School Room Organization



We've been in our new house for almost 3 months now.  One of the things about this house that really made me fall in love with it was the school room!  So here it is, all organized and ready for school to begin!

This is a view from the living room.  As you can see, there is a sliding glass door that I close and lock every night before I go to bed in case the kids wake up before me.  I do not want the boy running wild and unchecked in this room!

I love the curtains I made!  As you can see, they are USA and world maps.   I'm also proud of the art display clothes line I tacked up above the curtains.  It's very simple and practical; just my style!

This is the bookshelf to the far right in that first picture.  To the right of this picture is a sliding glass door to the backyard. 
The top shelf holds all the curriculum that we are currently using. 
The next shelf has leveled readers, chapter books, and phonics readers in that black box.  Next to that box you can see a stash of writing paper and a music kit we are excited to use this year.
The bottom shelf has a few sticker books and pop-up books.  Next to those is a box of travel brochures I got from every state in the union.
On the very top of this shelf is big construction paper and a cup of sharp pencils.

The next bookshelf has various manipulatives and toys on the bottom. 
The next shelf up holds are ridiculously huge collection of coloring books (on the right-hand side.)  Next to that is a box that holds small notebooks and various rulers and stencils.  Next to that is where we stow our small whiteboards.  Those two big binders are full of various fun workbooks that I got from the dollar store.  I tore out all the pages and put them in plastic sheet protectors so the kids can use dry-erase markers on them.
Above that we have  containers of counting bears, colored pencils, sponge stamps, and rubber stamps.  As you will notice, I used a hodge-podge of containers and just masking tape for labels.  Again, very simple and practical.  I've got no one to impress. 
On the very top are filing shelves.  Three trays are for art that needs to be hung, art that needs to be finished, and art that is intended to be gifted to various friends or relatives.  Two trays are used for construction paper and drawing paper.  One tray is used to hold some file folder games I made.  And the last tray holds curriculum that I intend to use this year, but still need to look at and prepare.

I love these plastic drawers!  They used to hold various things in my bathroom.  But the new bathroom has no place for them.  So I gladly re-purposed them for the school room! 
On top is where we keep a cup of whiteboard markers.  The top drawer holds tempera paint bottles.  The other drawers are full of various flashcards, manipulatives, and small science tools.

And here's the final bookshelf on this wall.  The top shelf holds various educational and reference books.  The bottom two shelves are full of several toys to keep the younger ones entertained.  I tried to pick things that were mildly educational.  For example, we have lacing cards and 2 different types of wooden blocks.

This wall is perpendicular to the long wall where all the bookshelves are.  As you can see, it holds our bulletin board and a modest-sized whiteboard hung at child-height. 
The rest of this wall (to the left of this picture) is being left blank in hopes that I will one day have a piano to go here. 
That window you see at the top left corner is actually a window into my laundry room.  There's also a door into the laundry room.  I love the set up of this house!!

This bookshelf lives on the wall opposite the one with all the short shelves.  You can see the doorway into my living room there to the left.  To the right of this bookshelf you can see that I have a window into my kitchen.  I'm going to say it again:  I love the way this house is set up!  I can stand at the kitchen sink doing dishes and still be able to see into the school room to supervise anything going on in there.
The top shelf holds boxes of art supplies that I do not want the kids to have unsupervised access too.  There are only so many times I can see the crayon box dumped out before I go absolutely bonkers!
The next shelf down holds curriculum that we don't need right now, but I'm not ready to pack away out of sight completely.
The bottom three shelves hold all our picture books.  On the bottom shelf, you may notice a cardboard box that holds all our cloth books.  The blue and red cardboard box in front of that is full of new-to-us picture books that we have inherited.  I want to read them all at least once before they get tucked away on the shelves. 
On the floor to the right of the bookshelf is a box with our random craft supplies.

This is my school table.  It's pretty ancient.  Hubby remembers being little and laying underneath it and drawing on the wood (naughty boy!)  I think it was even old already at that point.  It actually used to be a coffee table.  It was so short that poor Primus couldn't fit her knees underneath when she sat in a little chair.  That's why we did most of our schooling at the kitchen table or on our laps on the couch last year. 
This year I finally asked my father-in-law to put longer legs on it.  So much better now!