Homeschooling In a Small Space

September 11, 2017 by Selena Robinson 10 Comments

We’re a family of six. We live in a 1600-square foot house (and that’s including the garage).

One of the major issues that homeschooling families face is finding the space to store their school supplies and we’re no strangers to that problem. As much as I would like to have a dedicated school room, we just don’t have the space or the money to have one. So, like many of you, we just have to make do with what we have.

If you’re strapped for storage room, take a look at how we practice homeschooling in a small space!

Homeschooling In a Small Space

Since our home is packed to capacity (two of us to each bedroom), we don’t have a spare room that we can convert into a “homeschool room”. I’d love to have one, but it’s probably not in the cards any time soon. So, we tend to keep our homeschooling supplies in a few strategic places around the home.

But – a note of caution: It’s really easy to just stash homeschool stuff all over the place. Seeing all that clutter around makes it hard for me to concentrate, though, so I tend to just avoid using the materials at all.

And that’s how I ended up with homeschool “storage zones”.

Our dining room does double duty and serves as our school room most of the time. We have a bookcase on one short wall where we keep the items we use the most. Our anchor charts and educational posters get stored behind the bookcase.

At the top, I keep our school printer, the kids’ microscope, a pencil sharpener, and a three-hole punch. Anything more and it turns into a drop zone for everything we have.

On the shelves below, we keep our homeschool materials according to grade level. Our two oldest children are using K12 this year, so we keep their computers and science supplies on the top shelf.

My two youngest children are still being taught exclusively by Mom, so their books and materials are on the shelves below. My third/fourth-grader’s books are on the left and the basket on the right holds the workbooks and printables for my kindergartner.

The bottom shelf is used for the textbooks that were sent to us for use with our K12 students. As you can see, they sent us quite a bit. I try to keep it separated by grade level, but it’s a constant work in progress.

On the full wall of our dining room, we keep a small chalkboard and a space for our educational charts and posters. I rotate that out, depending on what we’re studying at the moment. Right now, my youngest son is working on identifying the states, so that’s the chart we’re displaying.

This is our curriculum closet, which originally served as our hall closet. It already had shelving, thankfully, so it was a perfect place to put many of our materials.

As you can see, this space has to serve as a hall closet AND a homeschool storage space. I corral the household things in baskets and the homeschool things in separate stacks. The row at the top is textbooks for upper elementary grades. The lower shelves hold blank notebooks, lapbooks we intend to reuse, and storybooks we’ll be discussing with the kids this year.

I go through our books and materials every year and declutter the resources we won’t be using anymore. That keeps me from overfilling the closet. (Which is so very easy to do.)

And finally, I use a clear hanging shoe holder on the backside of the closet door to hold writing instruments, flash cards, and small office supplies. As you can see, I have a tiny overbuying problem when it comes to markers.

I will not buy any more markers. I will not buy any more markers. I will not buy any more markers.

I should probably make myself write that 100 times today.

How do you keep your homeschooling supplies from overtaking your home? Do you have any tips for schooling in a small space?

Need more tips for getting your homeschool ready for the new year?

And see plenty of suggestions for organizing your homeschool supplies on my Homeschool Organization Pinterest board!

P.S. You can get homeschooling and parenting tips in your inbox each week when you sign up for our email newsletter!

This post is part of the Back to Homeschool blog hop from iHomeschool Network! Click over to read more tips for making the most of your homeschool space!

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens

August 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson 2 Comments

It’s back to school time! And this year, I have a rising middle schooler. Eeek!

In keeping with my decision not to use a homeschool planner this year, I’m putting the organizing squarely on my sixth-grader’s shoulders. So that means it’s time to shop for gorgeous middle school student organizers that are lovely enough for tweens to use!

Check out this list of fun and functional middle school planners your child will be psyched to use this school year!

Need more tips for planning your homeschool year? See how to simplify lesson planning and streamline your daily homeschool schedule!

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens

Want to ease your child into planning his or her own schedule? Try these fun student planner printables!

Grab more tips to make this homeschool year the best one ever on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the Back to School Unit Study Hop! Stop by to read all these great posts from my fellow bloggers!

Back to School Teacher Gift {Free Printable Bag Topper} from Crafty Mama in ME

The Best {Back To School} Books For Kids from Play Dough & Popsicles

Back to School Interview for Kids from CraftCreateCalm

Free Kissing Hand Songs, Poems, & Videos to Ease Separation Anxiety from Living Montessori Now

How to Help Kids Back to School from iGameMom

Middle School Student Organizers for Tweens from Look! We’re Learning!

Back to School Party Ideas from Schooling a Monkey

Not Back to School Picnic from Tales of Education at Home

Back to School in a Forest School from FrogMom

Back to School Hand Washing Water Play from Play & Learn Every Day

52 Preschool Themes (& FREE 2016-2017 Preschool Theme Calendar!) from Preschool Powol Packets

Homeschooling? Have a Not Back to School Day from Adventures in Mommydom

Books for Kids About Starting Middle School from Planet Smarty Pants

Minimalist Homeschooling: Stick to the Basics

July 17, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Homeschoolers, let’s have a little chat, shall we?

One of the huge draws to homeschooling is that we have the freedom to teach lessons and subjects the way that we see fit. But, to quote Uncle Ben from Spiderman, “with great freedom comes great responsibility”. Okay, I’ve totally just told you my age. 🙂

We have a LOT of options and a LOT of flexibility, but we also have the sole responsibility of educating our kids. And sometimes the endless options and choices can shift our focus from providing a good education to providing the bestest, most complete education ever – which is probably impossible.

