Practical Homeschool Organization Tips + FREE 30 Day Challenge Printable
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Getting rid of clutter that we no longer use (or need) is an important part of homeschool organization. These great ideas will help you reduce the clutter that keeps you stressed out, and get you on track to an organized homeschool.
Moms, maybe you can commiserate with me – homeschool families can sometimes tend to accumulate a lot of…stuff. Books, worksheets, art supplies, books, math manipulatives, science supplies, pencils, binders, and did I mention books?
With so many things to keep tidy, our space can easily become cluttered and overwhelming.
Clutter stresses me out. And it can be really difficult to focus on all of the school things when our space is a mess and I can barely see the kitchen table.
You don’t have to become a minimalist by any means, but having a good organization system around the house can help make homeschooling much easier for you.
Taking time to get rid of clutter that we no longer use (or need) is important in keeping our homes and homeschools organized. In doing so, we can more easily focus our minds on other things we love and want to do.
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Top Homeschool Organization Tips
I hope you’ll enjoy some of my best ideas below on reducing the clutter that can keep you pre-occupied and stressed out. And make sure to grab my FREE 30 Day Decluttering Your Home & Homeschool Printable at the end to help get you started!
1. Get Your Kids in on the Organizing Action
Homeschool mama, you don’t have to be the only one who cleans up the clutter. There is value in teaching your kids to manage their space and take care of their possessions.
Don’t hesitate to ask them to pick up their space at the end of the day, or before they move on to a new task (like electronics). My kids are already learning that if they neglect to do this, clutter can just build and build, whereas if they clean up as they go, a little at a time, it means a lot less work for them in the long run.
Even from an early age, work with your younger children to help them learn an easy way to take care of their toys and school supplies properly. Have a system in place and begin to be consistent.
If possible, have a designated space in your homeschool area that is theirs. I use a cubby system in our homeschool room; each of my kids has 2 cubbies they use to store their daily 3-ring binders, school books, and notebooks, and they’ve got easy access to it all. We also recently broke down and bought them their own desks.
In the beginning, you might also give small rewards (candy always works!) as encouragement if they tidy up their space each day – my free Reward Punch Cards work great for this! Or you can make tidying up an item on their homeschool checklist to remind them to take care of this at the end of the day.
2. Don’t Leave Decluttering Only for the Weekends
I get it, we are busy during our homeschool weeks! Many days, decluttering and cleaning can feel daunting because I feel like I just don’t have enough time. It can get easy to push it off until the weekend when it (might) get done then.
But there’s never enough time, is there? And it’s no fun to spend your weekends cleaning!
Instead, just like you are helping your kids learn this skill, take baby steps throughout the week. You don’t have to declutter your whole house each day. Start with one room, one drawer, one desk. Do one thing each day (my 30 day checklist below will help with this!).
I also LOVE zone cleaning (and so do my kids!), and the mentality I’ve come to appreciate is that I don’t have to be intimidated by a large task at hand. I can break it up one piece at a time and spend a little time every day to keep a tidy home.
3. Use Containers to Store Supplies Smartly
Like me, you probably have a lot of small homeschool supplies you use daily. Having a good homeschool storage system for these small items is crucial so your kids have a place to put them, and they don’t end up in random places (leaving you more mess to clean up later!).
I find it so helpful to have a “dedicated space” for everything to live in.
Find some favorite baskets, plastic bins, or small bins that can help you organize everything you need for day-to-day homeschool tasks or your morning basket. There are so many options out there, so you’ll have to figure out what suits your needs best.
I picked up some small plastic storage bins for containing math manipulatives and flash cards. We also have a designated basket for library books for silent reading. I set pencil holders in our main school area, and a small basket for the kids to store headphones and chargers for their tablets. A rolling cart can be a homeschool mom’s best friend for storing craft and homeschooling supplies and other things you’ll use daily, and I also LOVE these desktop carousel tool caddies for miscellaneous supplies!
One other tip: make an “art case” for each kid that they can easily access during the day if needed.
Last year I bought cheap pencil boxes and used vinyl to put my kids’ names on them; I filled them with pencils, colored pencils, a glue stick, a small pair or scissors, and a set of markers. It was a great way to keep their supplies contained and organized (and they still use them pretty much every day!).
4. Learn to Let Go
You can’t expect your house to be clutter-free if you have a habit of keeping things stored from kindergarten through high school. Letting go of things you won’t use anymore is the best way to ensure that you won’t have to deal with the stress of a cluttered home.
