How I Organize and Store Materials

I’ve been receiving requests from readers asking me to share some tips or at least share how I organize our materials at home.  To be honest, I haven’t found the perfect formula for organizing materials.  I find myself experimenting on what works for me and for the kids.  So instead of giving advice on what to do, allow me to share with you how I organize our things at home. 

We live in a small apartment… as most European homes are!  So our sitting room is our playroom which is also our “home” school room. Except for painting and messy play, this is where all the actions are taking place.  So to make it “conducive” for the boys, husband and I purchased Ikea shelves and inserts so I can organize learning materials, mostly of Vito.  Mavi’s stuff are in his room including the Montessori materials that we own.

This is the  main shelf, the upper layer is for the working trays and the bottom layer contains the inserts.  We bought a sturdy insert from Ikea as well, they are really really good, quite heavy so Vito can’t just push and pull them.

Daily Activity Shelf

The inserts contain all the learning materials (non Montessori) of Vito, including the puzzle boards. Surprisingly, they fit!  So convenient because whenever I needed to change my materials, I just remove them from the insert and place them on the tray. Same thing when Vito is done working with them, I just put them back on the insert.

Note:  What I do is remove the materials from their respective boxes (except for that puzzle box which is new) and place them in ziploc or sealable plastic.  

The other two inserts contain Vito’s book and printed cards and the other one contains all the Schleich animals.  We have a different box for our Safari Toobs.

We have this book holder on top of the shelf, these are the books that we are using as of the moment.  I replace them each week.  The chair beside it is our reading chair, though most of the time we read books anywhere in the house LOL.

Unit Themed Shelf

I have another shelf, just beside my working table.  I place our object basket on top together with Vito’s current favourite puzzle and some unit-themed work trays on the upper shelf.  The bottom inserts are for my books, papers and other Mommy’s stuff.    I change the contents of this shelf twice a month, depending on how frequent we have unit or seasonal-themed activities.

Art Materials

One cupboard is dedicated to our art materials.  Papers, paints, sticky tape, crayons all in here!  I tidy this area once in a while, if I HAVE THE TIME.

Printables

Our local store has this super cool bags with colored zippers and has different sizes.  I use these bags to store all my printed materials.  For all types of cards, I use the medium size (half of A4 paper).   I label the bags of course, whether its for Mavi or Vito, for history, Europe, Asia, Africa etc.  I place these bags in a wooden chest in our hallway. 

And that’s about it! My super secret though is that I AVOID BUYING A LOT OF STUFF   Even if I feel that I need them, I always convince myself that I have no more room for them at home and that the kids will survive without them.  This pretty much helps me in avoiding too much clutter thus saving me a lot of time in organizing materials.  Less is more!

Pop me a question anytime if you want to know more!

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How I Make Our Learning Cards

I’ve been wanting to post about this for the longest time but I just couldn’t convince myself to make one.  Anyway, let me share with you the complicated ways I create our learning cards.

So in our homeschool,  there are 3 ways I make our printables:

• Cards (Montessori cards, matching cards for Vito and seasonal themed cards)
• Learning booklets
• Mats and poster diagrams

Basic materials I used:

• laminator
• 125micron (a total of 240micron) or 5 Mil  laminating pouch
• 80micron (a total of 160 micron) or 3 Mil laminating pouch
• HP Inkjet 100gsm paper
• White cardstock (at least 160gsm) or 110lb Cardstock
• Colored cardstock (at least 160gsm) for borders
• One hole puncher
• binder rings

MAKING THE CARDS

Includes: nomenclature or 3 part cards cards, picture cards, matching cards, history cards, science cards… all cards used in general.

By default I used the combo: 125micron and 160gsm cardstock paper.  This will make the card really sturdy and hard enough for the little one to fold.  I don’t like doing A LOT OF CUTTING so what I do is I laminate then cut.

If I decide to use borders, then I use the combination of HP 80 or 100gsm paper and think pouch. I cut the printed materials then stick it on the colored cardstock using a glue stick.  Then laminate and cut. 

Now, if the thick pouch is not available or too pricey, using a 160gsm cardstock with the thin pouch is more than enough.  The cards will still turn out sturdy.  The only reason why I’m using the 125micron pouch is that they are currently on SALE in AMAZON UK and are MORE CHEAPER than the thinner ones LOL.

MAKING THE BOOKLETS

I’ve started making booklets this year for the boys. I wanted them to last long so I am laminating each pages of the booklets. 

The pages of my booklets are laminated back to back. You can see how its done here on the video of Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I use the HP Inkjet Paper for this one and a 125micron  pouch ( or a 160gsm cardstock and 80micron pouch would do). 

Once they are laminated, I cut and punch holes to form the booklets!  For the cover pages of each booklets, I use the process in MAKING THE CARDS because I want the cover to be harder than the pages.

MAKING THE MATS AND POSTER DIAGRAMS

For the mats and and diagrams, I just laminate them back to back using the thicker pouch and the 160gsm cardstock.  But for best result, better laminate it individually with either a thick or thinner pouch. 

IF YOU HAVE NO LAMINATOR

When I didn’t have a laminator yet, I just printed my materials on a white cardstock paper and covered them with a contact paper or better yet a transparent tape! Yes, I basically did that when we were in Belgrade.  Worst, we didn’t have white cardstock so I printed my materials in a white paper and glue the paper on the colored cardstock then cover it with tape. 

And that’s just about it!  I hope you find this helpful and NOT CONFUSING LOL. If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment, I am more than willing to talk to you for more tips and insights.

Thank you!