Homeschool Organization Hacks

This post contains a few affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog and our family if you choose to purchase after clicking.

Whether you have a dedicated homeschool room or you do school around the kitchen table (like we do), there are many ways to keep yourself organized and try to keep the clutter to a minimum. I don’t know about you, but I feel much more productive when everything has a place, and I can find what I need quickly.

Rolling Carts

In our current house, I store all of our curriculum in an “office area”. Since there is not a table in there for the kids and I to use, we typically do school around the kitchen table. The most used items and books we need are on two different three-tiered rolling carts. One is specifically for art supplies and paper (you can find my post on stocking the Art Cart here), the other holds most of the kids’ curriculum, my planner, reading books, and other manipulatives needed throughout our homeschool day. I don’t mind it at all, as it’s just what has worked for the past few years. I am however very excited to have a dedicated homeschool space in the near future, and to make it a lovely place to learn.

Grade Level Binders

Besides our three-tiered carts, I make use of a lot of binders, magazine file holders, and milk crates. Each school year, I set up a brand new 3 inch, grade level binder for each of my children. I label it with their name, the school year, and their grade level for that year. Once a week, typically on Fridays, I put all of their important work into their large binders, divided by subject. If they completed an assignment that week that I don’t feel is necessary to hold onto, then I’ll simply recycle it.

In doing this, by the end of the school year I have a binder full of their completed assignments. I also put a copy of our Declaration of Intent (a required official document that I file each year with the GA Department of Education), their year-end summary, and any final grades in this binder. Having everything from the school year for each child in a separate binder has just been a good system for our family. I tend to keep each year’s binders together in a milk crate or plastic storage tub to refer to, if needed.

Student Binders

I also have student binders that hold daily assignments that I’ve photocopied ahead of time. A lot of the kid’s assignments are contained in workbooks or online, so the binder tends to not hold a ton of materials. I do like to keep some easy things for the kids to work on in their binders, so they can pull them out while I’m doing our morning read-alouds.

Pencil Boxes

At the beginning of the school year, I organize the kids pencil boxes. If they are in need of new ones, I make that purchase when all the school supplies start popping up in Target or Walmart.

This year, I think we’re good, and I’ll just re-use from last year. I will make sure they’re wiped clean on the inside and loaded with fresh supplies. They like to have their own things even though A LOT of our art supplies are together on the top rack of our art cart. Typically each child will get a few brand new Ticonderoga pencils (literally the ONLY and BEST pencil out there, a new box of crayons, a couple of glue sticks, a pair of scissors (lefty scissors for my middle guy), and a box of markers. Their favorite colored pencils are the Prismacolor brand pencils, and I have to admit, they’re truly the best out there. I love how rich the colors are, and how long they last. This year I’d love to get a set of their watercolor pencils to see how the kids like using them.

I’m sure I’m forgetting more organizational methods I use, and as soon as I hit publish more ideas will come to me. What about you? What have been your tried and true organizational methods for homeschooling? Leave a comment and let me know!