed. Better yet, my Bug is crazy for bugs. May the Lord bless you and keep you this day.

 

Our school year is approaching fast. I have been planning our lessons, and gathering up all the new school materials for the current year. Are you ready for the school year to begin? I am almost ready to start this year.

I love having a dedicated space just for homeschooling. I don't like things to spread out and I want to be able to find what I need quickly. I tend to fall in the area of being extremely organized when it comes to the classroom. Our schedule is just too busy to not be organized.

A few years ago we decided to build a wall on the far side of our basement. It has been the best thing for our family having a designated space for our homeschool.

This is what the classroom looks like when you walk into the room.

This is the other corner with our new computer desk.

I have not changed too much over the years. We added a much larger table, a computer desk, and more plastic bins to organize everything. Honestly, I have no more room for plastic bins, drawers, or shelves.

 Every area has a destination. Under our computer is our reference books that we use throughout the school year, All About Spelling Cards, and other items we need to be able to get to quickly.

 Plastic drawers that hold art supplies, school supplies and other needed items. I invested in a label maker so every thing is clearly marked and we know where every thing is.

The flooring in the classroom is rubber mats which are so easy to clean up. I don't have to worry about paint, or other messy homeschool projects ruining the carpet. I love it!

 This book case is our current curriculum that is actively being used when we start school up again. This shelf is starting to sag and is going to need to be replaced in the next year as I can see the wood cracking. It has lasted 8 years of homeschooling. On top of the shelf is a paper divider bin that I keep our writing paper, passport books, and other useful supplies.

 The back wall is our map wall. It's a long board with coat hangers on it. The maps are hole punched and attach to the hangers with metal rings. Then our white board and the other side is a chalk board. I have two magnetic white boards hanging on the wall. One board is for our spelling program and the other I have used for various things.

 I love the hanging shelves as it created a lot of shelving space. I used commercial grade brackets  and standards. Books can get heavy and like most homeschoolers I am not lacking in the area of books-just book space.

On the others side of the room I have another set of hanging shelves. On the left is a plastic garage cabinet. I picked this up dirt cheap at a garage sale. 

It has more plastic bins that are labeled. I store our construction paper, felt, odd size papers, microscope, and other manipulative's in this cabinet.

 

This is were I store all our past curriculum that I am holding on to to reuse with my younger son. Everything is organized by subject on the top shelf. 

The second shelf is Sonlight and a few other items.  The third shelf on the left is where I keep the current year items that we will be using later in the year. The bottom two shelves are hardback books, poetry books and also an overflow of Sonlight books that I am not ready to part with yet.

 I have lots of mini plastic drawers that are also labeled.

I love this storage drawer that you can find in a hardware store that holds screws and such. It works great for small things like rubber bands, metal rings, dices, and game pieces. 

Books are stored and put together by subjects in magazine holders. They are labeled so I can locate them quickly. The kids can also navigate easily when they are looking for a book to read.

Our homeschool supplies migrated out into the family room. I keep supplies that we don't use to often in here.

You can see that we have paint, and science kits. Not to mention lots of other items! It just couldn't be helped with the school migrating into the other room.

Another bookshelf out in the family room is all of our references, Bibles, and some odd size books.

Homeschooling doesn't have to be in a set place as we all have different needs, spaces, and teaching styles. Sometimes we school on the couch, family table, and on the go. Don't fret if you don't have a designated classroom for your homeschool. I think the most important thing is being organized so your school day can run smoothly without out too many distractions. Homeschooling is not always easy and it's worst when you can't find books or your supplies. When I can't find things the kids attention seems to go quickly also. This is how I have set up our homeschool classroom and I am very pleased with how it functions in our homeschool.

