Can I see your pics of books/toys/homeschool set up?

[mykdsmomy]

I am going CRAZY trying to organize the kids' toys/books/homeschool junk on this new unit I got from Ikea. I have baskets, bins and bags to put stuff in...but I just cant seem to categorize....ughhhh! I have puzzles, crafts, toys, and school stuff but just dont know how to put it all together....I was hoping to see how you all have your stuff organized.....I have a VERY small townhouse (1056 sf) and we have five children...I need serious help here......thanks mamas!

[Wolfmeis]

Finally found it

We're moving, so our homeschool is currently in boxes.

We do a montessori-based homeschool and my children are young, so this is what we have. There are also two tables we use that fit closer to the shelves but I took them out to make room for the pic.


www.wolfmeisters.com/homeschoolstairs.JPG

The children have large book collections in their rooms, and I keep the art supplies in these tubs so that I don't have unfortunate surprises.

[Ravin]

I have a big cubby from Ikea with a few baskets and some plastic bins. Most of my organization is based on whether I want DD to be able to get into things herself or not. So at this point, the art drawers (a plastic bin) are in her closet up on a shelf out of her reach, while her blocks, stackers, board books, felts for her felt board, Dr. Seuss books and one puzzle at a time are on the bottom 3 shelves where she can reach them. Don't have any pics, tho.

[amyamanda]

I can't post a pic, but here is what I have.

Art stuff goes in two places - accessible things on a bookshelf next to our dining room (everything) table, and stuff requiring supervision or not used frequently in labeled plastic boxes on a bookshelf just inside the garage (door opens to the kitchen).

The same art bookshelf near the dining room table has two sides - one side is art stuff, the other side has a dictionary, current magazines, and other homeschool books/materials. I also have a bookshelf in my laundry room where I keep dormant homeschool books/materials.

The lower part of the art bookshelf has space for two baskets where we keep our dress-up clothes and playsilks.

Puzzles are kept in the laundry room and brought out by request. Too messy otherwise!!

Books go on one huge bookshelf in the living room; anything that is just way out of my kids' reading or interest range is in storage. Board books go in a large wooden box on the floor. The lower shelves have a few toys on them - trying to keep the books out of pullable reach from toddler.

Baby/toddler toys are in the living room, mostly in baskets on the hearth, but dolls/stuffed animals go in an open wooden toybox. To keep myself sane, I keep only one "kind" of toy per storage container. Wooden cars in one, rattles in one, blocks in one, etc. We don't use our fireplace often so it does't matter that they're on the hearth and it looks neat. Easy to put away, too since we don't have many toys, maybe half a dozen baskets there.

The bigger kids also have a gated playspace in a different room, where they have a fairly small 5-drawer plastic storage unit for small-pieces toys, along with a couple of open bins for other kinds of toys. They each have one bin with their name on it where they can keep stuff they're working on and everyone knows their "turn" is not over if the thing is in their box. We used to have many more toys but within a day of cleanup they'd be in a sea all over the floor. With less toys the kids can keep them neat more easily, and we do big cleanup weekly.

Good luck!

[USAmma]

I have a school room. It's the only way I can let dd1 have free access to her art and books without dd2 getting into them. I have a baby gate up that she knows how to jump over. She spends a lot of time in that room drawing and coloring. I have a book nook with a beanbag chair in one corner. Her art supplies are on another shelf, and her desk has schoolbooks on one side, and her "treasures" on the other side. I also put a nature table in there for her. It's her retreat from little sister. She will build things and do puzzles in there, too, so dd2 won't destroy them. We have a 3br house but we felt it was worth it to have the girls share a bedroom so we can have the other room free for schoolwork and projects.

For dd2's things, we bought an IKEA entertainment center/storage unit. It has closed cabinets that I lock with baby proof locks. All of the puzzles and games for both kids are in one of the units. The games only come out when dd2 is napping or down for the night. Dd2 is allowed 1 or 2 puzzles at a time so we don't have a million wooden pieces to try to find. In the other unit I keep many of dd2's toys. It keeps them hidden out of sight when she's not using them, and keeps the mess down. I will take 1-2 out at a time for her. The lower shelf is open and I keep dd2's board books there. She can make a mess with those if she wants b/c she loves her books and asked to be read to a lot. Those are easy to clean up. The tops of the units have glass enclosed shelves where dh and I keep our books and breakable things.