Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Looking for Homeschooling Organization Solutions


Although we're on a break from homeschooling (see the "about me" page for more info), we still teach at home... and what parent doesn't? In my previous post I shared our newest journey into taking on piano lessons at home... which is quite the adventure given not one of us knows how to play!

In all the chaos that we call home sweet home, we have ooooodles and ooooooodles of books and as much as I love acquiring new reading material, we've simply run out of shelving space.... so a bookcase would be nice, but I'm also considering a nice tv stand.

We have one corner in our living room that currently sports a very unattractive folding table (like what you might see holding up knickknacks at a garage sale). This table has a K'nex roller coaster on top and stacks of games underneath. It's an eyesore... at least when considering it's in our living room. I've attempted to beautify the college-dorm room look with a tablecloth, but I still find the sight nothing short of annoying.

I think a tv stand might look nicer in this spot. It would have a lower and wider top than a standard bookcase, so the kids could still use the top for projects (like roller coaster assembly), but we'd have a nice piece of furniture, made out of some kind of wood, with shelving and maybe even doors to store games and hopefully a handful of books! lol

What is your homeschooling organization stresser? If you could have 1 new piece of furniture to help you alleviate your storage issues, what would you choose?

2 comments:

Christie DeSilva said...

Construction grade 2"x12"x8' at Home Depot is $8. Pick through the pile, find the smoothest ones without cracks, and build your own. Screws and straight cuts only. No fancy work. Make them go around doorways and span walls to look like built-ins. Cheap cheap cheap. We've done this twice now for all of our homeschool goodies. SOLID, will never sag, and you can just put some putty in any knots or minor dings, and paint. Works great, and is way stronger and cheaper than any bookshelves you'll buy for a reasonable price. The very first time we did this, we got fancy and routered lines and made the shelves fit just right and fany and "real-wood-working"ish. The next time, We measured floor to ceiling, made two uprights boards, and cut shelves to fit in between and just screwed them in from the edges. Sink the screw just a tad so you can putty and paint over it and you'll never know it's there. This is project you can do with no skills, a chopsaw or circular saw, and a drill. LOVE It!

Unknown said...

Boy have you asked the million dollar question. I also have racked my brain trying to come up with solutions. I love Christie's idea on building your own. And it does solve the space issue as you can design to your own needs.

I am looking forward to the solutions you get and may have to borrow a few for our out of control mess.