It’s easy to start with a few school subjects at first. Then you add more and more. Next thing you know, your lesson plan has 15 or 20 slots to accommodate extra subjects such as Latin, crafting, foreign language, engineering, and technology. That may work for some, but it has become overwhelming for me.

So – this year, I’m sticking with the basics only when it comes to teaching school subjects. Here’s how.

Minimalist Homeschooling: Focus on the Basics

Look at your state requirements. What subjects are you required to teach? Start with those! In our state, we are required to teach math, ELA, science, social studies, and reading. When I started to really look at those subjects, I realized that covering them each day is plenty enough for us.
Add in other subjects and interests, but sparingly. Say you want your child to study Latin. That’s fine. But do they really need to learn it every single day? Do you even have time to teach it every day? If not, do it once a week and let that be enough. Or: If you finish your required subjects for the year by summer, use the summer for those elective subjects.
Leave room for your kids’ interests! Homeschooling isn’t homeschooling if the kids don’t have a little say in the planning, right? Leave a slot or two open for them to explore something they want to learn about. Your day will go much, much better that way.

Want to simplify your lesson planning? Take a look at how we’re doing that this year!

Get more ideas for organizing your homeschool on my Homeschool Organization Tips Pinterest board!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 8: Teaching Several Kids at Once!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Simple Homeschool Lesson Planning

July 16, 2016 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

We’ve been talking about minimalist homeschooling for the past few days and, so far, we’ve covered making changes in the way we store books, use paper, make crafts, and manage digital resources.

Today, though, we’re on to the granddaddy of them all: LESSON PLANNING.

Lesson planning is both my favorite and my most-hated part of homeschooling. I love the idea of doing it and I generally love doing it…for the first few weeks of the school year. Then I start to do it a little less and less. By week eight or so, I’m hiding the lesson planning book somewhere in the room so I don’t have to look at it…lol.

So I know it’s time to make a change in the way I plan our homeschool. And that’s why I’m giving simple homeschool lesson planning a shot this year!

How to Simplify Homeschool Lesson Planning

As I’ve mentioned many, many times before, I’m living with ADD. Which means that I tend to hoard and overcommit myself frequently. Nowhere does this tendency show up more in homeschooling for me than in how I plan our lessons.

I tend to overschedule our days, include too many activities, and then do almost none of them. So that’s pretty obviously not the ideal way to homeschool.

This year, I’m keeping it simple with the following format:

Our basic school subjects
One craft per week
One video per week
A field trip every month

As for choosing our craft each week, I’m going to use up the craft resources I already have (see: Cutting Down on Craft Supplies) and once those are gone, I’m sticking with resources from the library from here on.

When it comes to choosing a video, I’m going to use the videos I already have listed in some of our homeschool unit studies. I think there are enough there to keep us going for some time. 🙂

I’m also going to make use of a digital planning program, such as Evernote. I just don’t have the time to write things down by hand anymore. If I can’t see it on my phone during the day, it’s probably not going to get done. (I still love the paper planners! In fact, I use one for my overall day, but I’ve got to let them go for homeschooling. Sad, but true.)

How will we tackle our basic school subjects this year? We’ll be talking about that tomorrow!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 7: Stick to the Basics!

Get more ideas for planning your homeschooling year on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Cutting Down on Craft Supplies

July 15, 2016 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Crafting. I both love it and hate it. I love the feeling of making things with my kids. I don’t love the work of cleaning the mess up afterwards.

Despite this ambiguity, I have managed to amass a collection of craft supplies far larger than what will ever be used during my homeschooling journey. So, like my book collection, my digital homeschool resource collection, and my paper cache, my craft supply space has got to have a minimalist makeover.

Are you drowning in pom-poms, watercolors, clothespins, markers, and other craft supplies? Here are a few tips to cut them down!

How to Cut Down on Craft Supplies

Step 1: Designate a fixed space for craft supply storage. If you think that you really want to continue making crafts with your kids, set up a small space for storing supplies. Don’t let yourself buy or keep any more supplies that can reasonably fit in that space.

Step 2: Do a sort-through. Bring out all the crafting supplies you currently have and spread them on the floor. Let your kids look through them and come up with ideas for crafts and projects they want to make with them. If there are any supplies they don’t plan to use, set them to aside to donate.

Step 3: Make, make, make! Set a deadline for your kids to make their projects, but don’t be strict about it. Ask them when they’d like to make their crafts and then offer a gentle reminder. If they don’t follow through, just set those supplies out to be donated as well. Your kids will probably never miss them. 🙂

Need some ideas as to what kinds of crafts to make with your supplies? Check out this list of beach crafts for kids!

Get even more crafting ideas on my Simple Crafts for Kids Pinterest board!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by Monday for Day 6: Simplified Lesson Planning!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Digital Decluttering

July 14, 2016 by Selena Robinson 10 Comments

Do you think of yourself as a hoarder? Have you ever watched Hoarders and thought “That’s not me. I would never keep all that stuff.”

I have. In fact, one of the reasons I’m slowly embracing minimalism in my homeschool is because I prefer to keep a smaller house with fewer possessions to take care of. When I talk about having too many books or feeling overloaded with paper, I’m really speaking about the amount that feels like a lot to me. To others, though, it never seems like much.

But I recently came to a rather surprising conclusion: I am a digital curriculum hoarder. Over the years, I have downloaded so many homeschooling printables and curriculum helps that I will never use them all. There’s just no way.

And now, I don’t even look at them because I get overwhelmed by it all. Guess what? It’s time to do some digital decluttering.

How to Declutter Digital Resources

Step 1: Organize the digital homeschool resources you have.

Open up the folder in which you keep all of your homeschooling downloads. And slowly start organizing them into smaller folders. Whether you choose to do it by grade level, subject, or type, just get them all organized so that you can see where they are.

