How To Organize Your Kids’ School Supplies

I recently posted one of my newest ideas on a private facebook group that I follow about how to organize your kids individual school books and supplies.  It seemed to be a hit, and I got a TON of questions, so I figured, why not make a blog post about it! 

As some of you know we homeschool.  This will be our 7th year! Its is crazy how time flies!  We are what I like to call year by year homeschoolers.  What I mean by that is we take it year by year, and if everyone is still happy and sane at the end of the year, then we go on to complete another year!  So far, this method has worked pretty well for us!  We truly love the closeness that homeschooling brings to our family!

Well enough about that, back to the meaning of the post, how do I keep all of their individual books neat and organized?  My method has changed a few times throughout the years.  Slowly I have learned what does and does not work, and I think I have finally come across a method that has seemed to stick.

Here it is…..

And here is how it works…

I found these super sturdy metal baskets at my local Hobby Lobby in the farmhouse section.  I bought one for each kid, and one for myself.  They are big enough to hold all of the books my kids need for the year, they are heavy duty, and I love that there are no lids or extra pieces to take care of.  All my kids have to do is grab the subject that are wanting to work on, and go do it!  It is so simple! I also love how easy it is for them to put it all away!  If there is anything I have learned when it comes to organization, it is that the more simple the method the more likely you are to stick with it!  If it is over complicated, or has too many pieces, you will more than likely not keep up with it.

Ok back to the baskets!  Like I said, each kid gets one, and I use the other for myself.  I use it to hold any teachers manuals or any books that we may be using or reading together as a group.

We hung the baskets with plain screws, and spaced them so that each basket was attached to a stud in the wall. This makes them easily removable if need be, but still sturdy and in place!

The curriculum we use is called The Good and The Beautiful.  We use it for almost everything except math.  With this curriculum comes some flash cards for different subjects, and also some other random odds and ends things for science and history.

That is where these handy dandy zip lock pouches come in hand.  I bought them at Office Max super cheap, I think they were like .99 cents each!  I use them to hold all of the little stuff that is more individualized for each kid. They sit very nicely in the baskets with the rest of their books, but also work well to prevent the small stuff from getting lost in the shuffle!

Here is what they look like. I have mine labeled according to their needs.

That is pretty much it!  I plan to do some more posts about other areas of our home school and how we organize those areas, but this is it for today!  I hope this is helpful for some of you?  I personally have struggled throughout the years to find a system that works, and I truly believe that by sharing ideas and supporting each other we can all become better moms, dads, husbands, wives, and homeschoolers!

Feel free to leave a comment on what you do to keep your homeschool organized!  Also feel free to share this with your friends or anyone else you think could use this!

Happy Homeschooling Friends!