Usually by this time I have already cleaned out all of last years school work. It just keeps piling up. I can't even blame the kids this time as it's all my mess. Well maybe not all because I see the markers and a few of the kids stuff on the table

The good thing is that I have all of our curriculum for next year that is just piling up on the shelves. Life has been busy and I haven't even started planning for next school year! The bad thing is that I don't even know where to start this year! Actually, I do it's just a matter of sitting down and doing it. It's just that I need to find the time to do it in our crazy busy life. 

Then of course I had to do the unthinkable and pull everything out of the classroom! It had to be done.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed. I do this year. I know it will all work out in the end. I just am a bit of an organized freak when it comes to things that pertain our homeschool. I have a month to go till the school year begins.

I finally broke down and bought a comb binding machine. I don't know why it took me so long to do it. I have been looking and wanting one for a few years.

 It's not something I will use everyday! Right-so why do I need one! One reason is ORGANIZATION!!!! Oh my- the papers, mini unit studies, and the books that I copy so I can reuse them again. Not to mention that Bug goes crazy with those workbooks that don't lay flat. To the point that she loses her focus on the task or has a meltdown because the book pops up while she is writing. Holding the workbook down is not an option on her end with her joint issues. That is just a few reasons I was eyeing a binding machine

I don't know about you but, at times I feel like I am going to drown in papers. I really dislike it when I have printed several pages and we can't find it anywhere. It is just like the papers just walked out of the classroom. Vanished, never to be seen again-maybe the dog eats paper. I don't know but I think binding them together will do the trick.

The best thing is that binding machines are pretty reasonable in cost now. A few years ago when I first started looking at them they had a hefty dollar amount that I couldn't justify the cost. I can take the plastic comb out after we are done with the papers and reuse it again if I want to.

I love it! Next to my laminator I see this as one of my favorite, "must have" homeschool gadgets. I use my laminator a whole lot. Maybe one day I should put  a post together of my favorite homeschool gadgets! I have actually been asked that question several times.Mmmmm that is a thought for a post.

 

Have a blessed day.

I often get asked, "How do you organizing all your homechool books." It has been quite a challenge and every year I find I am running out of room in the classroom.

The hardest part is keeping track of all those books. I like to be able to grab what I need immediately. I remember the days that I needed a book on a subject and I couldn't locate it after looking over and over in the mass of books. It stunk because I knew I had the book.

On this side of the room I keep most of our paperback books, readers, games, and chapter books.

I am wall to wall shelves. The only down side is that I don't have much room to hang things. The reality was I needed to optimize space for books.

Getting rid of the stand alone book shelves was the best thing I have ever did. The shelves with the brackets that adjust has added lots of book space to our school room.

At first it was still hard to find what book I needed. Then came the cardboard and plastic magazine holders.

 On the opposite side is the curriculum, reference books, hardback books, and even some paperback books.

 I love my label maker. They come off easy if needed and make it look neat. Every homeschooler should invest in a label maker for organizing.

 As you can see from all the varies pictures I try to label by subjects.

 I have labels for different areas of science. Like botany, insects, human body, space, and general science. Other labels are countries, health, math, presidents, language arts, Magic School Bus, and many other.

 I used the plastic magazine holders for the curriculum and every subject is in one holder. I put the subjects together on the shelf.

As you can tell I still have boxes that don't have a home. The reality is our homeschool in going to take over our family room in the basement. I have a shelf already- it is just a matter of getting it done.
We are planning on doing it here soon. I would like to have shelves like this in our office. Jeff and I have a lot of books ourselves and we need more space.

Around a year ago I also bought a software program, "Book Collectors" You can scan in your books and put them in by subjects. You can also link to it by mobile app. If you are like me I like to go to used books sales. For the most part I know what I have.Some books I must just love to much because I found doubles, triples on several books while putting them in the system. I like the fact that it has a loan feature. I hate it when I loan a book out and its been way too long and I don't remember who it went to.

Look what my father-in-law made me! What a surprise it was for me when he showed up with this. Pretty nifty. I didn't even know I needed one until he made me a book holder. It is much easier on the neck also.