Also, if the files have funny download names that include symbols or letters, rename the files to the actual name of the product. That way, you’ll know what they are without having to open each file.

Step 2: Look at your grade objectives and decide which resources you will use for each child.

Use a notepad or an open file on your computer to jot down which resources you intend to use for which child during this school year. If you don’t think you’ll need a specific resource this year but you might use it the next year, store it in a separate folder.

If you think you won’t need it for several years, delete it. By the time you need it, you’ll probably have found something more up-to-date.

Step 3: Do a purge at the end of the school year.

When you’re wrapping up your school year, take a look back at the resources you used. Did you love them? Keep them for the next child! Did you never get around to using them at all? You can probably delete those. If there were any that you were on the fence about, toss those as well. And make sure that every resource you get going forward is one that you really want to use.

Need help organizing your digital homeschool resources? See a simple way to do it with File Explorer!

Get more ideas for organizing your homeschool on my Homeschool Organization Tips Pinterest Board!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 5: Cutting Down on Craft Supplies!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Dealing with Paper Overload

July 13, 2016 by Selena Robinson 7 Comments

If you’re at home right now, go into your homeschooling space and take a gander around. If your room is anything like mine, you probably have more items made up of one material than all others: paper.

I had no idea how much paper I had accumulated over the past seven years of homeschooling until I started trying to simply our homeschool. And, oh boy, is there paper everywhere.

Worksheets, construction paper, writing paper, contact paper, butcher paper, drawing paper, graphing paper, planning paper – just paper as far as the eye can see.

This will probably seem unreal, but it’s absolutely true. I actually have planning pages that I printed FIVE YEARS AGO and have yet to use. I have no idea how much money I’ve spent in printer ink over the years, but I can guarantee it’s been a lot.

In this entry in the Minimalist Homeschooling series, we’re talking about how to deal with paper overload and free yourself of the paper trail!

Minimalist Homeschooling: Dealing with Paper Overload

First – I just want to clarify: I am not talking about getting rid of paper entirely. In our state, we have to keep certain records each school year and there are a few activities the kids completed that I’m saving for sentimental reasons. But a lot of this paper is just taking up space in my life.

So we probably (read: definitely) have too much paper on our hands. What do we do about it? We get real.

In yesterday’s post, I shared the tip that has been helping me declutter the most. Ask yourself: “Does this spark joy?” If it doesn’t, get rid of it.

With papers, we might tweak that approach to ask: “Do I really want to use this?” If you don’t really want to use it, put it in the “Get Rid of This” pile.

Personally, my pile consists mostly of extra drawing paper, old worksheets I printed but never used, old lesson planning pages that no longer fit our homeschooling approach, teachers’ guides I really thought I needed but will never, ever have the time to implement, and so on.

And guess what? If you’re feeling guilty about tossing all this paper, just take it to your local recycling center. They’ll be happy to take it off your hands!

Going forward, I’ll be printing worksheets, planners, and other pages on a strict need-to-use basis. If I don’t need it that week, I’m not printing it. Period.

Need some non-paper related homeschool planning ideas? Check out Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 4: Digital Decluttering!

Minimalist Homeschooling: How to Declutter Books

July 12, 2016 by Selena Robinson 9 Comments

I never thought I’d ever utter this next sentence, but: I have too many books.

There. I said it.

That was tough.

If there was an organization for Book Collectors Anonymous, I’d be at my meeting every week.

I’ve always loved to read and, when my husband and I decided to homeschool our children, I was off and running to the bookstore. Books about homeschooling, books with homeschooling activities, classics I’d read as a child that I now wanted my kids to read, new children’s books that were written by promising authors, out-of-print books featuring wonderful hobbies I still wanted my kids to learn…you get the idea.

But after seven years of homeschooling, I realized that I just have way too many books. As part of my experience with minimalist homeschooling, I’m..gasp…getting rid of some of my books. If you’re ready to learn how to declutter books, here’s a look at how I’m doing it.

Minimalist Homeschooling: How to Declutter Books

I’m going to borrow from the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up to explain how I decide it’s time for a book to leave my home. In that book (and, yes, I realize the irony of quoting a book about getting rid of books), the author says to touch each item in your home and ask yourself: “Does this spark joy?” If it doesn’t, out it goes.

For me, I look at a book and think “Do I really want to use this book for our homeschool or do I feel like I should use this book for our homeschool?” If it’s there just because I think I should use it, it heads out the door.

Pictured: A look into my storage closet (almost)

Some homeschooling books are super, duper famous. And they are wonderful resources for many families. But, over time, I’ve realized that some of them are just not a good fit for us, especially since we’re homeschooling kids with ADHD. So there’s no point in keeping a homeschool library that won’t help with our specific educational goals.

“If a homeschooling book is in my closet just because I think I should use it, it heads out the door.”

Now, this is not to say that I won’t keep buying books. But buying them because I only think I need them or, worse, keeping them long after they’ve served their purpose, ends now.

So, what have I been doing instead of hoarding more and more books? Why, visiting my local library, of course! And there are so many great and trusted tips for homeschooling available online now, that I don’t really need as many homeschooling and education books as I did years ago.

Do you have a way to declutter books? How do you decide what to keep and what to get rid of? Share your tips!

Don’t miss these great homeschool organization posts!

Need more ideas to get your homeschool organized? Follow my Homeschool Organization Tips board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the How to Homeschool as a Minimalist series! See all of our minimalist homeschooling tips by clicking the image below!

What is Minimalist Homeschooling?

July 11, 2016 by Selena Robinson 7 Comments

Confession time: I’ve struggled off and on with homeschool hoarding for YEARS.

