My Stained Apron

I’ve been asked by friends quite a bit how I organize my classroom, so I am finally getting around to sharing it on here.
While it has evolved and been tweaked every year, I feel like we are pretty well organized and I can find and clean it up quickly and easily.  For me, I didn’t like using our dining room table for homeschool since we do alot of art work as well.  And it is really important to me that all meals be eaten at the table together.  So having to clear the table off constantly was a pain, especially when we were going right back to what we were working on.
If at all possible, have some kind of space designated for school, even if it is small.  Everything we have was either a craigslist find (even my Ikea paper sorters, table, chairs, and filing cabinet were cheap craigslist finds) or I built myself.  A few things were purchased at Ikea new.
All of our resource materials have been added to a little at a time, quite a bit has been purchased used.  I buy holiday/seasonal books whenever I see them at a second hand book or kids store.  They are great for rotating in and out.

I made the cubby bookshelves out of pine 1 by 12 and love them.  I use them for our books, toys, and, smaller toys are put in categories in bins together.

I display books on top for either the current holiday or something we’re studying.
Of course Mr. Rogers has a prominent spot, and a bulletin board that is used to display art projects or something we’re currently working on.

The desk was a craigslist find.  It is an an old school table and may bot be the prettiest, but it is super sturdy.  I’ve thought about recovering the top in white or a bright color, but it is frequently covered in markers, glue, glitter, and whatnot, and I like that it cleans off the current table so easily.. and I don’t really care if it gets ruined! 🙂
The shelves that hang above the table I made from pine 1 by 6’s to hold smaller objects, fidgets, etc.
The Ikea letter trays work great for sorting construction paper… which we go through.. alot.  alot.  In a recent trip to Costco stocking up on construction paper I had this conversation with the cashier:
Cashier: “Wow, you must have a day care”
Me: “No.”
Cashier: “You a teacher?”
Me: “Nope”.
Cashier: “Just… stocking up for something?”
Me: “no, not really. This won’t last long. I homeschool.”
Cashier: “Oh. You must have a lot of kids!”
Me: “No… just 2.”
Cashier: “Oh…”

Under the table I have a garbage can for recycling and a large tub for art projects.  I go through it frequently and sort what should be kept (In a closet I keep a few containers to save art work), and what should be recycled.

Another Ikea find was this cart, which we call “the art cart”.  It holds buckets with basic art supplies, like colored pencils, crayons, erasers, pencils, markers, wipes (for messy art moments), and a few favorite fidgets.  I love that I can quickly wheel it next to us and have all of our basic necessities right on hand.

On the other side of the table is a tall bookcase, which I have all of the educational reference and seasonal books in.  I use colored electrical tape to mark the books in categories, whether it’s music, language, Christmas and winter, Valentine’s day, spring, etc.

And yes, I do have a key posted.  🙂

On the opposite wall I have a tall filing cabinet that I have sideways so we can use the side of it as a magnetic display.  On top I have a couple more of the Ikea paper trays, but I have them on their side to organize workbooks and projects.  I have hanging files inside to organize things by subject, season, or holiday, etc.  This works well for great printables I find but always loose unless they have a home.

The cabinets are from Ikea and give us some much needed storage.  The first I actually use for extra pantry storage.  In front we have a large tub of puppets, one of my girls favorite things.  When Amelia doesn’t want to do school work I can use a puppet to tell her the same thing and all of sudden she wants to do it.  Faces can be overstimulating for kids with Autism, so my theory is it’s less stressful for her.

The second holds backup art supplies and any classroom supplies, or science and math supplies.  In the top shelf I have a couple sorters to put the girls completed school work, which occasionally gets sorted into a storage box.

The next cabinet stores arts and crafts supplies.  I have everything sorted into containers and labeled with the things we use most frequently in baskets inside the drawers for easy access.  On the bottom shelf I keep a large tub full of “whatnot” for art projects.  Usually there are some feathers, paper tubes, empty spools, pretty much anything around the house that would otherwise go in recycling or trash that I know my artist, Lucy would find a use for.
This is pretty much free reign.  I’ve tried to teach my girls about not being wasteful and they’ve been pretty good about that.

The last cabinet is the game and puzzle cabinet.  I also set up a small shelf for over sized books which never seem to have a home otherwise.

On the end we have some command hooks for art smocks and aprons, and this year I added their names with hooks for backpacks.  (This was really important for my 6 year old, so why not.)

I made this cart using some scrap 3/4 inch plywood, framed it in 1 by 2, and added wheels to the bottom.  I rotate what goes on the top, either a sensory bin filled with rice and toys or I use it for our easel.

I used it as an “art cart” for some time, but our art supplies overflowed too much.  So currently  I have bins of toys in it.

If I can give one piece of advice, it is to have a HOME for everything.  Otherwise you never know where to put it, and your kids won’t either.
If you don’t have room for what you have, there is nothing as satisfying as a good purge of excess toys and whatnot. 🙂