July 24, 2024 – Organizing Chaos: Help With the Clutter

Christine Weller

Books, Binders, and Paper . . . Oh, My!

While homeschooling has its rewards, the journey often comes with its own set of challenges, including managing the inevitable clutter that accompanies home education. From textbooks to art supplies, the accumulation of materials can quickly turn a learning haven into a chaotic mess. Suddenly, you can’t find a thing and everyone gets frustrated. Here are some practical tips to help homeschooling parents keep the clutter under control.

1. Create Dedicated Learning Spaces

Designate specific areas in your home for different activities. Having a defined space for reading, art, science experiments, and other subjects will help to keep materials contained and organized. Make use of bookshelves, bins, and labeled containers to store items in their respective areas. 

2. Implement a Daily Clean-Up Routine

Include a clean-up time into your daily schedule. At the end of each school day, allocate fifteen to twenty minutes for tidying up. Make it a fun, family activity where everyone pitches in. This routine helps prevent clutter from piling up and becoming overwhelming.

3. Use Practical Storage Options

Take advantage of vertical storage solutions! Wall-mounted shelves, pegboards, and hanging organizers can significantly reduce clutter on desks and tables. These tools help keep frequently used items within easy reach while freeing up valuable surface space.

4. Rotate Supplies and Materials

Not all learning materials need to be accessible all the time. Consider rotating supplies based on the current subjects or projects. There’s no need to keep everything out all at once. Store off-season materials in clearly labeled bins that can be easily accessed when needed. 

5. Digitalize When Possible

While technology has its downfalls, sometimes it can be useful to help us. Try reducing physical clutter by using digital resources like ebooks, online curriculum, and educational apps. Additionally, using cloud storage for organizing digital files ensures that important documents are easily retrievable and not lost in a sea of paper.

With these strategies, parents can transform their homes from cluttered chaos to organized learning environments. Remember, the goal is to create a functional and enjoyable space where both parents and children can thrive in their educational journey.

About the author

Christine Weller has been homeschooling her two boys, 10 and 6, since birth in the lovely province of Ontario, Canada. She is also a mom blogger and children’s book author. She is currently working to support homeschoolers everywhere through various roles at The Old Schoolhouse®.

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Sherri Seligson

Helpful Hints for Homeschool and Home Organization

Homeschooling brings with it books, pens and pencils, books, folders, books, tablets, and . . . more books! Where do we put it all? Because there are lots of duplicate uses for these items and the spaces where we homeschool, we tend to have less command of everything (Do you have as many scissors in your house as I have?). 

But there are ways to corral the clutter and help keep things from getting out of control. Let’s start with the household. I am not a scheduler, but when I have something on my calendar, such as a dentist appointment, I know I’ll make room in my day for it. And if I have to miss it, I know I need to reschedule. That is the same thing with our home. Schedule times during the week to clear clutter and clean . . . literally. Add them to your calendar. It’s amazing how much can be done in a ten-minute blitz. Assign just one area or task to each person. Even the littles can clean baseboards with a wipe, put toys in baskets, and carry clothes to their rooms. Encourage everyone that cleaning/organizing is a service to Mom and Dad and to each other. When they fold laundry, they’re serving those whose clothes they are folding. And when you serve someone, your heart is moved toward them. It’s like when your child brings you picked flowers. They are doing something for you, and it fosters relationships. Who knew chores could foster relationships?!

For homeschool supplies, find a shelf or basket for each child’s books and supplies. Sometimes it’s helpful to get their pencils, scissors, etc. in a designated color so everyone knows what belongs to whom (that helps with picking up, too!).

Do a toy purge. Try to keep versatile play toys like Legos/K’nex/Magna-tiles. These are toys that foster free play. Box up some ignored toys and put them in the closet or garage for a while. If they aren’t missed, donate them.

There are lots of ways to corral the clutter, but just choose one area at a time so you don’t get overwhelmed.