I didn’t get a lot of support when I was a homeschooled student and I swore that my children would have all the books, resources, and materials they’d ever need. As a result, our bookshelves and closets are stacked to the gills with homeschooling supplies.

Here’s the problem: I will never in my life ever use all of those things. In fact, I’ve had things put away for years that I have found after my children are too old to use them. For example: I have a book full of toddler activities that I haven’t opened in nearly nine years (since Tigger was a toddler). Guess what? I no longer have any toddlers.

As my kids get older and my confidence in homeschooling grows, I’m finding that I don’t need nearly as much things as I thought to give them a quality education. So I’m stepping into the world of minimalist homeschooling.

What is minimalist homeschooling? And can a confirmed homeschool hoarder really embrace minimalism?

What is Minimalist Homeschooling?

Here’s where it gets a little dicey: what minimalist homeschooling actually is looks different in each family. For me, minimalism refers to a lifestyle that challenges people to make the most of what they have without buying more things. In short, it’s simplifying your life by getting rid of unnecessary possessions.

This lifestyle is well supported by the Bible. 1 Timothy 6:7, 8 encourages us to be content with “sustenance and covering”. Well, when it comes to homeschooling, I’ve got plenty to be content with. Too much, in fact.

So, it’s time to get rid of my unnecessary homeschooling things, no matter how much they may mean to me personally or how much money they may have cost me.

Can a Homeschooling Hoarder Become a Minimalist?

Since I’m a hoarder (when it comes to homeschool stuff), I know that embracing minimalist homeschooling is going to be tough. The challenge for me is letting go of my fear that I won’t have something my kids need when they need it. Which brings me to the most important reason why I’m venturing into this lifestyle.

I do not want to homeschool out of fear.

I’ve never been one to homeschool out of fear of the public school system. Nor do I homeschool out of fear that my children will do “something wrong” if they’re out of my sight. But I have been hoarding homeschooling materials out of fear that I won’t be a good enough teacher. And that fear has been draining the joy out of the homeschooling experience.

My hope is that homeschooling with the bare necessities will help me see that I am teacher enough for my kids, even without a closet full of supplies.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of my journey with you all in the next few days! Do any of you homeschool with a minimalist perspective? I’d love to hear how it’s going for you!

Need to homeschool on a budget? Grab my ebook How to Afford Homeschooling for just 99 cents!

Get more ideas for planning your upcoming homeschool year on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

This post is part of the 10 Days of Minimalist Homeschooling series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 2: Books, Books, Books!

Back to School Snack Station with Savings at Publix!

September 5, 2015 by Selena Robinson 3 Comments

We’re all in back to school mode this time of year, right? And that means hungry, hungry hippos. (Oops! I mean, kids. Hungry, hungry kids.) 🙂

My children are just famished during the school day. I think it must be all the mental effort they expend figuring out ways NOT to do their work.

So this year I decided to create a simple back to school snack station that they could use on their own during snack break. Thanks to some awesome savings at Publix, I stocked our station for a lot less than usual!

See how we stocked our snack station and get ideas for your own! Plus, you can download a Publix coupon and enter our giveaway to win $15 in PayPal cash to get some kid-friendly snacks for your family!

Disclosure: The information, products and Publix gift cards were provided by General Mills through Linqia.

Simple Back to School Snack Station

Sometimes I try to make homemade snacks for our children, but on some days I just run out of time to do it myself. So, picking up snacks I know my kids like can really be a time-saver.

Some of the simple snacks for kids I like to use include Fiber One chewy cookies, bananas, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, and Chex Mix. (Seriously, those Fiber One cookies are incredible. It takes a LOT of self-control for me not to eat the whole box.)

So here’s how I make up the station:

I empty the Chex Mix into small resealable bags – usually three bags at a time, one for each of my older kids. Then I remove the granola bars and cookies from the box and place them in the basket, along with the bananas.

That’s it! That’s all I do! When it’s snack time, I set the basket on the table and the kids go at it.

Hey, hey! One at a time! 🙂

I will say that I don’t let my kids snack during school. We take breaks to have snacks, but when we’re schooling, we’re schooling.

Do you need to fill up your back to school snack station? Save $5 on your $20 purchase of participating snacking items when you share the Publix Snack, Share, Save event with friends! Visit the campaign landing page to find out how.

Plus, you can save $5.00 instantly when you buy $20 worth of participating items from PepsiCo, General Mills, & Unilever between 9/24 and 9/30! So it’s a great time stock up on Fiber One Cookies, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, Chex Snack Mix and all the other kid-friendly snacks you can!

Here’s how to get your coupon:

1. Go To SnackShareSave.com and Choose a Design to share on your social media account
2. Log In to your Publix Skip The Clip Account
3. Share the social media design via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest
4. Check your Skip the Clip Account for your $5 Coupon.

And you’re done!

Want even more snack savings? We’re hosting a $15 PayPal giveaway so you can stock up on snacks right now! Woohoo!

You can enter using the Giveaway Tools widget below! One reader will receive $15 in PayPal cash!

Entry -Form

5 Homeschool Dining Room Ideas

July 20, 2015 by Selena Robinson 6 Comments

Last week we shared what homeschool curriculum we’ll be learning with this year. This week I’m excited to talk about where we’ll be learning it. 🙂

We’ve been using our dining room as our homeschool space for several years. As much as I’d love to have a dedicated school room, it’s just not going to happen for a while. So – we’ve taken a corner of our dining room and made it into Learning Central.

The thing about using your dining space, though, is that your homeschooling supplies can easily take over and leave you with nowhere to eat. So it’s good to get a few tips for storing your supplies.

If you’re cramped for space and you’re using your dining area for school, you’ll appreciate these 5 homeschool dining room ideas!