Thanks for such a wonderful and thoughtful gift.

I am surprised at some of the Emails I get from time to time. You never know that others follow or have even enjoyed certain post. Much less even pay attention to certain post. I have been asked several times this year what kind of updates have I did to the classroom this year?

My classroom is overflowing. Really not to much more I can do or should I say add to. My container days are coming to end in the classroom:0(. I bought one of these garage organizers at a yard sale for cheap. I paid $20.00 for it. I use to have a file cabinet here. I needed more book space on the top shelves.

It holds all my odds and ends. The cabinet was a good fit and I can still see everything quickly to grab things. All my containers use to be on the top shelve. I was running out of room up above as I still was in need of other odds and ends for the school room. I needed some more book space also.

I also bought this cabinet. I was looking for a book shelf. Instead they had a special order return that was slightly damaged. It was originally $130. I talked them down to $35. I think they just wanted to get rid of it. I was at the right place at the right time. I had to get creative to fix it. You would never know it has damage to it. The person who ordered it drilled holes in the wrong places, stripped the screw holes and didn't know how to built it. My years working at a hardware store came in handy and I knew I could work with it. The store didn't know that I am pretty handy. $35 who's complaining.
Unfortunately, it is out in the family room. My school room has now overflowed into the family room. It hides everything so I won't complain to much.

I would love to move one of the walls out to make the school room larger. For now I can still hide everything. Enjoy and have a blessed day.

 On my quest to try to organize our little classroom to make my life a little easier. I came across the Gerber plastic baby food containers. I was looking for something to organize my Geo-board rubber bands and my All About Spelling marker chips and many other small manipulative's that I wanted to keep in a specific location. Originally, I was using small plastic jewelry bags. Overall they worked okay, but they kinda get lost in my drawer. I was having to take out the larger items to find the items in the bag on the bottom of the drawer. Sometimes when the kids put them away well they don't get closed properly and end up spilling all over the drawer.

They are the perfect size for my drawers, stack easily and they don't come open easily and dump out. The best part is they don't get lost at the bottom of the drawer. I tried a few different containers that I had on- hand and they were too bulky for my drawer. The best part is that I am re-using something I already have on-hand. Unfortunately, I have thrown out quite a few before I discovered their usefulness. Have fun organizing! Many blessing and have a wonderful day.

I have had this in the classroom for the last two years and realized that I didn't have any pictures of it. It is a wonderful way to store all the little things that are to small for plastic container and would take up to much space if you had each one in a container. I keep my dices, game pieces for those homemade game boards, bingo markers, rubber bands, brass fasteners, metal snap rings, finger puppets, Velcro, magnet tape, bean bags, erasers, small jewelry storage bags and plastic links. This are not items that I use everyday but, when I need them I know where to locate them. I have a larger one. It use to sit on my filing cabinet. I want to find a new home in the classroom and realized that I can hang it! You can buy one at any hardware store or Wal-mart in whatever size fits your needs. It may not be something you would think of as storage in a classroom. It is a wonderful organizer. Enjoy and have a blessed day. Get ready for me catching up on all those pictures I should of posted last school year, hope I don't over load you! 

This last week I haven't had my girls that I babysit. I have been busy with the final touches of our schedule and preparation for next year. I think I beat my laminating record from the previous year. We have a teacher resource center here in town for the public school teachers and parents. They have some supplies that are very reasonable and a laminater. I have a laminater but, every year before school starts I go and laminate anything new that needs it for the year there. It is not as thick of sheets as my home one. It's a lot cheaper (.20' for regular and poster size is .40') This year I laminated 88' of stuff. That is not counting what I did at home over the summer that I wanted a thicker sheet on. I made a lot of new folder games for Little Man and Princess for preschool.

