Organizing: School Stations

Today is the first day of school for us! I have a third grader and first grader this year and we are all excited to see the things this school year has in store.

Back to school time always gets me thinking about organizing my home. Especially when it comes to finding efficient ways to streamline all the school stuff. The supplies for getting projects and homework done, the endless stream of papers that come home each day, the things that need to be signed and turned back in...it's hard to keep it all together without a good system backing you up.

Since we live in a townhome, we don't have space for an office or even a large desk, so I've come up with some ways to keep all that creative clutter in check. We use the dining table for a lot of our 'desk' work...work I and my husband do, and also my kids' homework and projects. It is the central area of our home and a natural gathering place, so it makes sense that it's also the place we all can work and create together. Because of that, I have put a few stations around the dining table to keep things organized.

First up is this filing cabinet and holder combo...

The filing cabinet I bought is similar to this one here. I have had good experiences with Sauder furniture, we also have a computer cabinet that is Sauder. They are well made and fairly easy to put together. In that filing drawer is folders for various things...a school folder for general information from the school year, a preschool folder (I do preschool at home with my younger kids), a Cub Scout folder for my little boy, a folder keeping track of my Mary Kay stuff (I sell it mostly to family), and various other things. It also has extra notebooks in there as well.

Above that is my 'in' tray. I put things in there I need to file away in other places, either kid's school projects we are keeping, bills, important documents...really just anything that needs to be filed permanently somewhere else. That tray is probably the biggest thing keeping me from feeling overwhelmed with all the papers and things that come into our home. I know I don't have to organize it every single day or all the time, it can go into the 'in' tray until I'm ready to take care of it. I go through that pile about once a month and clear it out and file everything at once.

On top of the filing cabinet is a holder for each child for them to keep homework folders, projects they are working on, stickers or other things they want to keep track of. That is their folder and and a spot for their things. I like them to each have their own designated spot to help them learn to be responsible for keeping track of their own papers and assignments. I also have a holder that has construction paper for them to use whenever they would like, and a holder with workbooks and other things for preschool and for older kids to use and work on.

On another side of the kitchen table is our kid table...

 It's a Handy Manny table my in-laws gave my little boy on one of his birthdays and they all love it. :) This is where I keep some more of our school supplies...there are markers, pencils and sharpeners, scissors, and glue sticks in the pink holders. Off to the side of that I have watercolors and Elmer's glue. There is also play dough and crayons, and also a box of stencils that didn't make it into this picture. Above the table is my chicken wire frame. I use it to hang up art projects or other papers we are working on but need to be returned to school (reading calendars etc.).

I like having crafty supplies out and available for my kids at any given time. First, if they have projects or things they need to do for school, they can get to work on their own if they need to without me having to remember to pull everything out. But also, they have all those things available to them any time they want to create and make things. There are times our dining room and table has become a complete disaster zone because their creative juices are flowing and they are in a frenzy of cutting, and gluing and painting and coloring. It can be crazy. But I also absolutely love those times I come into the dining room and see one of them or all of them quietly creating and working on something just because they wanted to or had an idea of something they wanted to make. I really feel having organized areas for creating and having all of those things readily available at all times helps foster that.

So those are some of my ideas for organizing some of the school chaos and papers that come into our homes, while also helping your kids be creative. I am always looking for new organizing ideas, so if you have any school organization ideas you love using in your home please share!