5 Homeschool Dining Room Ideas

1. Use a dedicated bookcase.

If you can’t have a dedicated room, use a dedicated bookcase! 🙂

Once we committed to schooling in our dining room, we pulled a deep bookcase from our garage and reserved it FOR HOMESCHOOL USE ONLY. Nothing goes on that bookcase that is not directly related to our schooling. Otherwise, it ends being a “catch-all” and I’ll never find what I need to teach the next day.

Most school resources are brightly colored, which is great because both our dining room and the bookcase are rather bland…lol.

At the top of the bookcase, we keep our pencil sharpener, our “Job Jar”, and our Brain Breaks. The Job Jar is our chore manager. Inside the jar are folded slips of paper – each with one chore to be done. The kids reach in, grab one, and get to it. Needless to say, it’s very popular with Mom. 🙂

We use Brain Breaks regularly to get the kids up and moving in between lessons. If you have kids with ADHD (like we do) or just kids who prefer to be active, definitely, definitely, definitely check out The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks. It’s been a huge help for us.

The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks eBook

2. Keep only your most used resources nearby.

Now, I hope you guys don’t think that what you’re looking at is ALL of our homeschooling resources. It’s not. 🙂

We store the bulk of our homeschooling supplies in a hallway closet and we use the back of our laundry room door to store markers, pens, and paints.

Which brings me to tip #2: Only keep the resources you use the most in your homeschool dining room.

Every summer, I go through this crate and take out what we won’t use the next year. Then I look through the closet, pull out the resources we intend to use, and keep them in the crate for the new year. Easy peasy.

3. Separate each child’s grade-level resources.

This year, I hit upon the idea of keeping each child’s grade-level books in separate boxes. Previously, I was keeping everything in the crate, but all four kids will be “doing school” this year and the crate just can’t handle it all…lol.

These bins were salvaged from a toy bin bookcase that our oldest daughter outgrew. I kept those boxes for months until I found a use for them. 😉

Tigger and Pooh’s books are on the bottom, because they’re going into 5th grade and 2nd grade, respectively. Roo and Piglet, who are going into 1st grade and Totschool, keep their supplies on the shelf above.

4. Make use of your wall space.

We had a nice, big, blank wall in our dining room, so we hung up a small blackboard. School at home doesn’t work for our kids, but the chalkboard does help, especially when they get to come up and write on it themselves.

The corkboard next to the chalkboard serves as our Anchor Chart space. Because our kids are easily distracted (ADHD and all), I only put something there when I’m actively using it.

Like so. 🙂

5. Store your printables and lesson plans somewhere else.

We use a lot of digital homeschool resources in our family, which means I have a LOT of printables each school year. If I was to try to store them all in our homeschool dining room, there’d be paper everywhere.

So, I keep them in a crate separated by student and week.

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I saw it in a homeschooling group on Facebook. It’s awesome. That way, I can print out lesson plans for a few weeks at a time and keep them in a folder for each child for each week.

Then, I just bring the folder out to the homeschool space and use it as needed. The crate stays tucked away under my desk in our bedroom. 🙂

And those are 5 homeschool dining room ideas you can use to keep your schooling space neat!

This post is part of the 2015 Not Back to School Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network! Click over to read even more school room posts from our fellow bloggers!

How to Organize Digital Homeschool Resources

June 19, 2015 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

As a second-generation homeschooler, my heart belongs with paper books, planners, and notebooks. (There’s just something about the smell of paper and erasers in the morning.)

However, I have seen the need to jump into the digital age and, as a result, I am now the proud owner of a TON of digital homeschool resources. A ton.

But here’s the thing: If you can’t find anything on your computer, then all of your resources don’t really do a lot of good, do they? 🙂 So I came up with a simple way to organize digital homeschool resources, which I’m sharing with you today!

How I Organize Digital Homeschool Resources

Here’s my big secret…

….

…..

I use Windows File Explorer.

That’s it!

It’s really, really simple, but it really, really works. Here’s how:

I have my digital homeschool resources organized by the type of “school” to which they belong: Elementary for PK-5, Middle for 6-8, and High for 9-12 – just like in public school. I also have a separate folder for Planning, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Within each “school” level, I have items separated by grade level. For example, my “Elementary” folder is organized by specific grade. Then for things that aren’t really grade specific, I have individual folders such as “Foreign Language”, “Unit Studies”, and “PE“. I also have a few general subject folders that include resources for several grades.

Within each grade-specific level, files are organized again by subject. This is a look at my second-grade folder. So when it’s time to plan second grade, which I’ll be teaching with Roo this fall, I can just browse through the folder for each subject and plan from there. Much, much better than stockpiling resources and then forgetting about them until a year or two after the grade is finished. (Been there, done that.)

Now, my “Planning” folder is organized a bit differently. I am a total homeschool planner packrat. I have all kinds of planners on my hard drive, so they have their own folder. Then I have a folder for “Notebooking”, one for “Clip Art”, and another for “Teaching Tips”, because those make up the bulk of my downloadable resources that are not directly for the kids to use on their own.

As you can see, I also have two other folders: one for the 2013 Omnibus and another for the 2014 Omnibus from iHomeschool Network. I was thrilled to be a contributing author last year and I’m looking forward to sharing in the sale again this summer.

I mean, look at all those wonderful resources! Whenever I need a homeschool pick-me-up, I click open one of those folders and just read and read and read. 🙂

How I Store Digital Homeschool Resources

Of course, sorting and organizing all of my files won’t matter much if my computer crashes. So, I use a couple of methods to keep my digital homeschool resources safe.