I will admit that I have a hard time getting rid of schoolwork. So when I started being more intentional about our homeschool portfolios, I grabbed a plastic file box and some file folders in different colors, and began filing away only the really important work throughout the year. That way, I know exactly what I really want to save, and I don’t have to sort through everything at the end of the year.
Throw away, donate or sell stuff as soon as you realize they aren’t needed anymore (yes, this includes all of those amazing glitter art designs your kids worked so hard on). Don’t let it accumulate until it gets overwhelming. You won’t miss it. By doing this, you’ll end up only storing stuff in your house that you need or that you use a lot – and less clutter.
If you have many things you want to keep for sentimental reasons, see if you can find some creative ways to keep memories of them instead of storing them in a bin in the storeroom. For example, those art projects you don’t know what to do with but feel guilty about throwing away? Save a couple of favorites for your homeschool portfolio, and take pictures of the rest (and throw out ones that you really don’t need).
5. Use the Wall Space in Your Homeschooling Area
Many moms say that they get frustrated when they find things on the ground instead of in their designated space. Here’s one of those fun homeschool organization hacks: start putting a basket or decorative bin in each room of your main living space so you can easily clean up toys that have been left on the floor or couches, and they have a space to go. Another efficient way to get things off the floor is to use any free wall space in your dedicated homeschool room and add some storage units or bulletin boards in the room.
This also allows you to store more in your homeschool space so you don’t have to leave the room to track something down! Very practical if you have a small house or small spaces, and don’t have a lot of room on the floors for storage.
Adding storage and shelving on the walls allows you to not only can clear up floor space, but be able to see everything easily. Bulletin boards are great for papers kids need to access easily during the day (we put our homeschool checklists on ours!). If possible, make use of your empty walls to help organize your homeschool space.
6. Use Labels to Organize Materials
If your kids are old enough to read, labeling the various storage boxes, containers, and shelves you have can be really helpful so they know where things are supposed to go. It also helps things end back up in their appropriate place, rather than just being shoved in a random drawer where you have to search for it later.
As with anything, this may take practice, but the more your kids get used to organizing their supplies, the easier and more automatic it will get!
As homeschool moms, we have to make sure we set a good example as well. No matter how tired we are at the end of the day, make sure put all of your materials away, and work with your kids to reset for the next day.
7. Know Exactly What You Need to Feel Satisfied With the Space You Have
At the end of the day, you have to make your homeschool space your own. There are many different ways to do it; my best ways might not work for you. You have to employ homeschool systems that will allow you to complete your lesson plans with ease, and not be overwhelmed with clutter you don’t know what to do with.
If you already have a routine in place that helps you avoid clutter in a way that is working for you – you’re on the right track! You don’t have to worry about looking for something “better” or a more “perfect routine”.
Allow yourself to learn and continuously reflect. Make improvements when needed. But your acceptable level of “clutter” might look different than the homeschool mom next door…and that’s ok.
Our homeschool space is often our home space, and by being consistent and having some great organization methods in place, we can stress less and enjoy our space more.
Sometimes, decluttering and tidying up is the last thing I want to do when I’m tired after a long homeschool day. But I’m always thankful to come down to a clean space the next morning and get the day started on the right foot. I hope some of these homeschool organization tips will help you in your de-cluttering efforts this week!
30 Day Declutter Your Homeschool Challenge
Do you need a little kick-start with decluttering your home and homeschooling space? Let’s face it, even if we are armed with all the best homeschool organization ideas in the world, there will probably be a point during the homeschool year when the clutter begins to build.
I would love for you to download my 30 Day Declutter Your Home and Homeschool Challenge. It’s FREE! You’ll get a simple checklist to follow and a few more of my simple tips to help you declutter your home quickly this month.
Plus…there’s a declutter challenge for the kids in there as well (remember, you aren’t in this alone, and even young children can help out!).
Drop a comment below: what are your best tips for staying on top of all the clutter that can pile up in our homeschools?
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Thanks for the great tips about how to stay organized!
Thank you for these useful tips, the learn to let go is the hardest for me 🙂
Thank you for these ideas. I’m a new homeschool mama and have spent the last year researching, dreaming and organizing. Your tips are fantastic – some of which affirm my thinking on space and some of which are new that I’m ready to implement.
After 20 years of homeschooling I need to purge. I’ve done some painting and remodeling and need to get books back on the shelves and let go what is no longer of use.