I wanted to show you what my mother and I did over the Christmas weeks that she was here. (I was going to post those pictures today, but I can’t find them at the moment. Hopefully Adam knows where they are and I will show them to you.) She was a tremendous help to me! She helped me organize the toy explosion we had and organize the school room. The effect is amazing!
First, we cut down the toys greatly. Adam’s father made this toy box when Maacah was a baby and we have since used it for what it was made for: a toy box. But as the children grew (and the children came), the toys multiplied. Which also led to toys getting buried at the bottom of the box, never to see the light of day again. It was located in the closet in the school room, but it just wasn’t working very well. Here is the toy box (minus the boy, of course).
So we moved that out and replaced it with this:
The pink container on the left is all the toys the children play with. That’s right, one small container for 6 children. And you know what? It is working!! Since they can only have enough toys that fit into that container, there is no war-of-the-toys ragging around here anymore. The white container, on the right, is where the children’s small games are (such as their Old Maid cards, Uno cards, 50 pieces or less puzzles, etc.).
And this container, under the table, is where their books are. They can have no more books up here that what fits into that container. (The rest of the books and toys are down in the basement. I will switch them out every so often.)
Here is the school room. This is the view of their desks from the doorway.
The table in the corner is where the littles play and need to stay (this is the chalk board table). This doesn’t always happen, but so far, it’s been working okay. The top two drawers in the file cabinet is for extra workbooks and drawing paper. The 3rd drawer is where the school children’s school things are stored (there is one container that holds the glue, rulers, crayons, and scissors for them), there is a small container of Legos for the little ones to play with, and there is a small container where the crayons (which are peeled, broken, and other-wise sad looking) are kept for any coloring that is done outside of school. The bottom drawer is where the construction paper is held.
Behind the door is the other file cabinet. The first three drawers are where the children’s books that aren’t being used yet, are held. The bottom drawer is where the extra notebooks and coloring books are found. One the wall, I have put up all the phonics sounds that are needed to know and at the very top of the wall, there is the alphabet in print and cursive. The white board is where their daily lessons are put, where the date is written, and any other demonstrations that are needed to be shown.
Each child has their own color, so at one glance, they can see if something up their is for them. For example, Isaac’s things are written in blue, Grace’s in pink, and Maacah’s in purple. There is also a reward system set up. Each child has their name on the board and if at the end of the school day, there are no marks by their name, they get to pick out of the “Candy Can”. If there are no marks, they get two pieces of candy. If there is one mark, they get one piece. And if there are 2 marks, they get none.
And finally, all the craft supplies, my sewing stuff, games, and the Candy Can are kept in the closet. The children know that this is MY closet and they are not to enter it without permission.
Tomorrow, I will post about the areas that I NEED to organize. Very. Badly.