First, I store everything on my computer and on a USB flash drive. I usually have to get one with a decent amount of memory, because I am an admitted digital curriculum hoarder. 🙂

In addition, I back everything on my computer’s hard drive up once each week onto an external hard drive. I like Seagate’s portable external hard drive, because it’s super easy to use and I can take it with me if I go out of town. (Really, it’s so easy to use that I kicked myself for not having gotten one earlier.)

And that’s how I organize digital homeschool resources! If you have any tips or suggestions to share, please do so in the comments!

Ready to get a handle on your homeschool this year? Check out these posts!

Get more tips about how to plan your homeschool on my Homeschool Planning Pinterest board!

Getting Started With the Homeschool Workbox System

November 10, 2014 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

The homeschool workbox system, which was invented by Sue Patrick, can be a great way to schedule lesson plans and organize your materials. In fact, if you have more than one child, the workbox system can literally save your sanity.

I shared a post earlier this year about how we use homeschool workbox organization to keep our materials in one place, but the system can also help you teach your children to be responsible for their own work. And that will certainly come in handy in the later school years, right?

I have had the privilege of writing over at The Homeschool Post for a while now and I recently got to share a post about how you can begin using the homeschool workbox system. If you are new to this technique or if you just want to know more about it, this post can give you an overview of what it includes and how you can simplify it for your family.

To get a look at how you can begin using the workbox system in your homeschool (without spending a fortune), stop by The Homeschool Post to read a few tips to help you get started!

Using the Workbox System in Your Homeschool – The Homeschool Post

Homeschool Organization Tips for Moms with ADHD

October 18, 2014 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

Yesterday we talked about some of the struggles of homeschooling moms who have ADHD. Among them – or at least among mine – are disorganization, forgetfulness, and hyperfocus. Since you need a good routine to keep kids with ADHD on track, trying to teach them at home when you also have ADHD presents a whole world of problems.

For me (and many other people with ADHD), one problem is consistency. I can organize my things. I just can’t keep them organized afterward. I have absolutely no interest whatever in the daily maintenance of our homeschooling space. So, here are a few homeschool organization tips for moms with ADHD that I’ve used to keep our homeschool space somewhat under control.

Homeschooling Organizing for ADHD Parents

Designate one day per month to reorganizing.

Since I tend to hyperfocus on single tasks, I am awesome at once a month cleaning and reorganizing. I am NOT awesome at doing daily cleaning sessions. Sometimes I actually do not even see that the room is messy. Truly.

I’ve tried and tried and tried to make myself into a neat person, but it’s just not for me. I keep our open spaces clutter-free and clean, but my desk is a perpetual mess of books, papers, notebooks, and pens. I’ve since accepted that it’s a writer’s desk and, as such, it should be messy. It’s only right. 🙂

But once a month or so, I go into hyper-cleaning mode and I want to declutter from top to bottom. When I feel that coming on, I take advantage of it to the fullest. I set aside that entire day (generally) and clean like my life depended on it.

I go through all of our completed work for the past month and file it or chunk it. I also reorganize our school books, pull out our upcoming readers, and plan our arts and crafts for the next month. That gives me nearly a month before I have to do this all again, which is generally when I’ll experience another hyper-cleaning session.

Use the type of organizing system that is best suited for you.

I’m a visual person. I need to see constant visual reminders in order to get anything done. But for the longest time, I tried to make myself into the paper planner type. While I love filling in the planner, I don’t love looking at it every morning. In fact, I generally write down my schedule and then promptly misplace the planner. Or worse, put it on my desk and stack so many things on top that I forget to look at my list until a week later. Not helpful.

Instead, we use visual organizing systems such as workboxes, routine charts, and posted schedules. If I see our objects and plans each day, I’m far more likely to stick with them and maintain them, if for no other reason than that our things look better when they’re straightened.

Do a weekly review.

Okay, I can’t take credit for this one. My blogging buddy, Sarah from Early Bird Mom, suggested this and I loved it so much that I featured it in this week’s Family Fun Friday linkup. Sarah suggests that homeschooling moms pick one evening per week that they can sit down and complete a weekly review.

This is a designated time to look ahead to the upcoming week and remind yourself of your household, homeschooling, and financial obligations. That is an incredible idea, especially since I tend to write random reminders on bits of paper all over the house….and then forget to look at them again in time to do the required task. 🙂

How about you? If you’re a mom with ADHD, how do you keep your homeschool organized? Share your suggestions in the comments!

This post is part of the 31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling series! Stop by tomorrow for Day 19: Calming Tips for Parents with ADHD!

2014 Blogger Planner, Calendar, and Menu Planner from Mama Miss

Our Homeschool Workbox Organization

August 11, 2014 by Selena Robinson 18 Comments

Last year, we ventured into the world of homeschool workboxes. This year, we’re focusing on improving our homeschool workbox organization, so that our school day can get off to a decent start every morning. 🙂

I love workboxes! They’re like little fun boxes that make school work seem more interesting. My kids love using the workboxes. We do our workbox assignments during quiet time, which I’ll talk about in a future post, and that seems to make them feel more “grown-up”, especially since Piglet naps during that time.

Keep Reading…

9 Night Before Back to School Organization Tips

August 5, 2014 by Selena Robinson 36 Comments

We’re continuing with our back to school theme this week by sharing some great back to school organization tips you can use the night before! Plus, we’re participating in a fabulous linkup!

Nothing is worse than waking up in a panic to get your kids ready for school. We’re homeschoolers, but I still find that if I go through a checklist the night before class starts, our school day runs much, much smoother.

So – here are nine “night-before” back to school organization tips for your family, whether your kids are in homeschool, public school, or daycare!