About the author

Sherri Seligson, M.Ed. is a 21-year veteran homeschool mom, marine biologist and author of Apologia’s science courses, instructional videos, and more. Sherri loves encouraging moms and teaching families the wonders of God’s creation. www.sherriseligson.com; Facebook: SherriSeligsonAuthor; Instagram: sherriseligson 

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Heather Vogler

Laundry Baskets—Not Just for Laundry

Laundry is rarely “caught up” in our home. With a family of seven, it’s not just clothes. It’s the never-ending sheets, towels, linens, swimsuits, snowsuits, and the random stuffed animal that somehow sneaks its way into the laundry room by way of a tricky youngster. 

The washer is always filled, as is the dryer, and several laundry baskets, but at least there is a sense of organization with them. Sure, baskets of dirty laundry might pile up in our basement (it’s embarrassing to admit how many there can be at times,) but in the midst of the chaos, there is an order. The kids know that the dirty laundry goes in the washer. The clean clothes then go in the dryer (please do not forget to clean the lint trap!), and then the dry clothes are then folded and put away. It can get crazy, but somehow it gets done. Maybe it is because we have always had to do it since day one, so even though it has grown over the years, a process is still in place. 

Since laundry baskets work so well for clothes, I recommend expanding their use. Does your living room tend to get cluttered with toys, books, shoes, or random accessories? When in a rush to vacuum the floor or ensure that the living space is picked up, I toss my children’s belongings into a laundry basket. Before the next meal, they are then required to go through the basket, find their belongings, and put them away. When in a pinch to get your living area clean in a hurry, this helps to eliminate the stress, and with everything in one spot, the kids can easily find what is theirs and deal with it right away. You can even go the extra step and provide a basket for each child. I’ve just found it easier to use one, have them put everything away, and then put the basket out of sight. 

Another quick and easy use for laundry baskets is to help you tidy up unused school books. If I have books that I do not plan on using right away, but I will be using them in a few weeks and do not want to put them in storage, into the laundry basket they will go! I then place the basket in the corner of our school area or in my room for easy access when I need it. Then, I consider tackling the laundry—using at least some of the baskets for what they were originally intended!

About the author

Heather, her husband, and five kids homeschool and homestead in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Heather holds a BA in Christian ministries, and, in addition to writing on her blog, Thrift Schooling (ThriftSchooling.com), Heather has been published in several magazines including Focus on the Family, War Cry, and Brio. 

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Pillar of Future

Adam and Dianne Riveiro

Organizing Chaos: Stop Making It So Complicated!

In my office, I have almost forty composition notebooks neatly lining the bottom of my bookshelf. No doubt you know which kind I’m talking about: the white and black notebooks you can pick up from the dollar (and a quarter) store. Why are they so important to me? Each one represents how I’ve scheduled every Monday-Friday from 2007 until now. On each page, I write down my tasks for the day in a specific way that makes sense to me. One hundred pages equals one hundred weekdays of organization.

When you’re thinking about planning and organization, the temptation is to spend lots of money on fancy calendars, agendas, and day planners. And if that works for you, then go for it! But I find it ironic that in the past fifteen years, I’ve spent less on organization than if I had bought one Franklin-Covey planner! 

What am I trying to say? Do I think my way is superior? Yes, it is . . . for me! But, find the simplest way of planning out your homeschool. Give yourself room to experiment new ways to plan and organize, and give yourself grace when some of those methods don’t work the way you want. Don’t feel pressured to organize like your favorite social media influencers or your fellow homeschool parents. In the end, as the kids are often fond of saying, “You do you!”

-Adam

About the author

Pastor Adam and Dianne Riveiro live in Easton, Massachusetts, where Adam leads Liberty Baptist Church. They’re the authors of several books, including Hope from Our Heart to Yours: A 30-Day Devotional Journey for Special Needs Families, available from their family’s publishing label at www.readyscribepublications.com. They have four children: Bethany, Kaylee, AJ, and Peyton. They’re passionate about helping their fellow special needs families find joy and contentment in Christ.

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