Organizing and creating more space for the classroom. Every summer I am amazed at all the things that have accumulated in the classroom. I find that I always have to be more creative to fit it all in. I can now say that it is official- every wall is filled with some kind of shelf or plastic container. I guess next year I will have to go up higher or hang it from the ceiling! Something fun to do would be to knock down the wall that we just built two years ago and make it larger! Just joking, don't want my father-in-law to worry to much about my crazy ideal. Well, maybe I am not joking! Here are a few pictures of some of the storage solutions.

I wanted quick and easy access to the flashcards that we use often. I used my favorite hooks 3M command hooks and put them on the inside of the computer desk. I have them on both sides of my corner desk. All the flashcards I  like to punch holes in them and put them on metal rings. I despise having to put them in order all the time and to pick them up. You will see them in a larger picture next. The best part is when we are done with the flashcards I can take the hooks down. You can see why I like the hooks, they go away!

I even found enough of room to fit more plastic containers under the computer desk. We can still pull up a chair to use the computer. Can you see my hooks? The container on the left are actually 3 separate drawers that are stackable. The bottom drawer is my math container. I have my mini clocks, Geo-boards, play money, counters, and odds and ends math manipulative's.

In the middle drawer which I have dubbed the Language Arts bin. I have plastic letters stored and separated in a bead container. Then we have phono-phones, timer, a few odds and ends and All About Spelling markers. I put them in a Gerber plastic baby food container. Then last item is a land phone that we practice using the phone with.

The top drawer holds all the items that I use with the Handwriting Without Tears. The black container next to the computer desk is and old paper shredder bin that has long been gone. I put the easel, mini dry erase boards, chalk boards, Bugs wedge for sitting, and an air pump for Bug's ball chair.

Inside the crates I have file folders. The bottom one is where I will store all the completed school papers for the year. I have it separated by subject and kids. When the school year is over it will go in storage. The top crate is for all the file folder games that we use. They slide out of the bottom with ease. Then I labeled all the plastic containers on the outside for my sanity sake.

This was my bargain find at the Office Depot. I picked it up for under $20.00. It was slightly damaged and I had a coupon for 15% off and then used my teachers card. I had to use some extra glue to put it together. Every thing has its own place. On top I put the shelf I took off the computer shelf that held the monitor. I am not so sure about it at this time. I just couldn't see tossing it. We will have to see if it comes in handy. I have put some DVD,s and Cd's in it and a few odds and ends since this picture has been taken.

I would love to hear new ideals of how you store things to make your homeschool run smoother.

May the Lord bless you and keep you this day. Blessings.

I have had a few people ask me how I prepared my crafts for the whole year. This is where I keep all 36 wks of the school year assignments. It's just not for my crafts but includes everything I need for the school year. It has a lid also, I just took it off so you could see it. I have 36 file folders and in each week I have the manila folder labeled. I labeled the files by the curriculum. I have double copies of pages that I found off the Internet that I plan on using for Little man when he is in 1st grade. When I am done with this year, I will put it in another box until it is Little man’s turn and its all ready and I don’t have to search again. If that lesson has a worksheet or is asking for paper it goes in the file. I have my lapbooks cut up and in a ziplock bag ready to go. I found some neat coloring, notebooking and activity sheets to go with Mystery of History and God’s Design for Science which I want to reuse. I also have the directions of how to do the craft if needed and a list of what I need to gather to complete the craft (glue, paint, ect..) I have the library books and the books out of my own library listed in each file . If you see the pages sticking up it means I am missing something. I still need some wrapping paper rolls, and a certain size of empty cereal box and a few other things. Also, if I need to buy something. I made up a calendar that has all of this so I can prepare a week earlier.

If it is to big to go in the box I have everything ready to go in ziplock bags. Each bag is in order by week and has written on it the curriculum, week, day planned and book and page number. I also wrote on the bag what I need for supplies. So far, it has been working very well for me. I am opened to new ideas. So, if you have something that you would like to share that has worked for you let me know. If you see something I can improve my system I am all ears and would love to hear from you.