1. Make a menu plan.

Menu planning is a real lifesaver during the school year. When you have a prepared menu, you’ll have an easier time getting dinner on the table in time. Check out these great menu planning posts:

10 Theme Nights to Make Menu Planning Easier – Real Life at Home

Seven Steps to Make a Menu Plan – Faithfully Nourished

2. Prepare the kids’ lunches in advance.

Want to save time in the morning? Make the kids’ lunches the night before! Even better, get them involved by having them choose their lunches or make them! If you’re tired of the traditional PB&J, try these great posts for back to school lunch ideas:

Simple School Lunch Ideas Your Kids Will Love – My Life and Kids

Over 50 Back to School Lunchbox Recipes – 3 Boys and a Dog

3. Set out the kids’ clothes for the next day.

Have your children set out their clothing for the next day before they go to bed at night. This is a great time to check on the looming laundry pile too! 🙂 Kelli from 3 Boys and a Dog shares some great tips for back to school clothes shopping:

Shopping for Back to School – 3 Boys and a Dog

4. Use a command center to keep track of assignments and events.

The first week of school or homeschool is pretty calm (typically), but as the year goes on, the amount of assignments and projects that are due can quickly get out of hand. Keeping a one-stop command center in your home is an excellent way to keep everything under control. Check out these posts for using command centers in the home:

DIY School Organization Center – The Chirping Moms

10 Back to School Command Centers – My Life and Kids

5. Plan lessons in advance and keep them organized.

Homeschooling moms have the additional responsibility of planning homeschooling lessons each week. Personally, I am awesome at making lesson plans. I’m not so good at following them everyday. So this year, I’m making a real effort at keeping my lesson plans organized so that I can find what I need quickly. For more about organizing lesson plans, visit this great post:

Organizing Lesson Plans – Adventures in Mommydom

6. Choose your read-alouds for the next day.

Developing a good reading habit with kids at an early age pretty much guarantees that they’ll love learning for life. But, trying to pull together a read-aloud list at the last second is a recipe for disaster. I prefer to have a list to work from so I have time to read the books myself and think about how to include them in our lessons. Here’s a great post about choosing books for kids:

Chapter Books for Kids – A Mom with a Lesson Plan

7. Use a dedicated space for keeping crafts and supplies.

If you’re homeschooling, you’ll need a separate space to keep your teaching materials. Rifling through a pile of books is extremely frustrating. (I have done this many times.) Save yourself time by keeping all of your materials in one dedicated space! Check out these posts for homeschool organization tips:

Tips for Organizing and Storing Craft and School Supplies – Motherhood on a Dime

School and Craft Supply Organization – I Can Teach My Child

8. Put your school items back before going to bed.

Okay, this is one I’m reeaallly bad at. Really bad. After the school day is over, put everything back where it was! This is a great time to get the kids involved as well. Make it a game of “How Fast Can We Put Everything Away?” 🙂 For a few suggestions about how to keep your school room organized, stop by this post:

Our School Room – School Time Snippets

9. Establish a bedtime routine and stick to it!

A good bedtime routine may actually be the most important part of back to school organizing. If your kids are in public school, they may have to get up especially early in order to catch the bus or make the first bell. Even if you’re homeschooling, you may want to start class at the same time each day. So – having a set bedtime is critical to getting your day started on the right foot. Check out this post to learn how to establish a bedtime routine with your kids:

15 Tips for a Better Bedtime – A Mom with a Lesson Plan

This post is part of the “Back to School” Linky Party hosted by The Educators’ Spin on It and featuring members of the Kid Blogger Network! Click on over to read the Back to School posts from our fellow bloggers!

Review: Lessontrek Online Homeschool Lesson Plans

July 24, 2014 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

We’re still in the middle of homeschool planning here and, while I’m a fan of paper planners, I decided to try out the new online homeschool lesson plans program Lessontrek. I’m so glad I did! This program is going to make lesson planning SO much easier this year! Here’s a look at how the Lessontrek program works and why it’s such a good fit for our family.

Keep Reading…

10 Free Homeschool Planners for the New School Year

July 16, 2014 by Selena Robinson 48 Comments

Hey everyone! We’re quickly approaching back to school time (for many homeschoolers) and a lot of us are in the midst of homeschool planning. To help you get a start on your lesson planning this year, check out this roundup of free homeschool planners from our fellow bloggers!

~~Even better, we’re hosting a great giveaway sponsored by Jill at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom! One of our readers will win a copy of the Enchanted Homeschooling Mom homeschool planner!~~ This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to Kasondra! 🙂

10 Free Homeschool Planners

Here are 10 free homeschool planners you can use this year:

Creekside Learning: My Homeschool Lesson Planner

My Joy-Filled Life: Free Weekly Homeschool Planning Pages

Homeschooling on a Dime: Free Printable Homeschool Planner Pages

Vicki Arnold: Free Homeschool Curriculum Planning Pages

123Homeschool4Me: Free Customizable Homeschool Report Cards

Everyday Snapshots: Free Printable Homeschool Planner

Quick Start Homeschool: Free Household Binder Download (Can be used for homeschooling)

Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus: Free 7 Step Curriculum Planner

ALLternative Learning – Free Weekly Learning Themes Planner Pages

Real Life at Home: A Collection of Free Homeschool Planning Helps

And if you prefer to make your own planner, check out:

Homeschooling Down Under: How to Make Your Own Homeschool Planner (Video tutorial)

Jill over at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom has put together an incredible homeschool planner that is available to members of the E.H.M. Members’ Only website! The planner features weekly lesson planning pages, educational goals, a reading log, homeschool budgeting sheets, and even more!

To get your copy of the Enchanted Homeschooling Mom homeschool planner, join the E.H.M. Members’ Only website for a one-time fee of just $15 and get access to every printable resource on the site!

