Are you organizing? Both July and late December seem to be THE organizational times for us. Both being before back-to-school times. I recently had a question from my friend Pamela on our IKEA for homeschool organization. And I asked if I could share her question here since it was about time for an organizational update.
IKEA for Homeschool
Q: I’ve been looking at your Hodgepodge homeschool room tour. We are about to redo our homeschool room with some help from IKEA. We are trying to decide about adjustable shelves vs. non adjustable cubes. Also thinking about baskets vs. drawers and the option of some cabinets. So much to think about.
What are you favorite, most useful things you have done and are there some things you did that just don’t really work like you thought they would? We do very little work in the school room, but it is still where we keep everything. It has gotten out of hand lately and I need some better storage solutions.
Hodgepodge Homeschool Room in action!
A: We honestly use everything. But remember that we did this homeschool makeover in stages. The school room, the family room and even children’s bedrooms.
Like you, we were hoping to get control of things that were out of hand. So, in the homeschool room, we took a look at the existing bookshelves my brother built. (They are wonderful! If you are local and need some bookshelves or other home improvement type work, let me know). We used those bookshelves as the bones. And we added baskets.
To sum it all up, maybe think about what bothers you the most and tackle that. That’s the approach we made. Just the stacks and stuff. There were so many stacks of papers and books and notebooks and folders. Now each child has his or her own basket plus there are baskets for specific purposes. One for printer paper and construction paper. Several to house binders…
- The IKEA baskets really help with all the visual clutter of supplies for five children. Yet I can look down inside the baskets and get what I need. There are key, ‘go to’ baskets I use a bunch and others I should go through and get rid of stuff!
- On another IKEA trip we got the 2×2 Expedits for the family room end tables and the baskets for journals and devotionals. We use the IKEA Expedits in the family room a bunch. On either end of the couch.
- Yet another IKEA trip we added a 4×2 Expedit bookcase closest to the kitchen table. That is where we keep science books and a basket for the stack of subjects we do after lunch – so that stack doesn’t sit in a chair at the table and take up valuable seating.
- We also use the chalkboards mentioned in our IKEA and Chalkboard Homeschool room for reminders, meal plans, etc.
Hodgepodgedad sprucing up the homeschool room in January. We are always working on it!
We use our school room for the little ones and for Teaching Textbooks math and for storage. Like you, we don’t use our homeschool room all the time. Learning happens all over the house!
Homeschool Room Organization & Home Makeover
- Our IKEA and Chalkboard Homeschool room – tour our school room – with the stages of all those changes
- Chalkboard Desk – handy for math problems and toy cars (and close by organization for kinesthetic learner)
- Maps as Window Treatments – Geography within Sight
- 10 Homeschool Learning Centers at Hodgepodge – Creating learning centers is a bit of a passion for me. It’s an ongoing room by room makeover to meet the needs of our homeschool, our children.
- IKEA Boys Room
- IKEA Girls Room
- IKEA Homeschool Spaces – Teen Girl’s Bedroom
- IKEA Work at Home Organization for Homeschool Mom
- All the stages of the Homeschool Makeover series.
AND – IKEA Work at Home Organization for Homeschool Mom
Linking up with iHomeschool Network’s Back to Homeschool Blog hop!
I share all this so you might take one thing for inspiration. One rearrangement that might work. Just remember that all of this was done over several years, the frugal way!
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I love how you worked in stages and started with the things that bothered you most…smart!
Thanks Barb! It has helped so much to tackle the ‘problems’ and the organization helps our school days to run a bit smoother.
Your home school room looks great! I would love to be that organized. Thanks for sharing your pics. They are inspiring!
Looking for those Expedits on the IKEA website and can’t find them. We unfortunately don’t have an IKEA so I can’t go shop. Hoping you can give me the link like the basketss. Love your room and all your ideas. Thanks for posting.
Hi Angela, Yes I understand they are discontinuing the Expedit line. But replacing it with something else – so stay tuned! The baskets are the Branas baskets and here is a link for you: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00138432/ We just bought them along and along. A few each month!
I think I will start an IKEA collection too since I’m only an hour and a half away from IKEA. I like how you have hidden the clutter that goes along with so many students (aka children) homeschooling. I really like how your room feels like a home and the kids are lounging around getting their school work done. Super comfy feeling to your space. Thank you for sharing.
You summarized our goals very well Kyle! Yes, IKEA that close? Such a fun place – plus frugal and practical (my favorites) 🙂
Love your space! I just got the trofast shelves from ikea and we’re really loving it!
Love your space. It totally gave me an idea for my space. But I had a question. What is stored in your boxes? Trying to reorganize things in our home.
Hi Kenya – all sorts of things are stored there! Some hold all of one child’s binders. There’s one for printer paper. One for construction paper. The bottom row has math manipulatives, workbooks. And it changes from now and then based on our needs. The tops are open enough for me to be able to see down in each – yet the ‘visual clutter’ of all those supplies is cut down by the cleaner look of the baskets.
I find I have an out of sight out of mind problem! When I have tried to put stuff in boxes I don’t use it enough. Maybe I just need to get rid of more and simplify so that I only have what I really need (really I think I am always trying to do this). I have tried putting away things I am saving for the future and we are not currently using but I am really bad about forgetting I have them. I can’t seem to find a balance to having everything where I can see it and the problem of visual clutter. Any strategies?
We aim to have a purpose for each basket and everyone knows what the purpose is. Teaching Textbooks basket right by the computer for easy access for all grade levels. Printer paper in another basket. History binders in another basket. Then each child also has a basket for all of their ‘things’ – this has worked well for us so far. I suppose it would be best if it was all labeled but we know our system pretty well 🙂 Not sure that helped? I suggest you start with what is bothering you and slowing down your homeschool day the most. For a while that was finding a sharpened pencil WITH an eraser. So I designated a basket just for that purpose.