Gettin Organized

With the start of a new school year comes the itch to not only figure out some curriculum, but also to GET ORGANIZED! Ahhh. It always feels so good to organize a little. But it didn't turn out as I planned. This was my plan: toys in the closet, school toys in the armoire (so I could put a child lock on it and theoretically only allow the children access to those items at certain times of the day. It's The Closet idea taken from TJed families, best explained on this blog.).

My 4yo did not like the idea of me moving his toys out of the armoire. So, after tears, settling down, and sincere "please," I changed it around. School toys, science projects, learning games, puppets, art supplies, Legos are now in their closet and the toys are back where they once were. And none of it looks as good now as it did then. :) At least the kids pick up after themselves!

As I was working on that, I decided to act on an idea I've had for months...to get another book shelf in our Living Room and use some of the shelves for homeschooling supplies. During some of my several back-to-school shopping runs to Target (I just love their $1 Spot at school time for inexpensive workbooks, games, and books), I luckily ran into some darling storage things that were actually in my price range (aka, almost free. j/k but under $5)!

before

after

I just love how it turned out! The left bookshelf houses a lot of our family albums, pictures, and scrapbooks. The middle bookshelf is full of fiction and non-fiction. The right bookshelf is mainly dedicated to piano books on the bottom, curriculum and school journals in the middle, markers and colored pencils up high, and the baskets hold art supplies (paint, playdough, etc) that just need to stay out of the reach of my toddler.

For once, we have bookshelves with a little bit of room for decoration! (Not to mention the 3 boxes of books out in the garage that could maybe use a place for display in the home.) But I hope to be buying more books this year, so some of that decoration space will get filled up with books. And that's fine!