If you’d like even more homeschool planning tips, follow our Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

Follow Selena @ Look! We’re Learning!’s board Homeschool Planning on Pinterest.

Tips for Homeschool Time Management

June 9, 2014 by Selena Robinson 13 Comments

Today we’re talking about homeschool time management, which helps us deal with one of the biggest obstacles to happy homeschooling in our home: NOT ENOUGH TIME!

We have four children, including some with ADHD, plus I’m a full-time minister and I work – so time is extra precious around here. But, I’ve learned a few great tips for managing our homeschooling time and I’m thrilled to share them with you all!

How to Improve Your Homeschool Time Management

1. Make a Schedule and Stick to It

I’ve previously sung the praises of a consistent homeschooling schedule and I’m still a huge fan of scheduling. When time is at a premium, using a daily homeschool schedule can literally save your lesson plan. So if your days are extra busy, block out a regular time for your schooling and hold class at the same time each day.

Tricia over at Hodgepodge has a great homeschool routine that works for her family. It involves a great early morning routine that calls for all of the kids to be up, dressed, and ready for school by 8:45. Genius!

2. Delegate Housekeeping to Your Kids!

What if you’re drowning in housework? Get your kids involved! Assigning daily, age-appropriate chores to your children accomplishes two things: 1) It reduces your workload and 2) It teaches them valuable life skills. With a little planning, you can even incorporate it into your school day. 🙂

Tristan from Our Busy Homeschool is a homeschooling mom of 8. Eight! One of the things that keeps her homeschool on track is having her kids do chores everyday. She even manages to get her toddlers and preschoolers involved!

3. Restructure Your Lessons

One of the many wonderful things about homeschooling is that we don’t have to follow a regimented lesson plan. We can rearrange our lessons whenever we like. For example, Tigger finished her language lessons early last year, so had a chance to double up on math for a few weeks.

Beth at 123 Homeschool 4 Me manages to work in schooling, housework, and errands in a single day! How? She keeps the “school” time to three hours a day and uses other activities to teach, including library visits, storybooks, and educational iPad games. Beth also makes use of the workbox system, which is great for assigning work to each individual child without disturbing the others.

Great Books for Homeschool Time Management

There are a lot of great books for homeschooling parents who need to work on their time management. I’ve enjoyed the tips in these two in particular:

The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling: Barbara Frank

Scheduling – The Secret to Homeschool Sanity: Plan Your Way Back to Mental Health – Lee Binz

Use these tips for better homeschool planning!

For even more homeschool scheduling and planning tips, follow our Homeschool Planning board on Pinterest!

This post is part of the “I Can’t Homeschool Because… linkup at iHomeschool Network ! Click on over to read how some of our fellow bloggers overcome obstacles to homeschooling!

Forever Blog Planner Review

February 21, 2014 by Selena Robinson 8 Comments

I received a copy of this product in exchange for this review. This post contains affiliate links. See our Disclosure Policy for details.

Hi everyone! You know that we love giveaways here at Look! We’re Learning! In fact, we’re currently giving away two free history books for kids. *wink, wink* But we’re ending this week with a super fantastic giveaway for all you homeschool bloggers out there!

Today’s giveaway is being sponsored by Tina Robertson of Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus and it’s all to announce the release of Tina’s incredible “Forever Blog Planner”! I got the opportunity to review this printable blog planner and I can tell you that it definitely has the right name, because it is the one and only blog planner you’ll ever need!

Okay – now for the good stuff. What’s in the Forever Blog Planner? Over 360 printable blog planning pages, including templates for:

Undated weekly and monthly post calendars
Reviews and giveaways notes
Guest post planning sheets
Washi notes and monthly dividers
Month-end tips and goals
Yearly traffic, income, and advertising tracking
Editable tabs and divider sheets – so you can fill it with whatever you like!

I loved just about everything about the Forever Blog Planner, but what really won me over was its flexibility. I’ve used several different blog planners in the past, but I’ve never found one that is spacious enough for all the writing I like to do.

The Forever Blog Planner, though, is different. Instead of trying to keep up with my social media and last minute notes in a tiny little space for each post, I have a two-page spread for each week where I can list individual ideas and reminders about my posts with plenty of room.

Aren’t those note spaces adorable?

I absolutely love the yearly tracking pages. I can keep up with my blog stats, social media followers, and product reviews easily by using the tracking sheets. There are even tracking sheets for guest posts I have scheduled during the year.

Plus, there’s a sheet for keeping up with my yearly income and expenses. This will be a huge help at tax time.

Initially, I was tempted to use my handy dandy coil binder to bind the planner into a notebook. But in the extensive planner instructions, Tina encourages using a three-ring binder instead. I’m glad I followed that advice. Now I can just print more pages and switch them out as I need to during the year.

Since the weekly and monthly calendars are undated, I can reprint them for additional years without having to buy a new planner ever again! What’s more, Tina provides several different color schemes and styles, so I can use a completely new planner style for next year. She also includes free updates to the pack for every customer who purchases the Forever Blog Planner!

To add a little room for notes and tips I come across this year, I printed several of the included note templates and put them in their own “Notes” section at the back of the binder.

Along with her well-organized printable blog templates, Tina offers a super helpful sheet of Pinterest tips for bloggers inside the Forever Blog Planner. On it, she offers great suggestions for creating noteworthy pins and improving Pinterest reach. And since Tina has over 24,000 followers on Pinterest, she definitely knows what she’s talking about! 🙂

If you’d like to pick up a copy of the Forever Blog Planner for yourself, you can buy it from Tina’s website by clicking the image below!

Now, for the really good stuff! One of my readers will win a free download of the Forever Blog Planner, courtesy of Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus! To enter the giveaway, simply use the following giveaway widget!

Entry -Form